YRACUSE, N.Y. -- Emmanuel "Tiki" Mayben, a highly regarded guard on the Troy High School basketball team whose academic shortcomings prevented him from enrolling at Syracuse this fall, is looking at other schools.
Mayben told an Albany television station this week that he was no longer interested in Syracuse, and his Amateur Athletic Union coach Jim Hart said Mayben had Massachusetts, Memphis and UNC-Charlotte on his list.
Mayben had the option of not graduating from high school and going to prep school. That would have allowed him to improve both his grade-point average and SAT scores for the initial eligibility requirements. But he opted to graduate with his class, thus locking his GPA, and it was too low for the NCAA's initial requirements, which combine a high school recruit's GPA and SAT scores on a sliding scale.
With the sliding scale, a higher SAT score could pull up that GPA and make Mayben eligible. He did receive a qualifying score on his SAT, but it was not high enough to help the GPA, and he could not retake the SAT until September.
Mayben, who committed to Syracuse before his sophomore year at Troy, was suspended from the basketball team that season. The troubles carried over to his junior season when he transferred to Winchendon Prep School, and he returned to Troy one week later to be closer to home.
Last season, Mayben led the Flying Horses to the Section 2 Class AA semifinals, averaging 21.9 points and 10 assists.