Arizona guard Courtney Ramey will have to sit out the first three games of the Wildcats' regular season after losing an appeal over his participation in the Portsmouth Invitational last spring.
Held every April in Virginia except during 2020 and 2021 because of COVID, the Portsmouth Invitational has been considered a seniors-only pre-draft camp that is not certified by the NCAA. It did not need NCAA certification because its participants all had exhausted their eligibility -- but the extra year of eligibility meant some seniors could play in it this spring and still return to school, and Ramey was the only player who did returned to school after playing in it.
By playing in it -- at a time when he had transferred out of Texas but not committed to Arizona -- Ramey ran into eligibility issues because of the lack of NCAA certification. He then appealed the NCAA's decision but the maximum penalty of three games -- one for every Portsmouth game he played in -- was upheld.
Ramey will be able to play in the Wildcats' exhibition on Tuesday against Division II Western Oregon and will be cleared in time to play in the Nov. 21-23 Maui Invitational. But he will miss the regular-season opener on Nov. 7 against Nicholls along with the other two games UA will play before heading to Hawaii: Against Southern on Nov. 11 and Utah Tech on Nov. 17.
