The Quinnipiac Bobcats men’s basketball team suffered a big hit as the new season quickly approaches. With just over a week until the Bobcats open up their 2014-15 season in the Connecticut 6 Classic against the Bulldogs of Yale, the team has found out that junior guard Giovanni McLean will not be able to be with the team for at least the beginning of the season.

According to Lee Higgins of The Journal News McLean will not be able to play or practice with the team while the NCAA reviews his transcripts from Westchester Community College.

Losing McLean is going to hurt the Bobcats’ depth at the guard position. He was originally slated to attend the University of Oklahoma but did not complete enough semesters at Westchester to attend Oklahoma. Quinnipiac head coach Tom Moore saw this as a chance to improve his guard depth and help replace former guards Umar Shannon and Shaq Shannon, both of whom graduated last year. The addition of McLean would bolster an already strong team, and would help the Bobcats in the MAAC, which is usually a very guard dominant conference.

The Bobcats will now expect sophomore guard Kasim Chandler to assume much more of the workload at the point guard position with McLean out of the lineup.

The NCAA has granted McLean permission to continue his studies at Quinnipiac for this semester before a final decision is made regarding his status. The Bobcats have seven games before the end of the fall semester. MAAC play opens up on Dec. 5, just eight days before the end of the fall semester.

McLean is now the fourth player to be involved in this transcript scandal. Last week St. John’s declared forward Keith Thomas ineligible for the season. Florida A&M’s Damien Davis and Jamall Walker also lost their athletic scholarships all amidst the transcript scandal.

The NCAA will continue to investigate the possible transcript fraud before making a final decision on McLean’s status for the entire season.