Calipari Plays Nice With The NCAA
October 21st, 2010 10:55 AM║ Posted By: John Pennington ║ Permalink
║ Schools: Kentucky
John Calipari is a sharp dude.
Knowing that the NCAA holds the fate of big man Enes Kanter in their hands, Kentucky’s basketball coach is trying to snuff out the anti-NCAA sentiment that’s been percolating among the UK fanbase in recent weeks.
At Friday’s Big Blue Madness, Calipari told ESPN’s Jimmy Dykes the following (which now appears on CoachCal.com):
“First of all everybody has to understand, the NCAA is not working against us or Enes, they’re working with us. They very easily could have shut this down and said, ‘We’re not even looking into it.’
“But what they know is he was 14, 15 and 16 when he played for that club team. He’s not 22, 23-years-old. He just turned 18. Athough each case is unique and is evaluated on its own set of facts, what the NCAA is going to decide is going to affect all foreign players in a similar situation. The current rules make their decision even harder.
“An example: A young man in the United States goes to a ‘prep school’ for basketball. His education, tutors and books (computer, phone, etc) are all paid for by the school and could cost nearly $50,000 per school year.
“In Europe that’s not the case; if the club gives a family expense money to educate their son, the NCAA rules — at this time — state that those expenses can not be sued because the club has a professional team; the young man’s age (14 or 15 years old) doesn’t matter.”
Calipari concluded: “So I think, at the end of the day, the NCAA has been fair. They’ve been more than fair. They’re going to make this decision and we want it to be right because it’s going to affect all foreign players in a similar situation from here on in.”
You see what he did there? First, he laid out his argument pretty clearly… aligning a European pro team with a US prep school. Second, he reminded the NCAA that their ruling will impact the futures of all kinds of European kids. (Though the NCAA’s rules in this area have only become a big deal in Kanter’s case.) Finally, Calipari tossed some bouquets at the NCAA to let them know that he’s not the guy behind the “Free Enes” fan campaign in Lexington. Heck, he looooooves the NCAA.
The guy is sharp. Some might say “slick,” but we’ll go with sharp in this instance. Whether you buy his argument or not, you have to admit that he presents his case well.
Sidney- lies to NCAA about a trip taken as a freshman in high school. His dad, it appears took money for an AAU team & used it for personal reasons- allegedly. It seems to me the NCAA doesn't make exceptions due to the athlete's age, or the fact that the kid was basically held responsible for the conduct of the parent. The cases aren't the same, but there are parallels. Does Enes get a 3 game suspension and get to count exhibition games? What about paying back the money that they know without a doubt he was paid to play basketball? At UK, nope.
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