Wall Has Eligibility Questioned
The SEC is investigating whether freshman point guard John Wall is an eligible NCAA athlete.
“Those are amateur issues that arose prior to their coming to our schools,” Slive said. “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.”
A source told ESPN.com that Kentucky had been investigating Wall’s eligibility for months, as Wall’s AAU coach, Brian Clifton, was also a certified agent with FIBA (basketball’s international governing body) for a year).
According to the NCAA rules, Clifton’s interactions with Wall mean that Wall accepted illegal benefits from an agent, and he would have to pay back all expenses that Clifton paid for before he could suit up for Kentucky.
The NCAA could also force Kentucky to sit Wall for 10 percent of the team’s games this year.
NCAA protocol dictates that the NCAA Eligibility Center handles all amateurism issues before college, and that Wall is allowed to practice with the team but not compete before his case is resolved.
New Kentucky coach John Calipari only has glowing reviews of his star recruit thus far, and must be praying these eligibility issues get straightened out quickly.
“John right now is probably farther along today than [former Memphis and current NBA players Tyreke Evans and Derrick Rose],” Calipari said. “Those two when they got it and they felt the offense, they were unleashed and they weren’t afraid to make The Play. When we’re in a tough game and it’s on the road, is he going to make the play that those two did? I have no idea.”
