OLEAN, N.Y. -- The St. Bonaventure men's basketball team must forfeit six Atlantic 10 Conference victories and is barred from the postseason tournament for using an ineligible player.

The sanctions were determined Monday after the conference's 12 presidents conducted a teleconference call.

St. Bonaventure's games have been in question since last week when the school declared junior center Jamil Terrell ineligible for failing to meet NCAA junior college transfer guidelines.

School officials, who said they were petitioning the A-10 to have Terrell reinstated, declined to say what guidelines he might have failed to meet.

St. Bonaventure coach Jan Van Breda Kolff told reporters Monday he couldn't discuss Terrell's case. He said he first heard of it last Wednesday.

"He was declared eligible. We went through a lot of paperwork and a lot of things that were taken care of, and everybody from here on in said everything was in compliance. So we went along with what everybody else said," Van Breda Kolff said. "Now, things have changed dramatically."

Sources told The Buffalo News in Monday's editions that Terrell did not have an associate's degree from Coastal Georgia Community College in Brunswick, Ga., but had earned a certificate in welding. Course work in such a trade would not satisfy the NCAA's core curriculum requirements for junior college transfers, who must have minimum credits in core areas such as English, history and science.

Terrell joined the Bonnies last year after spending the previous two seasons at Coastal Georgia. He started 18 of the 25 games he appeared in for St. Bonaventure before sitting out last Wednesday's 94-89 overtime victory over George Washington when questions of his eligibility were raised.

Terrell was declared ineligible a day later. The forfeiture of the Atlantic 10 victories changes the team's conference record to 1-13, placing the Bonnies in last place in the East Division.

Because of the sanctions, five teams will have byes for the opening round of the A-10 tournament. Dayton, Saint Joseph's, and Xavier have already clinched byes. There will be three opening-round games.

Temple, which had clinched a bye, now has not because of Rhode Island earning a forfeited win. Richmond, which has clinched the third seed in the West, will now receive a bye because St. Bonaventure is locked into last place in the East.

St. Bonaventure President Dr. Robert J. Wickenheiser took full responsibility for approving the transfer.

"Throughout the process, I made a series of well-intentioned decisions based on a series of assumptions and interpretations," Wickenheiser said in a statement released by the school. "The NCAA has come to a conclusion different from the one I reached."

"I want to emphasize that none of these actions indicate any wrongdoing by Jamil Terrell," Wickenheiser said.

By agreeing to the sanctions, Wickenheiser hoped "that the NCAA will see these penalties as sufficiently severe sanctions."

The college president was in California and not available for additional comment.

The school was last sanctioned in 1968 and placed on one year's probation for a recruiting violation.

St. Bonaventure initially proposed forfeiting its six conference wins but the presidents of the conference argued that it should also miss the postseason tournament.

School spokesman David Ferguson informed the team of the sanctions and said the players were "devastated." He said the players have said they will not address the media.

Van Breda Kolff was not immediately available after the decision.

Terrell led the team with 31 blocked shots, was third with 121 rebounds and fourth in scoring, averaging 6.9 points per game. Terrell had only a combined 18 points and 16 rebounds in his last five games, all coming off the bench.

In a conference call with sportswriters Monday, John Chaney, coach at A-10 rival Temple, criticized the ruling on Terrell.

"I find that the NCAA and our presidents have become more of a group that tends to punish rather than encourage youngsters," Chaney said. He suggested taking another look at Terrell's transcript to see if he has the equivalent of the associate's degree.

The decision to strip the Bonnies of their victories came two weeks before the conference tournament is scheduled to be played in Dayton, Ohio. With two regular season games left, St. Bonaventure (13-14, 7-7) is in fourth place in the A-10's East Division.

The A-10 ruling wouldn't prevent the NCAA from launching an investigation and potentially imposing its own sanctions.