Most of this is old news about Clifton being a slim ball but things could get interesting


Wall, Sidney facing eligibility issues

SEC Commissioner Mike Slive confirmed to ESPN.com that there are eligibility issues regarding both Kentucky top recruit John Wall and Mississippi State's top freshman Renardo Sidney.

Sidney's eligibility has been discussed for months, but this is the first it has been publicly acknowledged that there could be a question about Wall's eligibility.

A source also told ESPN.com that Kentucky has been investigating Wall's eligibility for months because his former AAU coach was a certified agent.

"Those are amateur issues that arose prior to their coming to our schools," Slive said of Sidney and Wall. "Those are strictly amateurism issues. As we told our people, somebody needs to determine if they are eligible. It's not relative to you, it's relative to them."

Slive said it is his understanding this is being handled by the NCAA's agents and amateurism group and not NCAA enforcement.

Slive also said that he believes Wall and Sidney are the only SEC freshmen with unresolved eligibility issues.

"This is a very different thing than what I've been talking about for eight years," Slive said, referring to the SEC's outlaw image in terms of rulebreaking. "The culture is different now."

Brian Clifton, Wall's AAU coach, was a certified agent with FIBA, basketball's international governing body, for nearly a year. Under NCAA rule that equates to Wall accepting illegal benefits from an agent. Consequently Wall could have to repay any and all expenses Clifton footed during that period before he can play with Kentucky.

NCAA rule also stipulates that an athlete can be withheld from at least 10 percent of a team's games as part of the punishment.

A source told ESPN.com that the Kentucky compliance department had been working feverishly to clarify Wall's eligibility in recent weeks and had been going back to the 2007 to see exactly how much money is owed. Wall made two unofficial visits to Kentucky that fall while Billy Gillispie was head coach -- in September he attended a UK-Louisville football game and in October returned for the Wildcats' Big Blue Madness opening night practice.

"My understanding is that all 13 players on our roster are eligible at this point," said UK media relations director DeWayne Peevey.

Peevey said that school privacy policies prevent Kentucky from discussing the eligibility of players. When asked whether Wall might be excluded from any games, Peevey said that information would be confidential.

"We won't release anything," Peevey said.

Clifton, the president of D-One Sports, previously admitted to being a certified agent but said he forfeited his license in August 2008 so he could devote his full attention to his AAU program.

"Absolutely I was a licensed agent," Clifton told CBSSports.com's Gary Parrish in August 2008. "But what I started and what I had given my life to was this (D-One Sports) program and I was about to watch it fall apart. Obviously I couldn't let that happen. So at that time -- after having not signed any clients -- I figured that program was the most important thing for me. … And that was the end of the agent thing."

Under the guidelines set by the Committee on Student-Athlete Reinstatement, agent violations can fall under two categories:

• If an individual accepts significant monetary benefits from an agent, his or her eligibility should not be reinstated.

• If an individual accepts benefits from an agent that are not significant enough to warrant permanent ineligibility, the student-athlete will be withheld for the violation and will be required to repay the value of the benefits.

The committee goes on to say that if a student-athlete accepts benefits from an agent greater than $101, the student-athlete will have to repay the money and be subject to a minimum 10-percent withholding condition -- in other words, withheld from 10 percent of a team's regular-season games.

"There can be mitigating circumstances, but the rule of thumb would be they'd have to pay back the money," NCAA spokeswoman Stacey Osburn said, declining comment on Wall's particular case. "And if it was a significant amount they could potentially be withheld from games. The line in the sand is if an agent or whatever they want to call themselves was marketing an individual student-athlete or prospective student-athlete based on their athletic abilities. If so, there are potential issues."

Osburn also cited a rule that stipulates: "to maintain amateur status and NCAA eligibility, a student-athlete or their friends and family cannot have an agreement -- oral or written -- with an agent or accept benefits from an agent until his or her eligibility expires."

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=4586311

10/22/2009 5:42:37 PM

ssshhhhhhewwwwwwwwwwww

10/22/2009 5:44:44 PM

slim ball

not
as
round

10/22/2009 5:45:41 PM

he can be held out of 10 percent of their games

i guess he gets to miss the season opening blowouts of cupcakes

10/22/2009 5:48:21 PM

Its crazy all the controversy that surrounds the Clifton's. I remember all the stuff swirling around Dwon's HS eligibility after leaving Raleigh Millbrook for georgia then returning to NC to play.... Brian Clifton's whole situation was always sketchy.... and now all this with Wall.. it seems pretty obvious they are trying to parlay his career into a payday that never came through for their careers... but dwon seemed like a good guy the few times i was around him not a typical 'gro at all

10/22/2009 6:29:34 PM

0% chance the ncaa would let him play this year if he were at nc state
100% chance the ncaa will slap him on the wrist, he'll maybe miss a couple of games against kentucky wesleyan and northwest missouri state and be ready to play for the wildcats this year

10/22/2009 6:40:19 PM

he's going to fit right in with Kentucky's program

10/22/2009 10:22:43 PM

I'm conflicted about Kentucky.

On one hand, I don't want them to do well. On the other hand, I don't want UNC to claim the all time wins record, and I think they trail by like 7 games right now.

10/22/2009 11:03:56 PM

why is this threadworthy on an nc state message board?

10/23/2009 12:04:08 AM

^^the all time wins record is great and all, but you can sleep peacefully knowing UCLA has a huge margin of victory in basketball national titles...I think they're up on UNC 12-5 iirc

10/23/2009 12:05:14 AM

^^ same reason our White Sox thread is worthy

10/23/2009 12:14:17 AM

Quote :

"why is this threadworthy on an nc state message board?"

to even make that post is laughable

Calamari was almost a done deal. There are pictures of the sleaze leaving the RBC at like 2am during that infamous coaching search. Considering his high profile off season from last to this years and pair that with Wall's recruitment.

Our involvement with the Cliftons and then, considering we were the first to offer Wall and how he teased us and played the game. lol get out of here, troll

10/23/2009 11:17:07 AM

I could sleep just fine with 5 national championships

10/23/2009 12:46:10 PM

^^ Our involvement in the Wall saga / Calipari pursuit is irrelevant. Wall was one of the most sought after recruits of all time. This is potentially very big sports news. This is a sports discussion forum. Durrr

10/23/2009 5:11:41 PM

hey guys, why is USC paying for Reggie Bush's parents' house ST worthy?

10/23/2009 5:28:55 PM

you mean there's sports that go on outside of nc state?

10/23/2009 5:36:27 PM

you mean there's sports that go on at nc state?

10/23/2009 5:39:36 PM

you done blowed my mind son

10/23/2009 6:02:36 PM

sorry, i just didnt think it was that big of a story for anything other than kentucky fans. sure, we recruited wall, but he didnt come here and we dont play kentucky.

Quote :

"same reason our White Sox thread is worthy"

seems more like if there was a thread about just jermaine dye


but anyway, whatever, i was just curious, it was just my$0.02, i will stay out of the thread

10/23/2009 7:11:02 PM

once again, calipari will have nothing to do with this



maybe this time him not knowing would be legit (i doubt it), but at some point it just gets ridiculous with him and cheating in some way, shape, or form

10/24/2009 12:03:07 AM

the guy is from raleigh, nc

10/24/2009 12:13:11 AM

now he's hitting game winners

11/16/2009 11:38:24 PM

Against a team that lost to Towson.

11/16/2009 11:39:34 PM

wouldnt had to hit a game winner if he made FTs

11/17/2009 12:41:05 AM