Bill Self Criticizes NCAA After Ruling Kansas Player Ineligible

Kansas’ chances of repeating as Big 12 champions took another huge hit when the NCAA ruled 6-9 sophomore forward Silvio De Sousa ineligible for the rest of this season and next season as well.

De Sousa, a key backup in the Jayhawks’ run to the Final Four last year, has been withheld from competition by the school ever since October when former Adidas consultant TJ Gassnola testified in federal court testified that he paid $2,500 of De Sousa’s guardian, Fenny Falmagne.

The decision brought out outrage from Kansas coach Bill Self. “In my 30 plus years of coaching college basketball, I have never witnessed such mean spirited and vindictive punishment against a young man who did nothing,’’ Self said. “To take away his opportunity to play college basketball is shameful and a failure of the NCAA.’’

The NCAA obviously did not agree, saying in a statement that a student-athlete is responsible for the actions of any third party involved in the recruiting process, regardless of whether the athlete knew of any improprieties or not.

’Membership guidelines state the starting point for these violations is permanent ineligibility, but the NCAA staff recognized mitigation based on specific circumstances of this case when making its decision,’’ the NCAA said in its ruling.

De Sousa has the option to appeal the decision to the Division I Student Athlete Reinstatement Committee that Kansas AD Jeff Long said would happen immediately.

Kansas is 16-5 and 5-3 in the league standings, a half game behind Baylor and Kansas State.

The case is eerily reminiscent of the Brian Bowen case at Louisville and the Dewan Hernandez case at Miami. Bowen, who originally committed to Louisville but was suspended by the team after an investigation that alleged his family accepted payments in exchange for him choosing to attend Louisville. He later tired to play for South Carolina but due to an NCAA ruling, he removed himself for college and the 2018 NBA draft. He is currently playing professionally in Australia. Hernandez has withdrawn from school and will declare for the draft after the NCAA ruled him ineligible for the season and 40 percent of next season for allegedly accepting improper benefits from Christian Dawkins, who was a runner for NBA agent Andy Miller and was looking to set up his own agency, even though ESPN reported there was no evidence he ever accepted any money or even though about the plan.

De Sousa, who is from Angola, graduated early from IMG Academy in Dec. 2017 and enrolled at Kansas for the spring semester last year. He appeared in 20 games for the Jayhawks.

Gassnola was accused of conspiring with Adidas director of global sports marketing for basketball James Gatto Jr., who was found guilty in October on felony charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

The Feds have already obtained six convictions in an ongoing series of trials. Earlier this week, a third former college assistant accused of accepting thousands of dollars in bribes to steer players to certain financial advisors once they turned pro pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy and bribery charge. Former South Carolina and Oklahoma State assistant Lamont Evans, who was accused of accepting $22,000 in bribes, entered a plea to conspiring to commit bribery.