Wall will miss two games, repay expenses
October 30th, 2009 | 
Author:
John Wall
By LARRY VAUGHT
Finally the John Wall eligibility saga is over and has some University of Kentucky officials had indicated, there was no obvious violation of any rule based on the NCAA investigation.
Here is what the release from UK said:
LEXINGTON, Ky. – University of Kentucky men’s basketball student-athlete John Wall has been certified with conditions by the NCAA. The conditions are repayment of expenses and a two-game withholding, including the first exhibition game versus Campbellsville (Nov. 2) and the first regular-season game against Morehead State (Nov. 13).
Wall, a 6-4 freshman point guard from Raleigh, N.C., was one of five freshmen on the Naismith Preseason watch list. A pre-season All-American according to several national publications, Wall was the top recruit in the country last season according to Rivals.com.
“I’m grateful to have this decision behind me. All I ever wanted was to go to school and play ball with my team,” said UK freshman John Wall. “This has been really hard for my mom and I want to thank her for her support during this process.”
The repayment of expenses includes a total of $787.58, consisting predominantly of travel expenses incurred during Wall’s unofficial visits to various institutions during his junior year at Word of God Christian Academy.
“We’re appreciative of the process and the NCAA’s willingness to listen,” said UK Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart. “The NCAA staff worked to keep the welfare of the student-athlete in mind throughout this process. I’m happy for Coach Calipari and John Wall that he will get a chance to represent the Wildcats this season. He’s a great young man and deserves to be able to concentrate fully on his academics and basketball.”
“John Wall is a great kid who always tries to do the right thing and his mother is a great lady,” said UK head coach John Calipari. “I’m just happy this is behind us.”
My guess is that every UK fan feels the same way and you know coach John Calipari and athletics director Mitch Barnhart feel that way.
Wall’s teammates had offered solid support for him after Wednesday’s Blue-White Game and obviously they were right in their belief that nothing serious was coming. It’s still hard to see how Wall knowingly did anything wrong, but it’s best for him and UK to put this behind them and get ready to play. He gets to play one exhibition game and then sit out the regular-season opener before resuming his UK career.
What do you think? Fair or unfair?
Posted in UK Basketball
12 Responses to “Wall will miss two games, repay expenses”
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Not Fair. This is only fair if every young man on the AAU team he played on that is in college has to do the same thing. I am sure that is not the case so unfair is my call. That said the rear view mirror is small for a reason. There are greater things ahead. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK. GO BLUE OR STAY HOME
I agree that he must pay back the money, but if there was no proof that he knowingly violated any rule, then why does he have to sit out 2 games? Oh well, it is infinitely better than the alternative. This is completely a Brian Clifton issue, not a John Wall issue. It was painful to see John have to answer questions about this during his Blue/White game interview. He looked so dejected when the issue was brought up. Well young man, it is time to have some fun! GO BIG BLUE!!!
Since they probed in John Walls conection with the AAU coach why didn’t they probe into the other players that played with him?
hopefully this is over now and we can look forward to an exciting year of wildcat basketball. GOOOOOOO CATS
I think all of you are right in your thinking, but best news is that this should put all this to rest — and did it before the NOvember signing period. That could be big, too
I don’t know all of the facts so I can’t say if it is fair or unfair, but I am very glad that the whole thing is over, and regardless of the fairness, the “punishment” if that is what you want to call it is harmless.
I believe it’s fair! Oh goodness Larry, my 3rd post in 4 days after being silent for almost 4 months. I once was speeding in a zone I thought was 45 and it turns out it was 30. Guess what the judge said. One time – I thought that walking on a street in Atlanta allowed an open container – wrong – $150 fine. Look. At any point in life there are fair and unfair and the unfair is just that. Unfair to the person but the system said so. Let’s just say – play ball. The kid won’t miss anything especially against that level and thank the NCAA for clearing a player. cough cough just like they did Derek Rose.
Larry your the man!!!Loyal following here in Corbin,Ky
[...] } I’m sure the news has spread through Big Blue Nation, but I just had to put it here: John Wall has been cleared by the NCAA and will play for UK this season…with a few strings attached. First, he will miss two games. One of the games will be the [...]
Glad it’s behind us, and thanks for the update Larry. It’s probably dangerous trying to understand the way the NCAA thinks, but why the ’split’ in the games? What was the basis for one exhibition game and one regular season game? Why not two exhibition games?
Larry, where does the 700+ m0ney come from? Who pays? Can Wall’s mother handle this?
Doug, John and his family have to come up with the money, but I am sure they will be able to do that.
My understanding is the games were split as a compromise from the NCAA originally wanting three regular season games.
And great points about fairness being hard to really know. I guess the best part is that at least everyone knows now when Wall can and can’t play and in two more weeks it will all be over
Too bad that all UK fans can’t each send her a penny. She could pay the fine and be rich to boot.