Incoming Star Freshman Forward Karviar Shepherd Ruled Ineligible By The NCAA

According to an ESPN report, Karviar Shepherd and other Prime Prep graduates have been ruled ineligible by the NCAA:

Both Jordan Mickey, a consensus Top 50 player who is a freshman at LSU, and TCU freshman Karviar Shepherd (No. 77 in the ESPN100) were recently informed by the NCAA that they would not be eligible to play this season due to academic issues at Prime Prep.

Both players transferred to the Dallas-area school prior to their senior seasons. Prime Prep has been approved by the Texas Education Agency, along with the State Board of Education. Prime Prep is approved as a "Regular Instructional Open Enrollment Charter" as listed on the TEA's website.

Shepherd is a 6-foot-10, 225-pound Texas native who spent his first two seasons at DeSoto High in Dallas before transferring to Grace Prep in order to receive a private school education. He and Mickey both followed head basketball coach Ray Forsett from Grace Prep to Prime Prep before last season and were informed there would be no issues with the school being approved by the NCAA. They both had solid GPAs, were only one semester shy of qualifying and didn't need to change schools in order to be eligible.

And, most frustrating:

"The kids were misled by the school," one source told ESPN.com. "Everyone told them there wouldn't be any issues."

The word from TCU people is that this is 100% the fault of Prime Prep, who misled athletes all while knowing they were not likely to pass NCAA inspection... TCU Basketball has been looking for a turnaround, Shepherd was one of several incoming players supposed to infuse talent into the system, now that seems to be partially in question.

Shepherd does plan to appeal the ruling, no word yet on that front.