Amare Stoudemire, the much-maligned high school junior who has gone through five schools and is considered the top basketball player in his class and arguably the nation, had his latest appeal to play at West Orange High (Fla.) denied on Thursday afternoon by the Florida High School Activities Association.

The 6-foot-10, 230-pound Stoudemire, who has attended West Orange since Oct. 17, was turned down on a

	Amare Stoudemire had his eligibility appeal denied Thursday by the Florida High School Activities Association.

unanimous vote by the four-member panel. The FHSAA originally declared him ineligible on Dec. 7 because of many factors, including the fact that they did not receive his transcript from Mt. Zion Academy (N.C.) until just prior to the hearing.

"I've not dealt with a case that had more violations of the bylaws before," FHSAA associate commissioner Dan Boyd told SchoolSports.com. "This one had a lot of different sidebars."

The FHSAA looked into the relationship between Stoudemire and his former AAU coach, Travis King, who was hired by West Orange as an assistant coach about a month before Stoudemire came to the school. King resigned from his position prior to the start of the season.

Other issues explored include a rule stating that a student has to be in school full-time receiving grades in all courses for two consecutive semesters prior to coming to West Orange, according to Boyd.

The 18-year-old Stoudemire grew up in Florida and transferred from Lake Wales High (Fla.) to Mount Zion Academy in October 1999. He then followed a handful of Mount Zion players to a new North Carolina school, Emanuel Christian Academy. In April, he left and returned to Lake Wales, then attended summer school at Dr. Phillips High (Fla.) before settling in at West Orange.

"He left Lake Wales High in 1999 and only stayed at Mt. Zion until Dec. 5," said Boyd. "He didn't enroll at Emmanuel Christian (N.C.) until Feb. 1."

Stoudemire, who is expected to bypass college and head straight to the NBA, attended the appeal along with King.