A player in the position of heralded Kentucky freshman John Wall cannot play in games until his eligibility is certified, an NCAA spokesperson said Friday.
Quoting an NCAA bylaw, Associate Director for Public and Media Relations Cameron Schuh sent an e-mail message that read, "Enrolled student-athletes on campus may practice with the team while their eligibility status is being reviewed, but they may not participate in any competitions."
Southeastern Conference Commissioner Mike Slive told ESPN.com on Thursday that "amateurism issues" had to be resolved for Wall and Mississippi State freshman Renardo Sidney.
Mississippi State Coach Rick Stansbury said he had not checked the rule, but he would not play Sidney until all questions about the player's eligibility had been answered.
While Stansbury has repeatedly acknowledged Sidney's limbo status, UK officials have not confirmed that questions hover over Wall's eligibility. Even Slive's admission did not move UK beyond a vague non-declaration on Friday that all UK athletes "are considered eligible unless it is noted otherwise."
Wall, expected to be UK's point guard this season, participated in a practice opened to students on Friday. According to The Associated Press, some students in attendance said Coach John Calipari did not mention Wall's eligibility during his remarks to fans before practice.Wall's association with his AAU coach, Brian Clifton, casts doubt on his eligibility, ESPN.com reported. Clifton was a registered agent with FIBA, basketball's international governing body, for nearly a year. The association can be interpreted as Wall accepting improper benefits from an agent.
To regain his eligibility, Wall could repay any expenses paid by Clifton. An NCAA rule says punishment can include an athlete withheld from at least 10 percent of a team's games.
Wall, who grew up in Raleigh, N.C., played for Clifton's Greensboro-based D-One Sports team from 2006 to 2008. Tony Edwards, a former D-One Sports coach, said he believed the issue involved a trip Clifton and Wall made to UK before Calipari became coach. Wall made at least two unofficial visits to Lexington before he committed.
D-One Sports and UK share at least one seemingly significant attribute: Nike, the shoe and sports apparel company, sponsors both.
Two high school coaches in North Carolina — Lee Reavis, the coach at Glenn High in Greensboro, and Fred Johnson, the coach at Greensboro Day School — said they did not want their players associating with Clifton.
When asked about Clifton, Reavis said, "Mother always told me, if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. I think he's in it for the wrong reasons."
Reavis described Clifton as a self-promoter who exploits players' NBA ambitions.
In Wall's case, Clifton had been quoted as saying the player should go to Baylor, which had hired Dwon Clifton, the coach's younger brother, as director of player development. At the time, Wall told the Raleigh News & Observer that he thought Baylor made the hire to try to entice him. But, of course, Wall signed with Kentucky.
Reavis said Clifton tried in 2005 to persuade one of his Glenn High players, Eric Wallace, to transfer to LeBron James' high school in Akron, Ohio.
Clifton failed to return repeated phone calls on Friday.
The Greensboro newspaper, The News & Record, reported that Wallace, who also played for D-One Sports, worked out with James.
Clifton suggested to the paper that basketball dreams dwarfed the college experience.
"Right now, Eric is at a school that they're not set up to cater to a kid of his caliber," Clifton said of Glenn High. "... The difference here is whether Eric is going to be a future pro-caliber player or whether he's going to be a great high school player who is going to go on and play four years of college. That's not where his aspirations lie."
Wallace was a straight-A student. He ultimately went to Hargrave Military Academy. He then committed to Virginia, changed his mind and went to Ohio State and then transferred to DePaul.
Johnson said Clifton was an "AAU junkie who goes around and gets players from all around and puts them together. And unfortunately, he tries to control where they go to college. ...
"There are lots of good AAU programs, and lots of people out there do what's best for the kids. And people out there just try to latch on to two, three kids and try to guide them to certain programs."
The ESPN.com report noted that Clifton told CBSSports.com in August of 2008 that he had been an FIBA agent. But he gave up that work to devote his time to D-One Sports.
