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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.

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