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Vikings: Center declared ineligible
by Jim Beseda, The Oregonian
Sunday December 07, 2008, 8:53 PM
The defending Big Sky Conference champion Vikings were dealt an unexpected blow this week when junior center Donatas Visockis was declared ineligible for the 2008-09 season because of a discrepancy in his transcripts at the time of his transfer.
When the Vikings signed Visockis to a scholarship agreement last May, they were counting on the 6-foot-10 transfer from Butte College in Oroville, Calif., to help make up for the loss of center Scott Morrison and J.R. Moore to graduation.
But Vikings coach Ken Bone confirmed after Saturday's 73-68 non-conference victory over Seattle University that Visockis transfer had hit a snag when credits from a summer course that he needed for his Associate in Arts degree from Butte either weren't recorded in time or weren't accepted.
So, Visockis isn't eligible, and there's nothing he can do to get eligible this season.
"It's a difficult situation," Bone said. "He wanted to be here. He wanted to play here. We wanted him here. We need him. But he is not academically eligible at this moment, and he needed to be."
Visockis is originally from Lithuania, but played high school ball in the United States, first at Oak Hill Academy in Virginia, and then at Cardinal Gibbons High School in Maryland.
He then went to Southern Mississippi and played 17 games for the Golden Eagles in the 2005-06 season, and then spent the 2006-07 season as a redshirt before transferring to Butte for the 2007-08 season.
"He played at a four-year school, then went to a two-year school, and now he's coming back to a four-year school, any you must have your AA degree prior to registering at the second four-year institution," Bone said. "And he did not have it.
"There was a misunderstanding. We thought he was fine. And we thought as long as his grade was posted on the transcript from summer, that he would be fine. Well, we just found out, that's not the case."
Bone said Visockis has three options:
1. He can stay at Portland State.
2. He can transfer to another school.
3. Return to Lithuania and play there.
"He's on scholarship and that's his choice," Bone said. "If he wants to stay here, we'll honor the scholarship.
"I told him to think about it for a day or two or three ... or however long he needs to. The main thing is, finals are this next week and he needs to do the best he can through finals, because regardless of how this works out, he can't do what some guys do and just go in the tank like, 'Oh, what am I going to do now?'
"And he won't. He understood that. I mean, he acted like he totally understood that."
Add in the loss of Jason Conrad, the 6-foot-11, 220-pound high school prospect from Gilroy, Calif., who relinquished his scholarship for personal reasons before the season started, and what looked as if it could be a position of strength now has become a potential Achilles' heel.
by Jim Beseda, The Oregonian
Sunday December 07, 2008, 8:53 PM
The defending Big Sky Conference champion Vikings were dealt an unexpected blow this week when junior center Donatas Visockis was declared ineligible for the 2008-09 season because of a discrepancy in his transcripts at the time of his transfer.
When the Vikings signed Visockis to a scholarship agreement last May, they were counting on the 6-foot-10 transfer from Butte College in Oroville, Calif., to help make up for the loss of center Scott Morrison and J.R. Moore to graduation.
But Vikings coach Ken Bone confirmed after Saturday's 73-68 non-conference victory over Seattle University that Visockis transfer had hit a snag when credits from a summer course that he needed for his Associate in Arts degree from Butte either weren't recorded in time or weren't accepted.
So, Visockis isn't eligible, and there's nothing he can do to get eligible this season.
"It's a difficult situation," Bone said. "He wanted to be here. He wanted to play here. We wanted him here. We need him. But he is not academically eligible at this moment, and he needed to be."
Visockis is originally from Lithuania, but played high school ball in the United States, first at Oak Hill Academy in Virginia, and then at Cardinal Gibbons High School in Maryland.
He then went to Southern Mississippi and played 17 games for the Golden Eagles in the 2005-06 season, and then spent the 2006-07 season as a redshirt before transferring to Butte for the 2007-08 season.
"He played at a four-year school, then went to a two-year school, and now he's coming back to a four-year school, any you must have your AA degree prior to registering at the second four-year institution," Bone said. "And he did not have it.
"There was a misunderstanding. We thought he was fine. And we thought as long as his grade was posted on the transcript from summer, that he would be fine. Well, we just found out, that's not the case."
Bone said Visockis has three options:
1. He can stay at Portland State.
2. He can transfer to another school.
3. Return to Lithuania and play there.
"He's on scholarship and that's his choice," Bone said. "If he wants to stay here, we'll honor the scholarship.
"I told him to think about it for a day or two or three ... or however long he needs to. The main thing is, finals are this next week and he needs to do the best he can through finals, because regardless of how this works out, he can't do what some guys do and just go in the tank like, 'Oh, what am I going to do now?'
"And he won't. He understood that. I mean, he acted like he totally understood that."
Add in the loss of Jason Conrad, the 6-foot-11, 220-pound high school prospect from Gilroy, Calif., who relinquished his scholarship for personal reasons before the season started, and what looked as if it could be a position of strength now has become a potential Achilles' heel.
