Wednesday, October 24, 2001
The wait will be a little longer for two Hawaii men's basketball players who are among the 340 foreign athletes at 60 schools being scrutinized by the NCAA for allegedly participating in pro leagues overseas. NCAA panel suggests
20% for playing with prosThe proposal is next forwarded
to the NCAA's Board of
Directors, which meets Nov. 1By Cindy Luis
cluis@starbulletin.comThe NCAA's Management Council yesterday agreed with proposals endorsed by the National Association of Basketball Coaches, including penalizing a player for 20 percent of the games in which he participated. The maximum games a player would sit out this season would be eight.
The council's recommendation has been forwarded to the NCAA's Board of Directors, which will meet Nov. 1. The board may accept, modify or return the proposals to the council for further action.
The Rainbow players being looked at are senior guard Predrag Savovic from Yugoslavia, who is in his third year with Hawaii, and junior forward Luc-Arthur Vebobe of France, who transfered in this season from Foothill (Calif.) College.
Hawaii coach Riley Wallace said the school had recommended that Savovic not be penalized at all. New documentation regarding Vebobe's summer league participation was received by UH on Monday; Wallace anticipates that the forward may have to sit out two games.
Of the council's action, Wallace said, "I'm happy that it got this far and that they're listening to what the coaches and commissioners wanted."
The council also recommended tightening requirements for membership in Division I-A football and delaying new limits on the number of initial scholarships in men's basketball. The football proposal will be presented at the NCAA meetings in January.
There was concern that new football requirements would affect the Western Athletic Conference, the league Hawaii belongs to. The football proposal would require Division I-A schools to, among other things, field at least 16 varsity sports, with a minimum of eight women's sports; and play at least five Division I-A football games at home, and have an average football attendance of at least 15,000.
Two WAC members -- newcomer Louisiana Tech and Texas-El Paso -- offer just seven sports for women. San Jose State has had just one home game, which drew 8,329 against SMU on Oct. 13.
WAC Commissioner Karl Benson said last week he didn't expect the conference to lose any teams due to the new standards.
The council also recommended a delay of the so-called "5/8 rule" in men's basketball, which would allow a school to award no more than five scholarships in one year and no more than eight in any two-year period.
The bylaw, which previously was approved, took effect Aug. 1. But the council recommended a two-year moratorium.
The Associated Press
contributed to this report.