Kansas Basketball: Impact of Silvio De Sousa’s major suspension

Bill Self and Kansas Basketball have already lost some key pieces this year. With Silvio De Sousa now suspended, will the Jayhawks be able to make a run in the NCAA tournament?

The college basketball world was flipped upside down when the FBI scandal was released to the public. In their findings were numerous recruiting violations made by many blue blood universities. The recruiting violations stemmed from assistant coaches and shoe companies offering large sums of cash, to the player’s parents, AAU coach or legal guardian. That money would only exchange hands if the player were to commit to play for a specific school. This money was exchanged under the table and usually without a paper trail.

Schools such as Louisville, Kansas, Oregon and Arizona were said to have recruits and former players who were all involved in the pay for play incentive. The focus to one player on one of these teams was the focus of some breaking news on Friday afternoon. Silvio De Sousa is a player originally from Angola. After attending IMG Academy, he decided to go play for Kansas. When he chose Kansas, the guardian for De Sousa received a payment. This payment was given to the guardian without the knowledge of the Angolan big man.

Coach Bill Self and the Jayhawks had asked the NCAA to review the case. He was hoping that De Sousa would be eligible to play this year, after only playing half of the season a year ago. On Friday, the NCAA announced their decision. The decision given by the NCAA is that De Sousa would have to sit out the remainder of this season and all next season. This was one of the more egregious decisions the NCAA has ever made when it comes to player eligibility. Why was the decision egregious? Why was Kansas even asking for his reinstatement?