STORRS, Conn. (AP) – Connecticut suspended guard A.J. Price from basketball for the entire 2005-06 season as a result of his arrest on charges of trying to sell stolen laptops this summer, but has allowed his co-defendant Marcus Williams to return to the team in December.

University officials announced the school-imposed sanctions on Friday, ending weeks of speculation about the fate of the two points guards.

Under the school penalties, both have been kicked out of campus housing and dining halls – Price for three years and Williams until next August.

They also have been suspended for the 2005-06 academic year, but those suspension were held in abeyance, meaning if they fail to meet all the conditions they could be expelled. Price will return to classes in the spring semester, while Williams has been attending classes this semester.

Both players also have to complete several hours of community service under the school penalties.

In their criminal cases, both applied for a special form of probation for first-time offenders. Their criminal records would be erased if they successfully complete that probation.

The laptops were stolen between June 9 and June 14. Both were arrested on larceny charges, and Price also was charged with lying to police, a misdemeanor.

The four laptops, which have a total value of $11,000, have been recovered. Two were recovered in Price’s room.

Coach Jim Calhoun suspended the pair indefinitely from all team activities after their arrests in August. He called the university judicial process a fair and deliberate one.

“I have said since the beginning of this process that we should never be in the business of abandoning young men who have made a mistake and I am glad that we will not be doing that,” Calhoun said. “We have punished them and so now has the University and hopefully in the process we can teach them that there are serious consequences when you act as selfishly as they did.”