NCAA Is Sending Wrong Message With This Penalty

There must be something else to the story. Where are the real violations? How come the bad guys don’t seem that bad? What’s so wrong with what they did?

That’s a sampling of the reaction to a report last week concerning Central Connecticut’s problems with the NCAA. Five Central athletes, including four basketball players, were suspended by the NCAA for using part of their scholarship money to purchase textbooks for non-scholarship students.

That’s right. In the name of higher education, they bought textbooks to help some friends who were a little short in their wallets. The NCAA will have none of that.

Even though the books were returned, repayment was made and the athletes did community service, the NCAA didn’t think that was enough. Co-captains Victor Payne and Rick Mickens will miss five of Central’s first six games. Harvey Van Stein and John Tice will miss three of the first six.

Central hired Rick Evrard, the Perry Mason of NCAA infractions, and filed an appeal. But even Perry Mason loses now and then. Appeal denied.

“I am disappointed in the decision by the NCAA,” Central Coach Howie Dickenman said. “When you talk about extra benefits, our players received absolutely nothing except perhaps some self-satisfaction that they helped a non-scholarship teammate or a former teammate.”

There’s a saying around college athletics that it’s better to be arrested by campus police on misdemeanor charges--or something similar--than to be busted by the NCAA police.

Break an NCAA rule and you are fried. And in this case, it certainly seems the NCAA is trying to send a message. Perhaps this has been going on at other schools and the NCAA decided to crack down.

Or maybe the NCAA just enjoys going after schools from smaller conferences. UConn center Jake Voskuhl borrowed a Lexus for three weeks. Once he repaid the value of that so-called “lease,” he was a free man--no loss of games.

This isn’t to suggest Voskuhl got off easy, but he derived many more benefits from the use of a vehicle than any of Central’s athletes.

The kicker is that Central did plenty on its own to handle the situation. The players were not allowed to practice or lift weights with coaching supervision until their community service was completed.

Here’s the community service scorecard: Mickens, 41 hours; Payne, 32; Tice, 22; Van Stein, seven.

They worked at the Nutmeg Games, the New Britain Boys & Girls clubs and the Special Olympics. Mickens and Payne are two guys college athletics should be celebrating, not punishing. The co-captains have created their own service, preparing meals at a homeless shelter (an event that had nothing to do with their punishment--and was organized without guidance from the coaching staff).

“Talk about nice guys finishing last,” Dickenman said. “These guys were just trying to show a little generosity. The non-scholarship player was a roommate of one of the players. The other kid graduated in 3 1/2 years, was from Senegal and had no money.”

If there is any blame here, it belongs with Central. Administrators have since built in a system of checks at the bookstore to make sure this textbook fiasco doesn’t happen again. It’s too late for this bunch.

Who pays the price? The entire Central team, players and staff. Dickenman and his assistants must draw up new rotations and plans for these first six games. The suspended players not only miss the games but must attend special early morning workouts to stay in game shape.

All because a few guys made a gesture of kindness.

How were they supposed to know kindness is against NCAA rules?

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Kenzie Weir had Chaminade fans thinking flashback for a while Monday against No. 22 Purdue in the opening round of the Maui Invitational.

Weir, a senior who played at Saddleback College in 1997-98, scored 22 points, including a basket that gave Chaminade a 27-26 lead with 6 minutes 45 seconds left in the half.

With Chaminade in the lead, the sellout crowd of 2,500 at the Lahaina Civic Center might have been thinking about Chaminade’s victory over then-No. 1 Virginia and Ralph Sampson in 1982--and victories over Louisville and Southern Methodist the next season.

But Purdue rallied for a 44-38 lead at intermission, then opened the second half with a 20-6 run to open a 64-44 advantage.

Chaminade, the Division II host school for the eight-team tournament, never got closer than 14 points the rest of the way. Chaminade’s record in 16 years at the tournament is 3-41.

Weir, who played at Compton Centennial High, averaged 14.3 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.2 assists for Saddleback as a sophomore. He was a starter for Chaminade last season.

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Mamadou N’diaye has spent so much time working on his game, the Auburn center is lookingforward to a little rest and relaxation.

He’ll get some this week when the third-ranked Tigers travel to Anaheim to begin preparations for their game Saturday against No. 9 Stanford in the Wooden Classic at the Pond.

“I think there will be lots of girls there,” joked N’diaye, a native of Senegal. “I’m just saying that’s what they show on TV.”

N’diaye had career highs of 21 points and 18 rebounds Sunday and Chris Porter scored 20 as Auburn overwhelmed Arkansas Pine Bluff 100-44 Sunday.

It was a good weekend for N’diaye, who attended an off-season camp for centers.

“It helped to go and play against some of the big guys in the nation,” N’diaye said. “I am more relaxed and stronger, too.”

The 7-foot center had a career-high 14 rebounds Friday against Alabama Birmingham, and almost matched that figure by halftime with 11. He was also 11 of 16 from the line.

Arkansas Pine Bluff Coach Harold Blevins said he noticed the difference in N’diaye, who played against the Lions four years ago.

“Three years later, the way he’s playing, he’s going to make some money playing basketball [in the NBA],” Blevins said. “He’s really improved dramatically since then.”

So have the Tigers (2-0), who bounced back from the sloppy season-opening victory over Alabama Birmingham by dominating the overmatched Lions from start to finish.

Porter opened the game by scoring nine of Auburn’s first 11 points--on 4-of-5 shooting--and helped the Tigers take an 11-4 lead.

Auburn slowly pulled away from there, forcing 12 first-half turnovers in opening a 43-16 lead.

“Coach told us not to pay attention to the opponent today, but to pay attention to our game,” forward Daymeon Fishback said. “He told us to be patient and not rush things.”

The Tigers started the second half with a 12-1 run and kept Arkansas Pine Bluff (0-1) from scoring through the first four minutes.

Auburn outrebounded the Lions 63-40, shot 44% and had only nine turnovers in the blowout.

It was a far better effort from the Tigers’ disappointing 65-59 win over Alabama Birmingham, when they shot just 33% and had 18 turnovers. Auburn Coach Cliff Ellis later said the Tigers were selfish on offense and unable to put away the Blazers.

Against Arkansas Pine Bluff, it was never a problem.