M. Basketball Notebook

NCAA encourages disclosing those who are receiving
improper benefits With the NCAA focusing its watchdog
spotlight on the collegiate recruiting process, college
basketball’s sanctioning body has given athletes the option
of coming clean in exchange for lighter consequences. Athletes and
recruits who received improper benefits to attend a high school or
prep school will receive reduced penalties by the NCAA should they
disclose that information to their respective universities. The
NCAA subcommittee on student-athlete reinstatement advised all NCAA
Division I members that disclosure prior to the August 1, 2001
deadline will only lead to a suspension of 10 percent of regular
season contests ““ in most cases a maximum of three games. In
addition, players will not be forced to repay the amounts they
received. Colleges must then send requests for reinstatement to the
NCAA no later than 30 days following the athlete signing the
disclosure statement. Failure to do so will constitute being held
from competition and having to pay back a determined amount.
Players such as St. John’s Erick Barkley and
Cincinnati’s DerMarr Johnson were among those who missed
playing time last season and were forced to repay the amount of
financial compensation for prep school. Both declared themselves
eligible for the 2000 NBA draft. NCAA to change recruiting
rules With the recent trend of high schoolers and college
basketball underclassmen leaving school early for the NBA, the NCAA
has decided to add new legislation to impose stricter signing
limits. Beginning August 1, 2001, universities will only be allowed
to sign eight players over a two year span, with a five player
maximum within one single season. Had this rule been implemented
three years ago, when UCLA had the No. 1 class in the fall of 1998
(Ray Young, Jerome Moiso, Dan Gadzuric, Matt Barnes, JaRon Rush)
and No. 2 class in the fall of 1997 (Baron Davis, Earl Watson,
Travis Reed, Todd Ramasar and Billy Knight), the top-rated 1998
class would have seen only three of the five sign and watched Rush
and Moiso depart. The sole signing of Kapono afterward would have
increased the number of walk-ons to six, as it had in 1996, when
the Bruins featured the likes of Harold Sylvester, Vince McGatha,
Bob Myers, Sean Farnham and Brandon Loyd. On the
schedule The Bruins first two opponents of the 2000-2001
season are now set, as St. John’s has been slated as the
final team in next year’s Coaches vs. Cancer Classic at
Madison Square Garden in New York. UCLA will play two games in next
season’s opening tournament. Joining St. John head coach Mike
Jarvis’ Red Storm are Tubby Smith’s Kentucky Wildcats
and Roy Williams’ Kansas Jayhawks.

Notes compiled by AJ Cadman, Daily Bruin Senior Staff.