Crean optimistic about 2009 center's eligibility

In June, freshman center Bawa Muniru had only one class to finish before he would be set to take the court for the IU men’s basketball team.

Five months later, he has yet to be academically cleared to play, and there is no definitive explanation as to when he will receive confirmation from the NCAA clearinghouse.

Despite Muniru’s involvement in what seems to be an endless process, IU men’s basketball coach Tom Crean said he is not worried about the impending date of Muniru’s clearance and has waited longer for players to become eligible in the past.

“We’re just letting the eligibility center deal with what they gotta deal with,” Crean said. “We feel we’re on top of everything. We feel like he’s done everything he has to do. We don’t view it as any scare type of situation.”

A native of Ghana, Muniru has shuffled across the country, attending and playing basketball for different high schools. Stays with Alabama’s Madison High School and Mt. Zion Academy in Durham, N.C., are highlighted as his two most successful years.

Muniru has been on campus, attended class and participated in practices while also spending time with teammates outside of the required time constraints of IU basketball. The reason Crean said he has not fretted about Muniru’s lingering eligibility is because Muniru is not limited in any way that separates him from the team.

“He’s able to do everything with us,” Crean said. “That’d be a whole different story. If he wasn’t able to practice with us, and be with his teammates and eat with them, then that’d be a whole different deal. We’d have a whole different attitude. But we don’t have that – he gets to do everything that they do.”

Previous experiences with looming eligibility questions have allowed Crean to stay cool in dealing with Muniru. Crean said he had to wait longer for clearances while still coaching at Marquette.

Among the most drawn-out were current Marquette senior Lazar Hayward and former player Trevor Mbakwe’s review within the NCAA clearinghouse. Dwayne Wade also sat out a year for academic reasons while with the Golden Eagles.

Crean said he waited until regular practices for the players to be fully cleared for the season while still at Marquette. Hayward was cleared the day before Midnight Madness in Milwaukee, and Mbakwe’s eligibility questions lasted until Oct. 9, 2007, while the NCAA scrutinized a summer course he took at a St. Paul, Minn., high school.

Mbakwe actually went on to play a season at Miami Dade College as a junior college transfer before resurfacing with Minnesota for the 2009-10 season.

Crean remained positive throughout his talks regarding Muniru’s availability for the upcoming season.

“I’m optimistic,” Crean said. “I never have not been.”