Kansas benches player named in shoe scandal
Kansas forward Silvio De Sousa was benched indefinitely by the top-ranked Jayhawks on Wednesday after his name surfaced in testimony connected with the corruption scandal rocking college basketball.
De Sousa, 6 feet 9 and one of the Jayhawks’ top rebounders, is out while the school and NCAA look into his eligibility. He could miss a good chunk — or perhaps all — of the regular season, which begins with a highprofile game Nov. 6 against No. 10 Michigan State in Indianapolis.
“The timetable is unknown,” coach Bill Self said.
Self spoke just a few hours before a jury in federal court in New York convicted former Adidas executive James Gato, Adidas consultant Merl Code and NBA agent runner Christian Dawkins of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The trio had been accused of funneling money from the apparel company to the families of recruits at Kansas, Louisville and its other sponsored schools.
Former AAU coach T.J. Gassnola testified that he facilitated payments to De Sousa’s guardian in an attempt to steer him toward the Jayhawks. Those payments would have rendered the native of Angola ineligible to play for the Jayhawks. Gassnola said Self and his staff did not know about the payments.
“Information was presented during the current trial in New York — some of which we knew, some of which we didn’t,” Self said before the verdict was announced.
“We have decided to withhold Silvio from competition until we can evaluate and understand the new information. We have already discussed trial developments with the NCAA and will continue to work with NCAA staff moving forward.”
Pitt
Panthers first-year coach Jeff Capel first thought about becoming a coach when his playing days were winding down two decades ago. No less a coaching authority than Capel’s father told him he was crazy. Capel’s dad, also named Jeff, was a longtime coach at Old Dominion.
Capel said Wednesday at ACC media day that his father “told me I was crazy.” He added that his dad told him, “you should go to law school or something else.” The choice does not seem so crazy now. Capel was head coach at VCU and Oklahoma. He also was an assistant at Duke from 2011-18 before taking over the Panthers.
Robert Morris
The men’s basketball team has been picked to finish fifth in the Northeast Conference in 2018-19. The poll of NEC men’s coaches was released at the conference’s media day at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Saint Francis, which earned eight first-place votes, was selected as the preseason favorite in 2018-19, the second consecutive year the Red Flash has been tabbed the top pick. Led by ninth-year head coach Andy Toole, RMU returns senior guard Matty McConnell, sophomore guard Jon Williams and sophomore forwards Charles Bain and Koby Thomas as starters.
The women’s team was selected as the league favorite in the NEC coaches poll. This is the fourth time in the past six seasons that Robert Morris has been picked as the league’s preseason favorite. RMU, which captured five of nine possible firstplace votes, continued its recent run of success in 201718. The Colonials established a new school record with 25 victories last season and had 16 conference wins.