Scout.com reports Frank Ben-Eze of Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington, Virginia, has rescinded his commitment to Harvard and will be re-opening his commitment. The 6-11 Nigerian center made a splash when he committed to Tommy Amaker’s program back in October over offers from ACC and Big East teams. More recently he found himself in the middle of a New York Times story concerning allegations of recruiting improprieties and lowered admissions standards at the school. The loss of Ben-Eze still leaves Amaker with six public commitments in his 2008 recruiting class.

Slant: The timing might give the appearance that this is fallout from the Times piece, but this was said to be the case long before the article. Harvard was committed to abiding by the Academic Index and no one would be admitted below the AI minimum. Given the fact Ben-Eze had not yet received his likely letter when Pete Thamel’s article as of a week ago, it’s very possible he either failed to reach the necessary test score needed or realized he was not going to do so and decided to get back on the recruiting scene before all the scholarships disappeared elsewhere.

No individual commitment brought as much attention to Amaker’s recruiting class as Ben-Eze, so from a publicity standpoint it’s a big loss. Ben-Eze had struggled with leg injuries this season, missing time due to a stress fracture and a knee injury, and his recruiting stock had dropped somewhat, but he was still a big part of the Crimson’s future plans and leaves a bit of a hole in the class. Amaker still has a commitment from Andrew Van Nest, but the 6-9 big man is more of a perimeter player than a traditional post. Even without Ben-Eze, it’s still a very strong recruiting class with Max Kenyi and Oliver McNally — two potential All-Ivy players down the road — but not the same as it would have been with the athletic big man in the fold.