UPDATE: According to Jay Wright, Mouphtaou Yarou is cleared and will play in Villanova's opener against Farleigh Dickinson on November 13th. He told ESPN.com that Yarou said he did not play in that tournament, and that Villanova has documents confirming his age as 19.
There is no question that Villanova has great guard play, but one of the biggest reasons most pundits have Villanova ranked somewhere in the top ten is the recruiting class coming in. The Wildcats lose a lot of minutes on the interior with the graduation of Dante Cunningham, Dwayne Anderson, and Shane Clark, but with Isaiah Armwood and Mouphtaou Yarou joining the team, Villanova was expected to have a front line capable of winning a Big East title.
Yarou, specifically, was expected to shoulder quite a load inside. At 6'9", 240 lb, Yarou is strong and athletic with soft hands, making him an excellent rebounder and finisher inside. ESPN's recruiting evaluation goes so far as to say that Yarou is "built like a man."
Problem is, he may actually be a man.
How old do you think Mouphtaou Yarou looks here?(photo credit: SI)
According to a page on the FIBA website (FIBA is the world's basketball governing body), Yarou played with the Renaissance BBC men's team in the 2007 FIBA Africa Cup.
Not all that big of a deal, until you look at Yarou's age on the site - it says he was born on June 26th, 1984, which would have made him 23 at the time the tournament took place. Since the tournament took place in 2007, Yarou would be 25 years old today, not 19 as the Villanova website lists him.
The FIBA page also lists Yarou as being from Matitingou, while the Villanova site lists him as hailing from Natitingou, Benin, in West Africa.
According to Gordon Finch, Villanova's associate athletic director of compliance, this typo destroys the credibility of the website. He told the Sporting News:
I don't have a compelling need to look into it because I believe it's probably a typo. We've got his passport, his naturalization papers and his international student athlete form, all of which don't have that as his birthdate. ... There's no reason to believe that website is accurate, especially when they've already got one typo.I really hope that Mr. Finch isn't that naive.
An athlete lying about their age is nothing new. It happens all the time in baseball, cost the US women's gymnasts a few gold medals in the 2008 Olympics, and is not unheard of in basketball - Yi Jianlian
And the risks of playing Yarou without looking into his eligibility could be devastating to the Wildcats '09-'10 season. Just ask Memphis.
If Yarou is, in fact, 25 years old, there is a good chance that he may have already used up his eligibility. According the NCAA rule 14.2.3.5, if an athlete participates with an organized team after his 21st birthday, he will lost a year of eligibility for he season he plays with that team. If Yarou was truly 23 in 2007, than he would lose a year of eligibility for playing with Renaissance BBC. He would also lose two years of eligibility for playing high school ball in the states - he attended and played for Massanutten Military Academy in Virginia in '07-'08 and spent last season playing for Montrose Christian Academy in Maryland. If Yarou played with an organized team at some point in 2005 or 2006, after he turned 21, than he may not have any college basketball eligibility left.
For what its worth, both the Big East and the NCAA has decided to leave the investigation up to Villanova. Hopefully, what is written on the FIBA website is, in fact, a typo, because I don't know if I can handle another recruiting scandal.
I thought it was just american youth basketball that was chock full of sleaze...
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3 comments:
Yi Jianlian has never admitted to lying about his age. Your link is to a Sports Illustrated China article that claimed he is older than what his passport, his NBA credentials, his Olympic credentials say he is.
He has resolutely DENIED lying about his age and the SI China story (never picked up by the US editions) is based on handwritten notes on Chinese education forms.
Get your facts straight.
