NCAA basketball: College basketball programs are daring the NCAA to act

After the bombshell report involving the top players and teams in college basketball, few actions has been done concerning eligibility. That’s because simply no one believes that the NCAA would do anything about it – at least this season.

Fridays can be some of the busiest times for news, and this past Friday was no different. It started early in the morning, when a bombshell report from Yahoo detailed potential violations from some of the top teams and players in college basketball over the recent years.

This could have a huge impact on this season, as some key players from Michigan State’s Miles Bridges and Duke’s Wendell Carter Jr. were named as well. For the record, some of the findings in the documents involved players getting paid, while others had to do with relatives getting lunches paid for.

But the real surprise came Friday night, when reports broke out that Arizona basketball Head Coach Sean Miller was heard on a wiretap discussing a $100,000 payment for star freshman DeAndre Ayton. There were immediate calls for the firing of Miller, but both him and the school have stood their ground, proclaiming his innocence. He did however decide not to coach Saturday’s loss against Oregon, while Ayton still played.

There has been some impact from the reports, with Texas guard Eric Davis Jr. and San Diego State senior forward Malik Pope both being held out. However, none of the big names have been affected, with the schools saying they have no reason to fear their eligibility based on those documents.

That doesn’t mean there weren’t thorough investigations done by the universities. In just hours after the initial news, both Duke and Michigan State cleared their top players of any wrongdoing. I’m sure the process was top-notch and no stones went unturned.

Lets be clear. What was on those papers were NCAA violations, including those that involved family members regardless of how big or small. That’s what happened to USC guard De’Anthony Melton, who was forced to leave the program after not being cleared to play this season. He was swept up from the earlier FBI Investigation.

So now what? Is anything going to happen to any of these players? Why are some sitting out while others have been immediately “cleared” to play? That’s because of the NCAA governing body, that no one believes will do anything.

NCAA President Mark Emmert made an official statement about the report, essentially saying that things are bad and there needs to be some change. At this point, it doesn’t really matter what comments are made, it’s not going to backed up with any action. Earlier this week, another writer for the site Connor Hope, wrote a nice article detailing why the NCAA needs to “drop the hammer” to send a message.

But there’s no indication that’s going to happen. Which in turn emboldens programs to force a rather weak NCAA hand into taking action against the top programs. With the NCAA Tournament starting soon, there’s no chance anything will happen for the rest of the 2017-18 season. Which means that most of these players will be gone before any kind of punishment is levied.

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When you have such a weak governing body in charge of a sport, with no credibility to take the right action regardless of timing, you have this kind of mess. It’s now become a point of pure mockery, with these schools practically daring the NCAA to do something. But does anyone really believe they would, or will it be just another round or “wait and see”? I think we all know the answer.