|
|
|
Monday, December 18, 2000
NCAA's final notice may mean suspensions
By Andy Katz
ESPN.com
|
Suspensions could rock college basketball's season in February and in March after the NCAA sent out 700 letters on Dec. 8 to student-athletes who attended prep, private or parochial schools in all sports to see if they received any aid in their educational expenses.
The NCAA set a mid-January deadline for responses after only eight student-athletes -- four in men's basketball -- admitted they did receive aid after signing a student-athlete statement at the beginning of this academic year.
|  | | While he doesn't agree with the NCAA, UConn freshman Caron Butler sat out three games to start the season to avoid further punishment. |
If schools fight the call for an investigation into how tuition was paid prior to college, or if the student willingly admits aid was given after being prodded a second time, then the penalties will be harsher than had the players been honest in August. A number of high-profile programs have players who could fall into this category if they received aid.
The four who came clean to start the season -- Connecticut's Caron Butler, New Mexico's Zeke Johnson, Fordham's Jeff McMillan and Oklahoma's Ronnie Griffin -- sat out their teams' first three games (or 10 percent of the schedule) under the one-time amnesty rule allowed by the NCAA.
"We've had little response," the NCAA's Jane Jankowksi said. "We've simply asked if the school has investigated, then to forward the information to us. Following the deadline for return of that information, then we will evaluate with the appropriate course of action. If they don't come forward, then we'll have a penalty that will be difference from three games with no repayment of the funds."
Jankowski said she wasn't sure how many schools received letters, but the 700 student-athletes weren't all basketball players.
Response to the NCAA pursuing the matter was treated with disdain, even from the players and coaches who took the initiative to honor the rule.
|
WEEKLY CHATTER
|
|
ESPN.com's Andy Katz has the word from around the country. Among his items:
East: Spiders' web
No team in the nation has a harder road to the NCAA Tournament then Richmond.
Midwest: Big 12's new faces
The Big 12 will get a slew of mid-year additions in the next few weeks.
West: 'The Call'
The Pac-10 gave its officials working the Arizona-UConn game a vote of confidence.
|
"I think it's one of the most preposterous things I have heard," St. John's coach Mike Jarvis said. "I can't believe it doesn't border on illegal. If I were a parent of a player who went to a private, public or Catholic school, then there's no way I would allow myself or my family to be scrutinized by the NCAA."
Jarvis was an outspoken critic of the process a year ago when point guard Erick Barkley was suspended twice, once for this rule after he got help to go to Maine Central Institute and prior to that Christ the King High. The Red Storm traditionally recruit the Catholic schools in New York and freshman point Omar Cook went to the same school as Barkley.
"The NCAA should get out of the business of what happens before college," Jarvis said. "I'm surprised that even eight responded. People have already responded (by not responding) and the NCAA must not have liked the answer."
Jarvis wasn't alone in his criticism.
"UConn made the decision, and I guess I'd rather lose the games now then take a longer penalty," Butler said. "I'm glad they did it."
But Butler didn't agree that the rule should exist. Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun said he doesn't feel good either about Butler sitting out three games, especially since he was just getting help to go to school.
"It's wrong," Calhoun said. "I'm disappointed the NCAA continues to pursue this. I feel better that we did it, but I don't want to see any other kids go through this."
Fordham coach Bob Hill said he respects the NCAA rules but doesn't see, like Jarvis, how the NCAA can judge what happens prior to college. Butler, Johnson and McMillan are freshmen and their cases dealt with aid just a year ago. But Griffin is a junior-college transfer and the NCAA looked back at his aid at Maine Central Institute three years ago.
|
MY VOTE COUNTS
|
|
Guess what? After criticizing the Wooden Award committee over the summer for putting out a preseason list too early, and omitting Marcus Fizer last year in its midseason list, I was asked to be a voter.
I agonized over this list, especially what to do with Loren Woods. He can be added when the next list comes out in March. He was suspended for six games and played in only one before the ballot was due.
I'm confident that Woods will be one of the top 10 players in the country by the end of the season, making him a natural to be on the final list. But, for now, it was hard to justify putting him ahead of players who have helped their teams come up with big wins, or led the to impressive starts.
