City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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The NCAA has ruled that Villanova freshman Omari Spellman will have to take an academic redshirt season in 2016-17, the school announced on Friday morning.

The consensus five-star, top-20 prospect out of St. Thomas Moore (Conn.) will have four seasons of eligibility beginning next year, and is able to practice with the team this entire year.

"We are extremely disappointed for Omari,” Villanova head coach Jay Wright said in a statement. “While we don’t agree with the NCAA’s decision, we are members of the association and respect it. We understand why the NCAA felt it had to rule this way.

"We will make a positive out of this for Omari," he continued. "He will concentrate on his academics and individual development this season. In the long run Omari will be a better student and player for this experience.”

A native of North Royalton, Ohio, Spellman is a 6-foot-10, 270-pound forward with a versatile offensive game who would have been a factor for big minutes early on in his time at Villanova.

Instead, it'll be Hershey (Pa.) grad Dylan Painter, another 6-10 freshman, who will serve as the primary backup to senior Darryl Reynolds. The Wildcats also have 6-8 redshirt freshman Tim Delaney, a stretch-forward coming off double hip surgery.

CoBL will have more on this story shortly