NCAA clears Marvin Bagley to play for Duke this season

Marvin Bagley III is eligible to play for Duke this season.

The school announced Friday that Bagley received approval from the NCAA Clearinghouse and will be eligible to play as a freshman at Duke this season.

“From the outset of this process, we were optimistic that it would end with the NCAA Eligibility Center certifying Marvin to compete for Duke University in 2017-18,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said in a statement. “We are thrilled for Marvin and the Bagley family. Their organization and efficiency were key to the successful conclusion of the certification process, as were the efforts of our Duke Athletics administration.”

The 6-11 Bagley completed high school early a year early this summer and announced in August that he planned to play for Duke, picking the Blue Devils over Arizona and Southern California among other schools. A five-star recruit, Bagley was originally rated as the top player in the Class of 2018 before reclassifying to this year’s freshman class.

Bagley enrolled at Duke last month and started classes on Aug. 28, the first day of classes for Duke’s fall semester. The NCAA Clearinghouse completed an exhaustive background search of Bagley to determine his eligibility according to its academic and amateurism rules. Bagley attended three high schools, the last of which was Sierra Canyon High School in Chatsworth, Calif.

This story was originally published September 8, 2017 at 1:54 PM with the headline "NCAA clears Marvin Bagley to play for Duke this season."