Big Blue panic: Wall's eligibility in question

Posted: Thursday, October 22, 2009 3:26 PM
Filed Under: Freshmen, SEC

This is every Kentucky fan’s worst nightmare. Kind of.

Star point guard John Wall, the nation’s top recruit, is dealing with an eligibility issue that could affect his season. SEC commissioner Mike Slive confirmed the report to ESPN.com on Thursday.

Ed Reinke/AP

John Wall

It centers around Wall’s former AAU coach, who was a certified agent. The school has been investigating Wall’s the situation for months. Mississippi State recruit Renardo Sidney also is dealing with eligibility issues. It goes back to 2007 when Wall made two unofficial visits to the UK campus but it’s unclear how much money he may owe for the visit.

Slive says the NCAA’s agents, not NCAA enforcement, is handling the investigation.

"Those are amateur issues that arose prior to their coming to our schools," Slive told ESPN.com. "Those are strictly amateurism issues. As we told our people, somebody needs to determine if they are eligible. It's not relative to you, it's relative to them."

Here’s the gist:

Brian Clifton, Wall's AAU coach, was a certified agent with FIBA, basketball's international governing body, for nearly a year. Under NCAA rule that equates to Wall accepting illegal benefits from an agent. Consequently Wall could have to repay any and all expenses Clifton footed during that period before he can play with Kentucky.

NCAA rule also stipulates that an athlete can be withheld from at least 10 percent of a team's games as part of the punishment.

What’s that mean for Wall’s season? It’s too early to tell. The early impression from John Clay, a writer for the Lexington Herald-Leader, is that it won’t be a big deal and that Wall may have to sit out two or three games.

He also says – pay attention John Calipari naysayers – that is would be an issue even if Billy Gillispie were still Kentucky’s coach because of when he visited the campus.

But until Wall’s eligibility is resolved, it’ll likely create much hand-wringing in Big Blue Nation.