Davis receives clearance for GU

Theo Davis, a 6-foot-9, 220-pounder from the Toronto suburb of Brampton, Ontario, will be eligible to play basketball at Gonzaga University this winter.

According to GU assistant coach Tommy Lloyd, who was instrumental in the recruitment of the highly touted power forward, the school learned late Friday afternoon that Davis has been cleared to compete by the NCAA Clearinghouse.

Davis, who signed a letter of intent to play for Iowa State in 2005 but failed to qualify academically, spent parts of the last two school years at Lutheran Christian Academy in Philadelphia, a basketball-oriented prep school that has recently come under media scrutiny for its questionable academic practices.

Davis signed a letter of intent with Gonzaga this spring, but the school did not make the signing public at that time, presumably because of the uncertainty of his academic standing. He is scheduled to arrive at Gonzaga today and will enroll for the current semester, which began last week.

Neither GU head coach Mark Few nor Bulldogs athletic director Mike Roth could be reached for comment on Saturday, but Lloyd said he expects Davis to be a good fit with the Zags.

“He’s a good kid, and he knows how to play,” Lloyd said of Davis, who spent his junior year in high school at Bayside-Cardozo in New York, where he lived with an aunt and averaged 17.2 points and 15.3 rebounds per game. “He’s athletic, he can really run the floor, he’s got great timing at blocking shots, he’s a good rebounder and he’s got great instincts.”

Davis reportedly left Bayside-Cardozo during his senior year because of a family illness before ending up at Lutheran Christian. His statistics from last season at Lutheran Christian were not available.

Davis will replace Mamery Diallo, a seldom-used center, on the Bulldogs roster. According to Lloyd, Diallo is no longer enrolled at GU and is expected to pursue a basketball career in his home country of France.