NCAA rules NC State player ineligible because he attended class

RALEIGH, North Carolina (WTVD) -- Everyone expected the NCAA to punish an ACC school on Friday. Little did most know it would be NC State.

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On the day when the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was thought by many to face major repercussions after the NCAA spent years investigating UNC, drawing up charges that included sham classes, lack of institutional control and impermissible benefits, it was instead rival NC State that was punished. The Tar Heels got off clean.

The NCAA ruled NC State basketball freshman Braxton Beverly ineligible to play this season. Why? Because he actually went to class.

Beverly, then at Ohio State, and fellow freshmen began attending summer school in mid-May, before Buckeye's basketball coach Thad Matta was let go on June 5. The NCAA said that according to its bylaws, Beverly has to sit out this season because he attended classes at another school, though he never played a single game for Ohio State.

Beverly and the university said it will appeal the NCAA's decision.

"I'm devastated by this decision; it's incredibly unfair," Beverly said in a statement. "I appreciate NC State and the work being done here to appeal this decision. My hope is that it gets resolved and I can be eligible to play this season."

Beverly is a 6-foot guard from Kentucky who attended Hargrave Military Academy -- the prep school in which NC State coach Kevin Keatts was a head coach from 1999 to 2001 and again from 2003 to 2011. NC State assistant A.W. Hamilton coached Beverly at Hargrave last season.

"I'm very disappointed for Braxton, I know he's devastated," Keatts said. "We'll appeal this and hopefully it yields a different result."

ESPN contributed to this report.