Princeton forward Spencer Gloger became the second Ivy League basketball star in as many weeks to be ruled academically ineligible and forced to leave school. A week ago, Harvard guard Patrick Harvey -- then the second leading scorer in the Ivy League -- was declared ineligible by Harvard's Administrative Board. "Spencer has been declared academically ineligible," Princeton coach John Thompson said in a press release. "I'm extremely disappointed for Spencer, but we will move on." Gloger had been averaging 15.9 points per game -- good enough for fourth in the Ivies. He also leads Princeton in rebounding. Unlike Harvey -- whose eligibility has expired -- Gloger does have a chance to return to Princeton for another semester of playing. While he is not currently enrolled in the school, Gloger could apply for readmission in the Spring 2004 semester, at which point he could resume his basketball career. Still, that will not help Princeton (11-9, 5-2) get back into the Ivy race this season. The Tigers currently stand two games behind Ivy League-leading Penn and one game behind Brown -- each of whom have defeated the Tigers this season. "I'm disappointed that I won't be able to help my teammates for the rest of this season," Gloger said in a press release. "I'll be pulling for them." Gloger will not be accompanying Princeton on their upcoming road trip to Dartmouth and Harvard. Following an excellent freshman year at Princeton, during which he was named honorable mention All-Ivy, averaged 12 points per game and set the school record for three-pointers made in a season, the Southern California-native shocked the Tigers by returning to his roots, transferring to UCLA. For two academic years Gloger attended UCLA without playing basketball before returning to Princeton this season. Gloger played at a high level and -- like Harvey -- was a virtual lock to be named first team All-Ivy. As it stands now, Penn's Ugonna Onyekwe and Brown's Earl Hunt are the only two of the Ivy League's four leading scorers to have not been forced to withdraw from their respective universities this season. Unlike Harvey, who had been forced to leave Harvard for academic reasons for the 2000-2001 season due to academic difficulties, Gloger's withdrawal came without any publicized prior academic difficulties.
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