NCAA orders UK guard John Wall to sit 2 games

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LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP)—Kentucky point guard John Wall has been cleared to play by the NCAA.

The school announced Friday that the 6-foot-4 freshman must sit out two games and repay almost $800 in expenses incurred during unofficial visits to schools during his junior year at Word of God Christian Academy.

Wall’s status had been up in the air as the NCAA investigated the relationship between Wall and Brian Clifton, his former AAU coach. Clifton was a certified agent for a period during Wall’s recruitment, and the NCAA looked into whether Wall accepted any illegal benefits from Clifton during that time.

Wall will miss an exhibition game against Campbellsville on Monday and the season-opener against Morehead State on Nov. 13.

“I’m grateful to have this decision behind me,” Wall said in a statement.

Wall was considered one of the top prospects in the country when he signed with the Wildcats, who are ranked fourth in the preseason Top 25. The school had been working with the NCAA for several months to clear up his status.

Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart said he was “appreciative” of the NCAA’s willingness to listen while coach John Calipari added he was happy the situation had been resolved.

Wall will be able to play in Kentucky’s exhibition game against Clarion on Nov. 6, and will be eligible to make his regular-season debut against Miami (Ohio) on Nov. 16.

Updated Oct 30, 10:55 pm EDT
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271 Comments

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    JESSE B Sat Nov 14, 2009 06:36 am PST Report Abuse
    k-dawg ! you have to be kidding, or you just have no knowlege of basketball. i,ll let you answer that. but, the only answer can be the 2 i just gave you lol ! walls on m. state,s bench. thats really not very bright of you ! huh ? i hope you are not trying to let anyone think that you are a fan of basketball !
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    SARA Tue Nov 03, 2009 01:19 pm PST Report Abuse
    For all of you Wildcat haters-Let's remember who the most winning team in NcAA Basketball is!Kentucky has the most faithful of Fans and we all BLEED BLUE for our team!Even if we don't take it this year watch out -it's coming and it's coming with all the force of the Wildcats have ever had!
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    DookieSince1973 Tue Nov 03, 2009 10:46 am PST Report Abuse
    Put this in the wrong thread...this new internetty thingy can get confusing for us old farts.

    (Disclaimer - I'm an OLD Dookie!) Getting past all the garbage and "look-at-me aren't I cool hate talk", there are a lot of similarities and differences in the Wall case with UK and Maggette with Duke. I don't think in either case that the school or coaching staff knew a thing. That's where I kind of have a problem with some NCAA rules in general. What do we require a school to do? A complete background check on all recruits - do they have to hire private investigators to dig into the entire life of a recruit since puberty (or in some cases, maybe even before)?

    If the school doesn't know (and just didn't turn their head away) I don't think they should be penalized. If this came out two years down the road, should UK have to forfeit all their games this year? NO! They didn't know. And given that Wall would probably be long gone to the NBA, what purpose would it serve? So there are similarities between Wall/UK and Maggette/Duke. But like it or not, that seems to be the rules. So by those rules, there certainly are valid arguments that Duke should forfeit all Maggette games even if they didn't know.

    But there are also big differences. I haven't seen anything that indicated that Wall HIMSELF had a clue about the situation. Assuming he didn't (and didn't just turn his head away), why penalize HIM? Of course that's assuming he didn't have a clue. That's VERY different from Maggette. It seems that Maggette knew EXACTLY what he was doing and that it was wrong. He definitely should have been penalized...unfortunately, before it came to light, he was long gone. What penalty could the NCAA impose on him? If he was still with DUKE, it would have been right to throw him out. Because he KNEW. But if Wall didn't know, what's the point of the penalty?

    I think I now know why Maggette took the jump to the NBA when he did. It didn't make any sense at the time. Brand - without a doubt should have jumped like he did. But Maggette?? He was good, but not THAT good. Didn't make any sense (and was a big surprise to all) that he jumped.....except that now we KNOW that he realized he was just a "loose lip" away from banishment. If that would happen at the start of the year, he sits out the entire season, and likely wouldn't get drafted. So jump while the jumping's good. Before the stuff hits the fan. In a way, Duke WAS penalized. Sunk good time and training into him, then lost him. No different that if he would have stayed and the garbage came out and he was kicked out of college basketball.