So, here's my Wooden Award midseason top 30. (in no particular order):
Joseph Forte, North Carolina; Rodney White, Charlotte; Jason Williams, Duke; Shane Battier, Duke; Robert O'Kelley, Wake Forest; Caron Butler, Connecticut; Eddie Griffin, Seton Hall; Gerald Wallace, Alabama; Tony Harris, Tennessee; Charlie Bell, Michigan State.
Jason Richardson, Michigan State; Michael Wright, Arizona; Casey Jacobson, Stanford; Casey Calvary, Gonzaga; Kareem Rush, Missouri; Kenny Gregory, Kansas; Preston Shumpert, Syracuse; Brandon Wolfram, UTEP; Luke Recker, Iowa.
Frank Williams, Illinois; Mike Kelley, Wisconsin; Lynn Greer, Temple; Reggie Evans, Iowa; Tamar Slay, Marshall; Troy Murphy, Notre Dame; Michael Bradley, Villanova; Jamaal Tinsley, Iowa State; Darius Lane, Seton Hall; Udonis Haslam, Florida; Jason Kapono, UCLA.
--Andy Katz
|
"There's no way Jeff gets to this stage if he doesn't have help," Hill said. "We won two of the three games without him, but this isn't good for college basketball. The NBA is taking the good young college players and a new prep league will take the ones with academic problems. We can't even work with the players in the summer time. This isn't right."
Like Hill and Calhoun, New Mexico coach Fran Fraschilla said he's glad Johnson was upfront on the matter and sat the first three games. But he doesn't think it was the right thing for the NCAA to pursue this case. He said anybody from a Catholic school or a prep school in New England probably got some aid if they're from an inner city.
"I can't believe they're going to get into the middle of this mess," Fraschilla said. "But only four men's basketball players out of 320 Division I schools makes you scratch your head."
The NCAA isn't naïve and doesn't expect a world of results in less than a month, especially with the Christmas holiday. Schools would have to conduct quick investigations in a short amount of time. Some schools don't even return to classes until mid-January.
If the NCAA doesn't have answers on some of these players, especially the high-profile players, then they will have an interesting dilemma. Last year's tournament began minus Auburn's Chris Porter because of an agent issue. Barkley played under a cloud that he could have been suspended at any minute. Can the NCAA afford the public relations nightmare of suspending freshmen before the tournament begins?
But Jim Haney, the executive director of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, said coaches and players have a responsibility to honor the rule.
"Ethically, we have to respond to the same questions they asked in August that they're asking in mid-December," Haney said.
Meanwhile, the NCAA is still pursuing its cases from last year. Players like Barkley, Michigan's Jamal Crawford, Cincinnati's DerMarr Johnson and UCLA's JaRon Rush were all asked to make repayments because of extra benefits, yet they all declared for the draft.
"The school has an obligation to make the repayment if the (student-athlete doesn't)," Jankowski said. "If they don't, then it becomes highly unlikely that the NCAA would allow a repayment structure for any future violations at the school."
Coaches reviewing latest legislation
Haney said he was pleased with the recruiting rules voted on by the Basketball Issues Committee last week.
The new rules for 2002, expected to be ratified by the NCAA by October 2001, include a strict criteria for summer tournaments, teams and coaches; 20 evaluation days; no contact during evaluation, and enforcement in the summer; only written contact with sophomores; one call a month to juniors and juniors being allowed to make official visits.
"We might want to tweak it here or there, but we're pleased with what we saw," Haney said. "The main thing is their strong desire to keep summer evaluation. This proposal addressed all the key positions."
Haney added that he's not worried of a mass epidemic of coaches citing burnout and leaving the profession after Wisconsin's Dick Bennett and Northern Illinois' Brian Hammel quit in the past two weeks for that reason.
But if there is one topic the NABC is trying to get out in front on it's the five-and- eight rule for scholarship limitations. While the NCAA membership -- notably the board of directors -- is against changing the rule, the NABC is sending out letters to ADs and conference commissioners saying the rule must be changed. Presently, schools can sign only five players in a given recruiting class (if they have that many scholarships) and eight over a two-year period.
"If there's a coaching change then the coach is saddled with decisions from the previous regime," Haney said. "Classes are getting imbalanced and what if a kid has to seek a medical redshirt? We can't stay silent on something that we think is wrong."
Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com. His Weekly Word on college basketball is updated Thursdays/Fridays throughout the year.
|
|
ALSO SEE
The Word's Answer Man
Katz's Daily Word
Have a question for the Weekly Word?
Missed the Word?
|
|
