KU’s De Sousa asks for reinstatement

Silvio De Sousa’s attorney Thursday asked the NCAA to reinstate the University of Kansas sophomore forward immediately.

The Kansas City Star reported that Kansas declared De Sousa ineligible this week, formally acknowledging that a violation took place, and submitted a request to the NCAA for reinstatement.

“Silvio has cooperated fully and completely with the investigation of his NCAA eligibility, which has now caused him to miss over half of his sophomore season,” attorney Scott Tompsett said in a statement. “He came to the United States from Angola at the age of 15, and he did everything he was supposed to do and was asked to do to become an eligible student-athlete at the University of Kansas. Silvio followed the rules. He did nothing wrong.

“If adults did something illicit or against the rules, they did it without Silvio’s knowledge or involvement.”

Adidas representative T.J. Gassnola said at a federal trial he provided $2,500 to De Sousa’s guardian, Fenny Falmagne, so De Sousa could enroll in an online course to assure his early graduation from IMG Academy and eligibility at Kansas. Gassnola also testified that he gave Falmagne $2,500 so De Sousa could take the online classes.

Optimism on Jones: Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski told The Athletic that starting point guard Tre Jones may return sooner than expected from a separated right shoulder. Jones suffered the injury early in Monday night’s overtime loss to Syracuse. The topranked Blue Devils (14-2, 3-1 ACC) later announced that Jones would be out indefinitely.