Quinnipiac Reviewing Gio McLean’s Transcript

Junior guard Giovanni McLean’s eligibility is officially under review in light of a recent scandal involving the forging of transcripts at Westchester Community College.

“We are reviewing the matter and because of privacy concerns for the student, we will not make additional comments at this time,” Lynn Bushnell, vice president for public affairs at Quinnipiac, said in a statement.

McLean’s review comes on the heels of St. John’s ruling incoming forward Keith Thomas academically ineligible for the 2014-15 season.

“Our athletic compliance office recently became aware of information that triggered an additional review of Thomas’ academic credentials,” St. John’s athletic director Chris Monasch said in a statement.

Thomas’ transcript came under review after two former Westchester CC players, Jamall Walker and Damien Davis, had their scholarships revoked by Florida A&M University after it was revealed their transcripts had been falsified.

Westchester assistant coach Richard Fields was fired on October 16 after admitting to distorting the transcripts of Walker and Davis. The scandal has led Westchester CC to review the transcripts of former players going back up to five years.

An initial NCAA check had cleared McLean to practice with the Bobcats at the beginning of September, Quinnipiac officials confirmed. The 6’1″ junior guard has participated in team activities since that time. St. John’s officials confirmed Thomas passed that same NCAA check earlier this summer and had been practicing with the Red Storm until yesterday.

McLean initially gave a verbal commitment to play at Oklahoma this spring, but a Big 12 rule which would have forced him to sit out a year after transferring led him to shift his commitment to Quinnipiac.

McLean began his collegiate career at Moberly Community College in Missouri, where he averaged 9.1 ppg. After sitting out the 2012-13 season while recovering from knee surgery, McLean returned in 2013-14 to average 16.8 ppg, 7.4 apg, and 4.6 rpg for Westchester.

Vincent Simone covers Quinnipiac and the MAAC for Big Apple Buckets. You can follow him on Twitter @VTSimone.