College Basketball

Ohio State acknowledged that Coach Randy Ayers and a former assistant broke NCAA rules in recruiting and signing basketball player Damon Flint. But the university plans to appeal the NCAA’s decision to declare him ineligible to attend Ohio State.

Flint, a 6-foot-5 swingman from Cincinnati Woodward High, signed a letter of intent with the Buckeyes in November.

Flint is reportedly considering Louisville, Cincinnati, Nevada Las Vegas, Arkansas and Kentucky.

Jim Jones, Ohio State athletic director, said former Ohio State assistant Paul Brazeau, now the coach at Hartford, gave money to Flint’s high school coach, Jim Leon, to pay for a meal. Jones also said Brazeau gave four nylon training bags to Flint and his teammates.

In all, the NCAA found Ohio State committed 17 violations.

The NCAA said Ayers violated rules two other times: offering condolences over the death of Flint’s mother and meeting Flint’s grandmother at a practice at Woodward before Ohio State’s NCAA tournament game in Cincinnati in March of 1992.