Sports Shorts: Academic scandal puts Harvard basketball in flux

The Harvard men’s basketball team, which won the Ivy League title and was occasionally ranked in the national top 25 in 2011-12, will look very different this season, as key players will reportedly miss the season after being implicated in the university’s academic scandal.

SI.com’s Luke Winn reported late Monday night that all-Ivy forward Kyle Casey would not enroll in classes for the fall semester. )On Tuesday, the Boston Globe reported that starting point guard Brandyn Curry would also take the year off. If they had enrolled in classes and been punished for academic dishonesty, they could have been prohibited from playing this season, which would have cost them their final seasons of Ivy League eligibility. By withdrawing from school, Casey and Curry leave open the possibility of returning to the team in 2013-14.

Roughly 125 students faced potential punishment for inappropriate collaboration on a take-home final exam, Harvard announced on Aug. 30. The Harvard Crimson reported Monday that the scandal might also affect some members of the football team, which also will try to defend an Ivy League championship title this season.