Net Reaction: Did the NCAA get the Enes Kanter decision right?
The bell tolled for Enes Kanter and Kentucky on Thursday night when the NCAA ruled the 6-10 Undertaker-loving freshman permanently ineligible as a result of $33,033 in extra benefits he received during the 2008-09 season with a Turkish pro team. Here's a sampling of reaction to the news from around the net:
Mike DeCourcy, Sporting News: What is frustrating about the NCAA's decision is its guiding principle in many amateurism cases has been the "intent to professionalize." For Kanter to "professionalize" would have been quite simple. He could have stayed home. He could have signed a contract with Fenerbahce worth multiple millions of dollars. He could played in front of his family and friends and quite possibly have been selected this past summer to compete with the Turkey national team that, in its home country, finished second in the FIBA World Championships. If he'd been on that team, he would have received a condominium and a share of an $18 million bonus pool created for the players by the Turkish government. Given all of this, Kanter's intent to "amateurize" was quite clear.
Jeff Goodman, FoxSports.com: Unless UTEP coach Tony Barbee or UMass head man Derek Kellogg - two of Calipari's former players - are on the committee, it's difficult to imagine other administrators going against the NCAA's decision in order to clear one of his players. You see, Calipari isn't exactly well-liked in college basketball circles. And now, you've got one of his players, someone who the school has admitted took in excess of $33,000 from a Turkish basketball club, trying to get approved to play college basketball. Kanter's amateur status is now history. He is a pro -plain and simple.
Jonathan Givony, DraftExpress: In my opinion Kanter should sign with some mid-level team in Spain or Italy where he can play 25 minutes per game and then enter the draft. The 500k buyout NBA teams can pay (under old CBA) will cover his buyout from Fenerbahce. He'll still be protected in case of a lockout too. Sitting out whole year would be foolish for Kanter after wasting all of last season beating up on no-names in a very low-level prep school. Even though Kanter will still get drafted very high, the inevitable lockout will put him in limbo for yet another year. He can't afford that.
Jay Bilas, ESPN.com: Who is served by disallowing Kanter to play? Are we so concerned that European pros will turn down millions to come to college and pursue an education that we need to exclude them? How is the cause of education furthered by excluding a qualified student who has traveled to this country to go to college and play, while turning down the opportunity to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars? Does anyone believe former Duke star Trajan Langdon did not receive an education, and did not love the game? Well, while Langdon was in college, he earned hundreds of thousands of dollars playing professional baseball in the minor leagues, yet he still suited up for the Blue Devils as an amateur basketball player. Money does not corrupt education or the educational mission. This ruling is based upon a principle that ignores the reality that other countries have different systems than ours. And it hurts the very person the NCAA's mission should protect and value -- the willing student-athlete.
Gary Parrish, CBSSports.com: "If Kentucky gets Enes Kanter eligible, I'm recruiting Ricky Rubio next year." That's what a coach told me a couple of months back, and I think he was joking but I can't say for sure. Either way, what I took from that statement was this: The NCAA allowing Kanter to play despite his background as a professional basketball player in Turkey would, in the eyes of most everybody outside of Kentucky, set a dangerous precedent. That's why I said on a radio show in Louisville on Wednesday that I did not believe the NCAA would clear Kanter, and why I wasn't stunned when the NCAA announced Thursday that it has ruled the UK freshman permanently ineligible. Kentucky will appeal, of course. But good luck with that.
Matt Jones, Kentucky Sports Radio: I do think that the best decision would have been to allow the Kanters to pay back the excess money and then have him ruled eligible. Ultimately the amount is so small and the usage of the money lacked any nefarious factors (since the majority was spent on education), thus the NCAA should have acknowledged that Kanter was a test case and then allowed this to set up the future cases, with Kanter able to fix the problems he couldnt have forseen (about the excess amount). That would have seemed to me to have been the best result. It obviously is not the result that was chosen.
John Clay, Lexington Herald-Leader: Behind the scenes, there was more hope than confidence when it came to the Kanter case. There is nothing necessarily wrong with that. John Calipari didn't turn down other players to take Kanter. If the NCAA ruled Kanter eligible, Cal could have cashed in on his gamble. It was gamble worth taking. And it's a shame in that we won't get to enjoy Kanter's talents. He's obviously a gifted player. It would have been fun watching him play, and develop. What about the NCAA's new rule concerning European players? Wasn't the NCAA taking a kinder, gentler approach to foreign players who played on team that included professionals? Didn't matter. When it comes down to it, the bottom-line issue was whether the player was a professional or not.
Eric Crawford, Louisville Courier-Journal: We don't know how high the "point of no return" is. How much can you make before the NCAA deems you no longer an amateur and will not allow you to play college sports even with repayment? But we do know this. Even $11,800 is not too much to make to lose your amateur status. That's how much the NCAA ruled that Mississippi State's Renardo Sydney must pay back in order to join the Bulldogs this season. He'll miss nine games this season. (It should be noted, Sidney was not playing for a professional team. That's a major distinction. However, I'm just drawing a comparison in amounts.) It's a longshot. But if UK could convince the NCAA to go down to the $13,000 figure, then it could have a chance to get Kanter back within 9 or 10 games. My guess is that the NCAA is not going to budge on this, for precedent's sake.
Andy Katz, ESPN.com: Kentucky took a gamble on the 6-11 Kanter, and it will hurt the Wildcats' inside game and their prospects for winning the SEC or competing for a Final Four berth if he is not around. But there was no one else the Wildcats could have landed up front that would have equaled Kanter's talent in this class that wasn't already committed or signed. In the end, Kanter was a fluke, a foreign player willing to come here first. Don't expect him to be a trendsetter. The elite foreign player -- who is bound for the NBA draft lottery or first round as soon as he's eligible for the draft -- will likely continue to avoid college basketball.
Rush The Court: The NCAA statement notes that, "The new NCAA rule that allows prospective student-athletes to compete on teams with professionals while maintaining their amateur status prior to college applies," but then says that Kanter simply received what the NCAA considers too much compensation for that season. Obviously, Kentucky will appeal. Because the school agreed to all of the facts and figures involved in the NCAA's process of making this decision, the appeal will likely center on reducing the harshness of the punishment and citing any remotely relevant precedents to that effect."
