After an offseason in which one of its top young players left the program and another talented freshman wasn't allowed into school due his checkered history, Maryland coach Gary Williams finally got some good news.

Terps incoming freshman guard Sean Mosley got a qualifying SAT score (according to numerous published reports) and is expected to be eligible to play this season in College Park.

Now Williams will have a potent guard trio in Greivis Vasquez, Eric Hayes and Mosley. There's no question that Vasquez is one of the top players in the ACC and maybe even the country and adding Mosley, a bona-fide scorer, should help ease some of the scoring burden.

But Mosley won't solve the Terps glaring issue. They don't have frontcourt guys that are capable of stepping in and replacing James Gist and Bambale Osby.

Braxton Dupree is, in all likelihood, a year away from making an impact in the ACC. He averaged 2.5 points and 2.2 rebounds in a little more than 10 minutes per game while backing up Gist and Osby last season.

Jerome Burney and Dave Neal are backups in the ACC.

Maryland has been to the NIT two of the last three seasons and it's difficult to imagine anything different this time around.

PENN-ING FOR ANOTHER YEAR

McNeese coach Dave Simmons is still waiting on the appeal to get big man Kleon Penn a fifth-year.

The 6-foot-11, 285-pound native of the Virgin Islands was fourth in the country in blocks.

``He takes up a lot of space in the paint," Simmons said.

Penn played two years at McNeese and also spent part of one season at a community college in the Virgin Islands, but the issue is regarding when his clock began as far as his eligibility is concerned.

``If he comes back, the sky's the limit," Simmons said. "But if we don't get him back, we'll still be a very good team."

GLOBAL SPORTS CLASSIC TOURNEY

Here is the schedule for the eight-team event, which finishes out at the Thomas& Mack Center in Las Vegas on Nov. 28-29.

First and Second Rounds

Nov. 18 - Texas Pan-American at UNLV
Nov. 20 - Texas Pan-American at Cal

Nov. 22 - Western Illinois at Cincinnati
Coastal Carolina at Florida State
NC A&T at UNLV

Nov. 24 - Western Illinois at Florida State
Coastal Carolina at Cincinnati
NC A&T at Cal

Third Round

Nov. 28
Coastal Carolina vs. Western Illinois, 12 p.m.
Texas Pan-American vs. NC A&T, 2:30 p.m.
Cal vs. UNLV, 5 p.m.
Florida State vs. Cincinnati, 7:30 p.m.

Championship Round

Nov. 29
Loser of Coastal Carolina/W. Illinois vs. Loser of Texas Pan-American/NC A&T, 12
Winner of Costal Carolina/W Illinois vs. Winner of Texas Pan-American/NC A&T, 2:30
Loser of Cal/UNLV vs. Loser of Florida State/Cincinnati, 5 p.m.
Winner of Cal/UNLV vs. Winner of Florida State/Cincinnati, 7:30 p.m.

RANDOM NOTES: Skilled freshman Teeng Akol has left South Florida and sources indicate that he could land at Nebraska. ... Georgia Tech added former St. Francis forward Bassirou Dieng, who will be able to play immediately due to the fact that he enrolled in a graduate program that wasn't offered by his previous school. The 6-foot-9 Dieng, who averaged 10.7 points and 6.6 rebounds last season, has one year of eligibility left.