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Sam Cassell Jr. signs with Chipola Junior College

Randy Wittman, Sam Cassell

Washington Wizards coach Randy Wittman, left, and assistant coach Sam Cassell watch as the Phoenix Suns take a commanding lead in the fourth quarter of an NBA basketball game Monday, Feb. 20, 2012, in Phoenix. The Suns won 104-88. (AP Photo/Paul Connors)

AP

After being ruled ineligible by the NCAA to play at Maryland this year, Sam Cassell, Jr. has signed to play with Chipola Junior College, according to Brad Winton of jucorecruiting.com

Cassell, Jr. is one of a number of players caught up in an academic controversy involving classes he took while playing at Notre Dame (Mass.) Prep. Certain players were still cleared to play, but two, Cassell, Jr. and Xavier signee Myles Davis, were deemed partial qualifiers and ineligible for play for the 2012-13 season.

It’s a tough situation for Cassell, Jr., the son of the former NBA star with the same name (in the photo), and another blatant display of selective enforcement by the NCAA. That is, unless they can give a legitimate reason for allowing some of those Notre Dame Prep players named to survive the NCAA Clearinghouse, despite taking the same prep school classes they deemed unsatisfactory by the NCAA’s standards.

However, Cassell, Jr. doesn’t have to look very far for advice about where to go from here.

He knows a guy who was a Prop 48 recruit out of Maine Central Institute who originally signed with DePaul. That guy went on to spend two seasons at San Jacinto (Texas) Junior College before becoming an All-ACC selection at Florida State.

That’d be his dad, Sam Cassell, Sr.

If you have to go this route, I can’t imagine a better way to do it than with a father who’s done it before.

David Harten is the editor of The Backboard Chronicles. You can follow him on Twitter at @David_Harten.