    But if the program truly doesn't know (I think applies to both UK and Duke), why penalize the program?? Makes no sense. If the player truly doesn't know (maybe applies to Wall but certainly doesn't apply to Maggette), why penalize the player (and the program)? Makes no sense. But that's the NCAA for you.
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    DookieSince1973 Tue Nov 03, 2009 09:53 am PST Report Abuse
    To UK fans....WELCOME BACK TO THE BIG TIME! You can tell you are there when about 250 of 268 posters are haters. (Don't see a lot of people hating on say Purdue do you?!) They only hate on the good teams and programs. It's really quite a compliment.

    Maybe Wall can get Maggettee to pay his $800 "fine". Since he's not supposed to be making any money, SOMEBODY has to pay. That would be a GREAT article. It would give the anti-UK, anti-Duke people a single point for double hatred. Welcome back!
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    Sharon Mon Nov 02, 2009 09:28 pm PST Report Abuse
    Richard..post#248.. Man you are so right the NCAA should be called out on this one double standard of the NCAA standardsLMAO I bet you are one that agrees with the NCAA on the "ON GOING INVESTIGATION" at PUKE and CORY MAGETTE for10 years now. We all know where all the buying is going on at thats at PUKE and USC...LAFAO!!!! GO BIG BLUE!!!
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    roger v Mon Nov 02, 2009 05:07 pm PST Report Abuse
    OK, they let me out for my nightly Meds, and i slipped off to get online and laugh at Lexington and Calamari........hahahhahahhahaa, omg they are coming to take me away...............
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    K- DAWG Mon Nov 02, 2009 02:17 pm PST Report Abuse
    Wall would be a reserve on the Spartans. GO MSU!!!!!
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    HUH! Mon Nov 02, 2009 01:06 pm PST Report Abuse
    indigent and ignorant, Roger, the wi-fi at the cracker Barrel must be running slow. Have some more grits and reboot.
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    roger v Mon Nov 02, 2009 11:24 am PST Report Abuse
    The final four has been canceled for this season and maybe for seasons to come...Henceforth it wil become a round robin final 3...UK , the only team in history to win the NC without stepping on the court!. hahahahahaha now that's funny, Is the smell getting tooooo BAD yet Lexington??
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    come get ya some!!!! Mon Nov 02, 2009 09:10 am PST Report Abuse
    Lots of haters on here. hahahahahaha. UK will stomp everyone this year.
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    JoBu Mon Nov 02, 2009 05:13 am PST Report Abuse
    Can't wait until Clarion comes down Nov. 6 and rocks Rupp Arena haha. Fly Eagles Fly!
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    K- DAWG Sun Nov 01, 2009 09:45 pm PST Report Abuse
    Kentucky is gonna suck!
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    Drew J Sun Nov 01, 2009 07:57 pm PST Report Abuse
    Honestly, roger v has been jacking his jaws for months since Cal was hired. He wished he were back in Memphis. Of course he's saying all that about Wall, but I did see some good points. All the ncaa wants is money, but seriously, don't you think that Wall wants to play? Even if he wanted to go pro, he'd still have to play in college. I don't see Wall doing anything wrong, if that AAU guy (whatever his name is) was dealing with other high profile kids. I think he blue balled Wall, but whatever. Hell, no matter who is jealous of UK, you know for a fact that the kids that were there before along with the new freshman, want to win so bad...and they'd work there ass off to do so. I'm looking for a great season from the entire team, GO BIG BLUE.
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    K- DAWG Sun Nov 01, 2009 06:48 pm PST Report Abuse
    You said it right Rob.
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    roger v Sun Nov 01, 2009 05:56 pm PST Report Abuse
    Brad you are so right. It's time to somehow get rid of the NCAA. They are worse than the politicians we have elected! Whoring this young kids just to get TV ratings while they live the life of luxury. The one and done thing has got to be the worse thing they ever did@
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    Brad Sun Nov 01, 2009 05:20 pm PST Report Abuse
