NCAA bans Colgate frosh for playing church hoops

Nathan Harries is a freshman basketball player at Colgate. He played at Centennial High School. He was a high achiever academically, graduated in 2011 with honors and was recruited by programs such as Princeton, Penn and Bucknell. But as a devout Mormon, Harries delayed college for two years to serve a religious mission in North Carolina.

This fall Harries enrolled at Colgate with the expectation of playing basketball beginning with the season opener Friday against Wake Forest.

But the NCAA has stripped him of one season of eligibility, and you won’t believe why.

The governing body ruled that Harries played this past summer in an organized and competitive basketball league before enrolling at Colgate. In truth, Harries actually was just a fill-in for three games for a “C” level team in a relative church basketball league. Most players are in their 30s; one team is largely comprised of players in their 50s.