Banks ruled ineligible for four games

(11/18/02)

The UIC athletic department Monday announced that junior forward Cedrick Banks must sit out the first four games of the regular season for failing to meet NCAA Satisfactory Progress Academic Guidelines.

Banks, the Flames’ leading scorer last year at 13.9 points per game, will miss road games at Evansville, Illinois State and national runner-up Indiana and the Nov. 24 home contest with Eastern Illinois. The 6-foot-2 Banks will return to the line-up on Dec. 14 when UIC hosts Southern Illinois.

“We are disappointed in the NCAA’s ruling on the matter, but it is something we must deal with as a team,” UIC coach Jimmy Collins said in a statement. “Adversity is a part of college basketball and we must move on.”

Banks was a preseason All-Horizon League first-team selection, a second-team All-Horizon pick last year and the 2002 Horizon League tournament MVP. He led the Flames to their second NCAA tournament berth last season.

Juniors Aaron Carr and Rickey Dominguez will vie for Banks’ starting spot and key minutes in the rotation. Both players are good shooters, but lack Banks’ defensive intensity. During UIC’s media day, Collins called Banks, “the best defensive player in the conference.”

Dominguez, a transfer from Feather River (Calif.) Junior College, averaged 14 points per game in exhibition play, including a 21-point effort against the Illinois All-Stars. Carr averaged 10 points in the preseason.