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Georgia State declares Denny Burguillos and Cameron Solomon academically ineligible

Georgia St BYU Basketball

Georgia State’s head coach Ron Hunter brings his players in for a timeout as they trailed BYU during their NCAA college basketball game against BYU in Provo, Utah, Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Daily Herald, Mark Johnston)

AP

In their final season in the Colonial Athletic Association the Georgia State Panthers have gone through an up and down season, as they enter this weekend with a 7-11 record (2-3 CAA).

Unfortunately for head coach Ron Hunter his bench will be a bit thinner for the remainder of the season, as the school announced on Friday that junior forward Denny Burguillos and redshirt sophomore guard Cameron Solomon are academically ineligible.

Burguillos and Solomon were on the lower end of the Panthers’ eight-man rotation, as they averaged 12.9 and 11.2 minutes per game respectively. Burguillos, a 6-7 forward from Venezuela who arrived at Georgia State by way of Casper CC in Wyoming, averaged 1.6 points and 2.5 rebounds in 17 games (six starts). Solomon was the more productive scorer of the two, averaging 5.4 points per game.

The question for Hunter is who can he call on to take some of the minutes now open with Burguillos and Solomon ineligible. Freshman David Travers is coming off of a game in which he scored eight points in 11 minutes of action (74-58 win over William & Mary) but is averaging just over six minutes per game on the season.

Fellow guard Ryann Green played 12 minutes in the win over William & Mary, and if the move isn’t to simply disperse those 24 minutes among the six players who have been consistent members of the rotation Travers and/or Green could be in line for an increase in playing time.

Georgia State plays four of its next five games on the road, beginning with Old Dominion on Saturday night. Three games behind first-place Northeastern (and two behind Towson, who they visit on Monday) it will be tough for the Panthers to make a run and put themselves in position to land a postseason bid.

With their decision to move to Conference USA, the Panthers won’t be able to take part in this season’s CAA tournament (conference bylaws prohibit departing schools from taking part).

Given what the CAA has been to this point in the season (favorites Delaware and Drexel have disappointed) this would be a good year for a team like Georgia State to have the conference tournament to shoot for.

Raphielle also writes for the NBE Basketball Report and can be followed on Twitter at @raphiellej.