Virginia Tech men's basketball coach Seth Greenberg will have two fewer backups to employ this year.

Greenberg said Monday that Tyrone Appleton, who was supposed to be a freshman guard this year, has been denied admission to Tech.

Also, forward Terrance Vinson will miss the season after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in workouts this summer. He had surgery last week.

Vinson would have been a redshirt freshman this season. He redshirted last season after playing in only six games because of back spasms.

Appleton failed to meet NCAA eligibility requirements.

Appleton spent his junior year at Roosevelt High School in Gary, Ind., and his senior year (2004-05) on the postgraduate team at Bridgton Academy in Maine. Bridgton coach Whit Lesure said Appleton didn't graduate from Bridgton because he was short on credits. He said Appleton had decided in the spring of 2005 to become a fifth-year senior. He didn't have the ACT score he needed when he left Bridgton.

Appleton was a fifth-year senior at Harmony Community School in Cincinnati, averaging 19.5 points last season. He signed with Tech in April

Lesure said because of a clerical error, Bridgton incorrectly stated on his transcript that he graduated from Bridgton. Lesure said the NCAA Clearinghouse took note of that and then raised questions about the validity of his fifth year.

"If the Clearinghouse doesn't change their stance on the Bridgton transcript, then they're not going to count, at least toward the sliding [GPA] scale, credits he earned at Harmony," Lesure said.

Appleton's rejection by Tech means two of Greenberg's four signees won't be attending Tech this year.

As expected, Jeff Allen will play for Hargrave Military Academy's postgraduate team. Allen, who signed with Tech last November, started at Oak Hill Academy last season. Allen filled out an application to Tech, but Greenberg isn't sure whether it was submitted.

"He came here [from DeMatha] and was behind a little bit academically," Oak Hill coach Steve Smith said last spring. "The plan was a year here and a year at Hargrave."

Greenberg defended his judgment in signing two players who lack the academic credentials to attend Tech this year.

"We've recruited good people," Greenberg said Monday. "I'm very pleased with what we're doing in recruiting."

Allen has orally committed to join the Hokies for 2007-08. Greenberg doesn't know Appleton's future plans.

Tech will have 12 scholarship players on the roster, including Vinson (the NCAA limit is 13). It would have had only 11, but Greenberg has given a scholarship to senior Chris Tucker. Tucker, a Lord Botetourt graduate, averaged 9.5 minutes as a walk-on last winter. He got a scholarship that became available when Wynton Witherspoon decided to transfer.