Villanova Suspends 12 of 15 Players

Villanova suspended 12 of its 15 men’s basketball players, including leading scorers Gary Buchanan and Ricky Wright, on Saturday for allegedly making unauthorized telephone calls.

The suspensions will be staggered so Villanova will have seven players for today’s game against No. 7 Pittsburgh. The Wildcats will also be short-handed for the Big East tournament.

The university said the players will be suspended from three to eight games, depending on the dollar value of the phone calls. Villanova will be able to field a team for its upcoming games.

Villanova, 15-13 overall and 8-7 in the Big East, announced the suspensions after an internal investigation revealed players had been using a university access code to make unauthorized phone calls over several months.

The players suspended Saturday allegedly obtained an athletic department employee’s secret telephone access number and used the code to run up long-distance charges. The university learned of the breach Tuesday.

Unauthorized phone calls constitute an extra benefit that is prohibited for student-athletes under NCAA rules. For charges of $100 or less, punishment guidelines call only for the player to make restitution. For larger sums, the guidelines mandate suspensions.

Buchanan, who averages 15.4 points, and Wright (12.5), will be suspended for today’s game, along with starting forward Jason Fraser, Andreas Bloch, Chris Charles, Lou Ruskey and Andrew Sullivan.

Suiting up today will be Randy Foye and Derrick Snowden, who have averaged 26 and 29 minutes, and Marcus Austin, Mike Claxton, Tom Grace, Allan Ray, and Curtis Sumpter. This group averages 36 points.

The only players not involved in the violations are Claxton, Grace and Baker Dunleavy, a redshirt. Claxton and Grace have played a combined 11 minutes this season.

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Louisville center Marvin Stone sat out the final regular-season game of his career, Saturday at Louisville, Ky., which the Cardinals won, 100-59, over Charlotte. Louisville officials said Stone was being held out because of “a rules interpretation received from the NCAA.”

NCAA investigators questioned Stone along with Louisville officials for four hours Friday about wire transfers of money sent to Stone from his mother and two sisters in Huntsville, Ala.

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Northwestern played Saturday against Iowa at Iowa City without Coach Bill Carmody, who checked into an Evanston, Ill., hospital after practice Friday. Carmody complained of tightness in his chest, stayed overnight for tests. Assistant Paul Lee served as coach in Northwestern’s 77-61 loss. ... Mississippi fired its women’s coach, Ron Aldy, after his sixth season, in which the Rebels went 12-16 and lost 14 consecutive Southeastern Conference games. ... The National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People protested outside the Southern Conference basketball championships at North Charleston, S.C. The NAACP has maintained an economic boycott, including sporting events, of South Carolina for flying the Confederate flag on Statehouse grounds.