Morris Has His Suspension Cut to 14 Games

Kentucky center Randolph Morris’ season-long suspension for his attempt to enter the NBA draft was reduced to 14 games Thursday by the NCAA.

The NCAA cited new information for softening its punishment after Morris tried to enter the draft. Additional information provided by the school showed that Morris clearly intended to retain his collegiate eligibility while declaring for the draft, the NCAA said in a statement.

The new information “provides additional understanding of Morris’ original intent to enter the NBA draft as well as his mind-set during that process,” the NCAA said.

Morris, a 6-foot-10 sophomore, also must repay expenses related to the tryouts -- which amounted to more than $7,000 from nine NBA teams, the NCAA said.

“In exploring my NBA options, I made poor choices,” Morris said. “Those choices included accepting bad advice while putting distance between me and my coaches and teammates at UK.”

Kentucky provided the NCAA the original copy of a fax sent by Morris to Coach Tubby Smith, notifying the coach of his plans to enter the draft. In the one-paragraph fax -- released by the university on Thursday -- Morris told Smith that “my intent is not to obtain an agent so as to maintain my collegiate eligibility.” Smith said he had misplaced the fax and found it only last week.