Wall, Sidney facing eligibility issues

[La Bomba]

SEC Commissioner Mike Slive confirmed to ESPN.com that there are eligibility issues regarding both Kentucky top recruit John Wall and Mississippi State's top freshman Renardo Sidney.

 

Sidney's eligibility has been discussed for months, but this is the first it has been publicly acknowledged that there could be a question about Wall's eligibility.

 

A source also told ESPN.com that Kentucky has been investigating Wall's eligibility for months because his former AAU coach was a certified agent.

 

According to NCAA protocol, any case involving pre-enrollment amateurism issues would be investigated by the NCAA Eligibility Center.

 

"Those are amateur issues that arose prior to their coming to our schools," Slive said of Sidney and Wall. "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."

 

Slive also said that he believes Wall and Sidney are the only SEC freshmen with unresolved eligibility issues.

 

"This is a very different thing than what I've been talking about for eight years," Slive said, referring to the SEC's outlaw image in terms of rulebreaking. "The culture is different now."

 

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.

 

A source told ESPN.com that the Kentucky compliance department had been working feverishly to clarify Wall's eligibility in recent weeks and had been going back to the 2007 to see exactly how much money is owed. Wall made two unofficial visits to Kentucky that fall while Billy Gillispie was head coach -- in September he attended a UK-Louisville football game and in October returned for the Wildcats' Big Blue Madness opening night practice.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=4586311