INDIANAPOLIS - Indiana thought it finally had a 7-footer to compete in the Big Ten.

Now the Hoosiers must fill a big void.

School officials said Tuesday that Martinique native Guy-Marc Michel had been declared ineligible by the NCAA after playing five games with a professional French club team in 2007-08. The school's appeal also was rejected because the committee determined Michel had accepted a professional contract and had enrolled in college in 2006, meaning he would not have enough time to regain his eligibility before his five-year college career ended after this season.

Michel played at North Idaho College in 2008-09 and 2009-10.

"For his amateurism issues, typically the penalty is to sit out one year," said Julie Cromer, Indiana's senior associate athletic director for compliance and administration. "We knew he had been over there for three years, so we spent a considerable amount of time trying to figure out what level of competition he was at and that sort of thing. He did many things right."

It wasn't enough to convince the NCAA to give him a break.

Michel was eligible to play both years at North Idaho College as eligibility rules differ between the NCAA and NJCAA.

"It's really unfortunate for him," NIC coach Jared Phay said. "When he graduated from high school, he continued to take classes from that school and enrolled in a university to take some additional classes. Playing on the club teams was a gray area, but wouldn't have affected his eligibility. At the worst, we thought he'd have to sit out a couple games at the most, or Indiana probably wouldn't have signed him."

The ruling is a major blow to the resurgent Hoosiers who, at 6-0, are off to their best start since 2002-03.

Cromer said school officials got the first ruling Oct. 15. The appeal process continued through the end of last week.

What exactly Michel can do, though, is unclear. He will stay on scholarship, in school, receive academic help and can work out with the coaches. He cannot suit up for the Hoosiers.

So can he practice?

“That’s part of what we’re still talking to the NCAA about,” Cromer said during a hastily called conference call with reporters.

The case was complicated.

He signed an agreement to play club basketball in France, but when he was called up from an amateur team to a top-level club that included professionals, Cromer said the NCAA ruled the agreement became a professional contract even though he was only paid normal and necessary expenses.

The bigger issue became his admission to a French university.

Cromer said Michel’s high school and college had the same name, which made it difficult for Indiana’s compliance department to determine whether he had actually enrolled in college. Michel then played two seasons at NIC before joining the Hoosiers this fall.

Division I athletes are allowed to compete for four seasons during a five-year span. So this would have been Michel’s final college season.

The announcement came after Indiana flew to Boston, where the Hoosiers play tonight in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, and coach Tom Crean issued a statement through the athletic department.

“We are disappointed by this decision because everyone involved in this process agrees that Guy did not intentionally do anything that would have jeopardized his ability to play here or at any of the number of institutions that also recruited him,” Crean said. “We will regroup, assess all our options and do whatever we can for Guy, who has demonstrated to us that he deserves to be part of the IU program.”

Indiana appealed based on a new NCAA rule that allows international players, like Michel, to compete with professional teammates while maintaining their amateur status if they only receive money to cover their expenses.

But the Hoosiers didn’t win that argument, either.

“We were hoping reasonable changes would have reflected some flexibility in cases like this with relatively minimal participation and the fact that he tried to remain an amateur the whole time,” Cromer said. “That was the basis for our appeal.”

Michel averaged 7.1 points and 7.3 rebounds last season at North Idaho.

Phay believes Michel can still play at the college level, whether the Division II or NAIA level.

“I’d be pretty shocked if he wasn’t NAIA eligible,” Phay said. “There’s probably a lot of teams jumping at the chance to get him. The rules at the Division II level are a little different, so he could end up there also.”