Antwan Jones (Brandi Stafford photo) | ZOOM |

        Antwan Jones' Division I college basketball career will be over, barring an appeal, should he decide to leave the University of Cincinnati program in the middle of this school year, said Brian Mand, UC's associate athletic director for academics, compliance and student services.

        Jones, a 6-foot-7 forward from Live Oak, Fla., did not travel with the Bearcats to Milwaukee for Wednesday's game at Marquette and was not at practice Thursday at Shoemaker Center.

        There are doubts as to whether Jones will return. He has told some people surrounding the program he intended to quit. He was still in Cincinnati on Thursday, and there was a chance he would meet with coach Bob Huggins today.

        Jones met Wednesday with Mand and UC Athletic Director Bob Goin.

        “I had a visit with him and pointed out the options,” Goin said. “We fulfilled our obligation to tell him up front the kind of impact his decision may have on him. My intent was to tell him to sleep on it, and meet with the coach.”

        Which Jones didn't do Thursday when the team returned to campus. Huggins said before practice he still had not heard from Jones, who surprised the staff by not showing up for Tuesday's practice or for the bus to the airport for the trip to Milwaukee.

        “I'm going to work with the guys who are here,” Huggins said Thursday.

        Jones, a second-team junior-college All-American last season at Tallahassee (Fla.) Community College, is reportedly unhappy with his role. Recruited as a small forward and expected to contend for a starting spot, Jones had to have surgery Oct.2 to repair a non-healing fracture in his right foot, the result of his not rehabilitating properly after breaking his foot in May.

        Jones was averaging 6.5 points and 2.1 rebounds but was displeased with playing mostly power forward in recent games.

        Mand said if Jones drops out of UC now, he would not fulfill his national letter of intent, a binding one-year agreement between the university and the student-athlete. He would lose a year of eligibility, plus he already will have lost this season. The only way he could play Division I ball again would be if he won an appeal with the Collegiate Commissioners Association, which administers the letters of intent.

        Jones could play at a Division II school, which does not honor letters of intent — some do, some don't — or play Division III or NAIA, Mand said.

        If he stays at UC for the rest of the academic year, Jones could transfer to another Division I school, sit out a year, then have a year of eligibility remaining.

        “Leaving now is a mistake,” Goin said. “Those are the kinds of things we went over with him.”

        Jones' departure would leave Cincinnati with just nine scholarship players and football defensive end Antwan Peek. Depth will become even more of an issue than it has been.

        Immanuel McElroy, a 6-4 junior, will serve as backup shooting guard and small forward. Freshman Rod Flowers could be called upon more as a backup power forward. The only other players coming off the bench are freshman shooting guard Field Williams, sophomore center B.J. Grove and Peek.

        His past two games, Jones averaged 10.5 points off the bench, and he probably was on the verge of playing an increased role.

        Junior Steve Logan is among the players who said they had not heard from Jones.

        “It's a loss for us,” Logan said. “No matter who it is. He's a part of the team. He worked hard for us. He could've gotten in the (Marquette) game and scored 16 points and we win by 10. But he wasn't there, and we've just got to find a way to win.

        “I have been through a lot of stuff with this program. I don't know what to tell him. If you want to be a winner, and you want to compete, this is the spot to be. This is not a spot for kids. You have to grow up quick here. And that's what it's all about.”

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