By Melissa AndersonSummer Bruin Staff
UCLA basketball will have to look for another heir to the throne next season, since freshman recruit Tommie Prince had his SAT scores invalidated last week and will not play for the Bruins.
Hailed one of the top recruits in the area last year, the 6-foot-5-inch guard/forward signed his now-void letter of intent late because of difficulties reaching a passing score on the entrance exam. Prince finally passed the test in May.
An analysis of those test scores by university officials led the UCLA athletic department to ask the Educational Testing Service to investigate a discrepancy in the results.
Under NCAA legislation known as Proposition 48, UCLA could have admitted Prince regardless of his test scores because he completed all of his college preparatory classwork at Compton Dominguez High School.
Prince would have had to miss the 1995-96 season and would not qualify for financial aid until he was eligible to play basketball. However, it is against UCLA¹s policy to accept Proposition 48 athletes.
Prince was offered a chance to retake the exam, which the Los Angeles Times reported he did Aug. 11 at Compton College. According to Diane Prince, Tommie¹s mother, he needed to answer just one more question correctly to meet the NCAA standard.
"We¹re very disappointed about losing Tommie," UCLA head coach Jim Harrick told the L.A. Times. "Any time you go all year recruiting a player and you lose them especially when you plan on having them it's tough.
"On the other hand, every person is responsible for their own academic work."
A two-time Nike All-American and the L.A. Times prep Player of the Year, Prince led Dominguez to a CIF Championship while averaging 21 points per game. As only the third player in school history to play varsity basketball four years running, it was expected that Prince would make a strong impact for the Bruins in the next four years.
Prince, who was unavailable for comment but reportedly denied that he had cheated on the exam, will now have the option to play basketball at a junior college or a Division I university that will accept athletes under Proposition 48.
Should he decide to play at the junior college level, Prince would be eligible to play at UCLA, or any other Division I school, in two years - after earning an associate¹s degree.
Prince dethroned by SAT
Promising freshman basketball recruit's test scores invalid, won't attend UCLA