Rob-
I have enjoyed Ballin' is a Habit over the past year (not to mention your Big East preview over at Rush the Court). I was a little surprised to see the post on Mouph Yarou though. True, athletes have been known to fudge their ages to gain advantage in competitions, both pro and international, but Villanova and the NCAA have gone beyond what FIBA and the NBA (MLB) typically do in order to certify eligibility for an athlete. The NCAA reviews the rosters and playing circumstances for foreign athletes who apply to play NCAA-sanctioned sports for member schools (that's why the process takes so long). Villanova and Yarou filed transcripts (both American and African), I-20 (student visa) and his passport with the Clearinghouse, all of which show the same birthdate -- the one published on Yarou's player profile on the Villanova website that states Yarou is 19 years old. Having followed the process outlined by the Clearinghouse, the NCAA conducted it's own investigation and subsequently certified Yarou eligible to play D1 basketball at some point last summer. It is in that context that interviews with Villanova officials should be taken. When Gordon Finch (Villanova's Compliance Officer), Andy Nicastro (Villanova's AD) or Jay Wright (Villanova's head coach) say Yarou is eligible, they refer to that process and the certification declared from that process.
When "notified" about the FIBA website and asked to comment, both the NCAA and the Big East deferred to Villanova to investigate. That is not unusual in cases like this. Neither has the resources (nor the jurisdiction?) to track down every rumor. Villanova conducted it's own investigation...
1. They questioned Yarou about the allegations raised by DeCourcy, specifically his age and participation in the Africa Cup Tournament. Yarou asserted his age is indeed 19 and he denies playing in the Africa Cup Tournament.
2. Villanova then contacted his parents, They too affirmed his age is 19, the information on his I-20, his passport and (to the best of their knowledge) his transcripts are accurate. They have faxed his birth certificate to University officials.
3. Villanova contacted FIBA officials in Africa (including officials associated Renaissance BBC -- the team which listed Yarou on their roster). FIBA and the club team also confirm that Yarou did not participate in the tournament in question. They have told the University they will correct the information on their website.
I have no doubt the materials will be forwarded to the NCAA and will hopefully validate the NCAA's judgment that Yarou is indeed eligible to play D1 ball in the US.
Is this another example of athletes cheating to gain advantage, or of journalists setting aside good practices in order to "break a story"? Note that DeCourcy's piece consists entirely of a URL, a reaction by a Villanova official and speculation about Yarou's eligibility status if the individual identified in the URL was Yarou and if the birth year was correct. Nothing more. Does the fact that "multiple sources" directed him to the same website invest the information on that website with more credibility? Do Gordon Finch's expressions of incredulity about the birth year (after all, the website misstates Yarou's hometown as well) mean Villanova has something to hide, or will (upon sober reflection...) take no action to investigate further? DeCourcy has done no independent research to confirm or deny the truth of the implication (that Yarou was born in 1984 and not 1990). Maybe a few more phone calls could have cleared this up earlier.
I have enjoyed your blog. And will continue to visit.
greyCat
Villanova by the Numbers
@greyCat -
Thanks for reading, and I'm glad you enjoy the site.
As far as the post goes, I don't necessarily believe that Yarou is 25. I simply think that the comment by Gordon Finch ("I don't have a compelling need to look into it...") is ludicrous.
As with any international student, I'm sure Villanova did their due diligence prior to Yarou's acceptance into the school. But given the fact that this discrepancy was posted on a major news outlet, and knowing that sports are a big business and a way for poor kids (international and abroad to better their way of life), wouldn't it make sense to at least give it another look? Is it not conceivable that Yarou had his documents forged in order to get a scholarship and a better shot at the NBA?
As with the Derrick Rose situation at Memphis, the NCAA has shown that they will disregard players being cleared (even when their Clearinghouse is the reason the kid is playing) when new information comes to light. While I don't believe that "vacating a season" is really a punishment at all, losing a season and a Final Four will forever tarnish a coach and a program, regardless of whether or not it was truly warranted.
More than anything, I was hoping that Villanova would give it a second look, and according to what you wrote in your comment, they did.
Kudos to them, and hopefully Yarou is able to put all of this behind him. By all accounts, he is a special talent and should be a joy to watch.
There is one point that no one has mentioned, however. If Yarou was going to fake his age, why would he do it to go to college? Does Benin have a huge Villanova following I don't know about? Wouldn't it make more sense for him to "become younger" to make himself a more tantalizing prospect and increase his earning potential?
Just a thought.....
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