TU Recruit Kuqo may have been Pro

Monday, July 24th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

The prize of Tulsa Universityâ€™s menâ€™s basketball recruiting class may actually be a professional. A source inside the university has revealed to The News on Six that Ermal Kuqoâ€™s amateur status is in question.

The unnamed source says a Turkish professional basketball franchise has contacted the school claiming to have Kuqo under contract. The contract reportedly runs until 2003.

It is not known if the contract is valid, or what it would do to Kuqoâ€™s eligibility as a prospective college basketball player in the United States. No one is saying whether Kuqo received money or even played for the unnamed Turkish team. If he did take a payment, he would likely be ineligible to play stateside.

Kuqo recently told media members he would not attend Tulsa like he had originally decided. He pointed out the fact that former coach Bill Self left the university to become head at Illinois as his main reason for not honoring his letter of intent to play for the Golden Hurricane.

The 6â€™10â€™ center from Albania played at Fort Scott (Kansas) Junior College last season. His former coach, Chris Beard, is now head coach at Seminole (OK) Junior College. Kuqo speculated earlier this week that he may opt to return to junior college and play for Beard at Seminole. His eligibility there would be in question as well, if itâ€™s found he received money from his turkish team.