Use of illegal players goes back to "who knows when"....
I agree that the officials should not be put in a position to make that "call." It is interesting what some schools will do. The state associations do need to intervene and make the punishiment severe enough to disuade future "transgressions."
Whenever I hear the phrase "ineligible player", I instantaneously think of a situation which occurred in the 1981 WI State Tourn. DIV 1 (Largest Schools). A Milwaukee school used an ineligible player, 20 year-old student, to narrowly defeat a much smaller, "upstate" school. As far as I know, the "Upstate" school was never awarded the "Golden Basketball" and the scandal was minimized. It was a tragic shame. Especially when interscholastic sports are models for preparing our students to be better citizens.
OK, I am "off my soabox".
