Brand New Recruiting Violation Allegations at UK

[licc85]

http://msn.foxsports.com/collegebasketball/story/Former-Kentucky-basketball-staffer-Bilal-Batley-broke-NCAA-rules-040111

OMG none of us saw this coming, oh wait, yes we did. Can Cal really get THREE final 4's stripped away?

I'm sure this is getting downplayed right now because of UK's presence at the Final 4, but it might blow up in the offseason.

Here's to Calipari, the future coach of the Miami Heat!

[Lord Ash]

Kentucky fans are saying that this is basically old news; that Kentucky and the NCAA already dealt with the phone call issue. Don't know if this is true.

Would LOVE for Cal to get caught. Already some concerns about guys who are there... remember the Anthony Davis $200,000/$150,000 questions?

[licc85]

Kentucky fans are saying that this is basically old news; that Kentucky and the NCAA already dealt with the phone call issue. Don't know if this is true.

Would LOVE for Cal to get caught. Already some concerns about guys who are there... remember the Anthony Davis $200,000/$150,000 questions?

He wont' get caught, Cal is the most slippery fish out there. It always gets pinned on the "former associate" somehow, and Cal will bolt to the NBA or another program and somehow keep his hands clean. He's like the basketball version of John Gotti lol

[sagegrouse]

http://msn.foxsports.com/collegebasketball/story/Former-Kentucky-basketball-staffer-Bilal-Batley-broke-NCAA-rules-040111

OMG none of us saw this coming, oh wait, yes we did. Can Cal really get THREE final 4's stripped away?

I'm sure this is getting downplayed right now because of UK's presence at the Final 4, but it might blow up in the offseason.

Here's to Calipari, the future coach of the Miami Heat!

I don't know how seriously the NCAA takes phones calls to recruits from unauthorized officials at a university, but if it does, Kentucky is in a world of hurt. Here's an excerpt from the FOXSports article:


"But a nearly two-year FOXSports.com investigation revealed that [assistant director of basketball operations Bilal] Batley also broke NCAA rules by making repeated impermissible telephone calls while at both Memphis and Kentucky to recruits, such as DeMarcus Cousins, and their parents."

Batley was by no means one of the "three countable assistant coaches" who can participate in recruiting. Not only did he participate, but he was brought along to Ky by Calipari from Memphis.

Ugh!

sagegrouse

[miramar]

Kentucky fans are saying that this is basically old news

Do they mean that Kentucky getting caught in recruiting violations is old news, or that Calipari getting caught is old news? I was just wondering.

[uh_no]

While this is bad, its unlikely to result in vacations, even if it does, it does not appear to implicate anyone on this years team

[SCMatt33]

While this is bad, its unlikely to result in vacations, even if it does, it does not appear to implicate anyone on this years team

Yeah, that's what I read into it. Even if the NCAA decided to come down as hard as possible on this and believe everything that someone says about this guy, I don't possibly see how anything done this year could be in danger. I can see last year being in danger, and possibly something for the future, but based on when this guy left, I don't see anything happening to this season.

That being said, I don't see that much coming from this, especially not in terms of vacation of wins. Illegal contact doesn't make a player ineligible, and that is usually the only thing that results in vacated wins. I don't see anything that indicates that he was paying players so this would fall strictly under recruiting violations. Even then, the guy resigned just a few months after Cal went to Kentucky, and it sounds like most of the stuff he did, other than what he was forced to resign for, happened before he was at UK. Since this guy has been gone, I don't see anything major coming from this. At the absolute most, there might be some recruiting restrictions, but I don't even know about that. This seems like small potatoes for everyone other than the guy committing the violations unless something new comes out.

[dcdevil2009]

He wont' get caught, Cal is the most slippery fish out there. It always gets pinned on the "former associate" somehow, and Cal will bolt to the NBA or another program and somehow keep his hands clean. He's like the basketball version of John Gotti lol

He won't get caught because Cal himself wasn't the one the ncaa held "responsible." You might be able to make an argument for Not Fostering an Atmosphere of Compliance, but other than that, the Memphis and UMass violations were those around him. You have to hand it to the guy as far as knowing the rules and apparently never doing anything that he could be held personably responsible for.

[4decadedukie]

In January, the NCAA ruled (a second time, I believe) that Enes Kanter was permanently ineligible and could not play, PRACTICE or travel with the Kentucky team, due to his professional status in and earnings derived from Turkish basketball. Several recent reports indicate that Kanter is operating as a "volunteer, undergraduate student, assistant coach." This is a rather unique position and, without question, he ROUTINELY PRACTICES with the Wildcats. From a common sense perspective -- not a legal one -- might this suggest that Kentucky/Calipari is flaunting the NCAA's Kanter decisions, since he is receiving his scholarship (permissible in the NCAA's rulings), but is practicing with the team as a "coach," which specifically defies the NCAA's determinations?

Further, at some point, is it likely that the aggregation of several "minor" infractions might be interpreted as willfully creating a culture of non-compliance and demonstrating a lack of institutional control?