Chris Lawson, a 6-5 guard from Chicago's Harlan High School, found out late this summer that his plans for the upcoming year had to change.

Lawson, who signed a National Letter of Intent in the early signing period with Northern Illinois, was looking forward to being reunited with NIU assistant Andre Peavy, a former coach at Harlan.

But in mid-July, he was notified that "academics" were a problem. This was an unpleasant surpise for a young man who had the required GPA and core courses and what was thought was a qualifying score of 20 on the ACT.

This is what Peavy said when NIU announced Lawson's signing:

"Chris is great kid and a great student. He's very athletic, he can beat you off the dribble to the left and to the right. Chris has a Big Ten body and is going to bring a level of skill at the guard position that I don't think we've had in a while. He really wants to be a good player and reach his full potential."

But here's the brick that flew through Lawson's window. Frank Rusnick of the Northern Illinois student newspaper, The Northern Star, reported today,

"It turns out that when he took the ACT test at Harlan, a school that is on academic probation to begin with, Lawson was not made aware that it was only a preparatory ACT test that did not count as an official testing."

Lawson's last minute attempt to gain a qualifying score didn't work out.

So this young man who had great memories from his senior year (he had averaged 18 points, six assists, six rebounds and two steals; his team had won the Chicago Blue South Conference; and, he had received All-City honors) had to make some quick plans as the summer came to a close.

Rather than pay his way as a non-qualifier and sit out a year, Lawson is headed to Butler County Community College in Kansas for his freshman year at the high regarded JC program.