    lol i find this hilarious, NCAA approves Hall to play for UK but has to sit for 2 games. Key words are NCAA, approves, and sit for 2 games, All the NCAA is bunch of dumba$$es who think they are in control of everything.
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    roger v Sun Nov 01, 2009 02:03 pm PST Report Abuse
    Whooopie, i escaped long enough to get online....Actually it is my med time again....Had to get a second laugh of the day!!! Ya cant spell suck without UK!!! WHOOOPIE
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    rob Sun Nov 01, 2009 11:34 am PST Report Abuse
    Uk suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucks baby with a capital s
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    Paul Sun Nov 01, 2009 09:11 am PST Report Abuse
    Wall has been suspended for two games when his teammates on that same aau team aren't suspended at all. Sounds like Byast to me but we are THE UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY WILDCATS so we will over come it and see you all in the final four legally!
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    A. Sun Nov 01, 2009 07:48 am PST Report Abuse
    I'm not jealous nor do I really give a flip about what goes on in Lexington Ky, I just know what I see. A coach that's had to vacate both final four appearances. He happens to be a coach with a history of choking in the NCAA. A few years back he let an inferior UCLA team ho;d Memphis to a NCAA game record low 45 points. That was a UCLA team Memphis beat easily during the regular season. Against Kansas he had a 3 point lead and Rose shooting a one and one with 10 seconds left and he had timeouts. He didn't have the sense to use one of his timeouts and call the basic play in that situation. If Rose misses the 1st free throw, call a timeout, put some pressure on Kansas to run a few seconds off the clock and FOUL them BEFORE they shoot a three! It doesn't matter really. Memphis would have had the championship vacated anyhow. Last year Cal had the #1 ranked defensive team in the country and he lets Missouri score, what, 110 points in a Sweet Sixteen game? Choke, choke, choke. Oh yeah, Just like Rose the NCAA cleared Wall to play. Well they cleared Rose to play until the season was over and changed their minds. Where Cal is involved there are patterns. Things seem to repeat. Will Wall still be eligible at the end of the season? Doubt it.
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    reddog Sun Nov 01, 2009 07:34 am PST Report Abuse
    Sounds like a whole lot of jealousy to me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    To put it in the words of Dick Vitale U.K. is back BBBBAAAAABBBBYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!
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    cledus Sun Nov 01, 2009 07:07 am PST Report Abuse
    Roger V, get lost hypocrite, what are you complaining about, actually keep talking, it seems that you have some anger built up and this might be a good thing for you to just run your mouth and not make any sense
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    Richard L Sun Nov 01, 2009 03:53 am PST Report Abuse
    It's about time some schools should be suing the NCAA for making hypocritical decisions that are totally inconsistent, illogical and downright autocratic. I doubt if Kentucky will do anything because Wall got off lightly. W. Virginia probably couldn't care about Kilicli's 20 games, even though it is much more severe than Wall's for playing ball rather than getting freebies. Memphis should take the initiative but probably the school worries too much about the repercussions and more penalties from NCAA for not quietly accepting the decision. As for stopping cheaters out there, there is no way NCAA can police this thing and shown to be fair. I believe NCAA would be better off to delegate that down to each school conference to do the dirty investigation work. For example, let the Big Ten and SEC audit each other and report their respective findings, etc. Rotate that around every 3 years so that each conference can learn from other conferences all the dirty tricks. Anyone second that?
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    Randy Sun Nov 01, 2009 02:08 am PST Report Abuse
    Does anyone else find it hilariously ironic that roger v is chastising folks to "look it up in the dictionary" while misspelling the words 'Univeristy' & 'chistised' in the same sentence?

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