Notre Dame forward Tim Abromaitis was denied a sixth year of eligibility from the NCAA and will not appeal the decision, the school announced Tuesday.
Abromaitis tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee Nov. 25, costing him his fifth season with the Irish. He played in just two games in the 2011-12 season, averaging 14 points and 7 rebounds per game.
Abromaitis had been forced to sit out the first four games of this past season because of a misunderstanding of NCAA rules from his sophomore season three years earlier, when he played in a pair of exhibitions before redshirting that season. Despite missing most of this past season, he was honored at the Big East tournament in March as the Big East Scholar-Athlete of the Year, becoming the first player to win the award three years in a row.
Abromaitis also sat out the 2008-09 season simply to preserve a year of eligibility.
The 6-foot-8, 236-pound Abromaitis was a preseason All-Big East selection who played on the USA men's basketball World University Games team in August. He finishes his college career averaging 13.7 points a game and 4.8 rebounds per game.
Notre Dame has also applied for a sixth year of eligibility for Scott Martin but said it has not yet received a decision. Martin figures to have a better chance of receiving the extra year, as the Valparaiso, Ind., native played his freshman year at Purdue in 2007-08 before transferring to Notre Dame to be closer to his sick father, sitting out the next season and then missing the 2009-10 campaign because of a torn ACL in his left knee suffered in a preseason workout.
