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SMU to report minor basketball rules violation to NCAA

09:53 PM CDT on Tuesday, June 29, 2004


By CALVIN WATKINS / The Dallas Morning News



UNIVERSITY PARK – SMU athletic officials are in the process of self-reporting an NCAA secondary rules violation regarding starting point guard Bryan Hopkins.

On Sunday, Hopkins played for a U.S. all-star team in the Global Games, a summer basketball tournament not sanctioned by the NCAA.

NCAA rules state that if athletes play in events not sanctioned by the NCAA, it must be for their national team.

Tournament and SMU officials said there was confusion about the rule because other college players are in the tournament. SMU forward Donatas Rackauskas plays for the Lithuania national team, and Ivan Lopez of Memphis plays for the Puerto Rico national team.

Ed Wisneski, SMU's senior associate athletic director for student athlete services, who is in charge of compliance, will file the paperwork on the violation with the NCAA. Wisneski said previous secondary-rule violations resulted in an athlete receiving a suspension for the amount of games he played during a nonsanctioned event. In this case, Hopkins could miss one game for the 2004-05 regular season

Has Rack played in games, too? Would be a shame to have them both sit out.
And do Roberts and Ritter count as NCAA athletes yet?

Like the article says, you have to be playing for your national team in order to play in a non NCAA sanctioned event. I don't get it, though. He was playing for Team USA.

How did he play, by the way?

Where was the SMU compliance officer when this was being decided? It is his freaking job to make sure this crap doesn't happen for godsake. We are the death penalty school, we have to do it better than everybody else. This is unbelievable.

ponyboy wrote:Like the article says, you have to be playing for your national team in order to play in a non NCAA sanctioned event. I don't get it, though. He was playing for Team USA.

How did he play, by the way?

Calling it Team USA doesnt mean it actually is. USA Basketball doesnt assemble the team or organize the event, the Mavericks do. The US teams are not an actual sanctioned representative of USA Basketball, unlike the teams from the other countries, which send their actual Under-21 national teams.

Rackauskas, Roberts and Ritter should all be in the clear. Rack and Ritter are on Lithuania's team, and Roberts hasnt enrolled full time at an NCAA institution, yet. Players are allowed to participate in 3-4 All Star events (cant remember the exact number) in the summer between their senior year in high school and their first year in college. This includes things like the McDonalds All-American game, or a State All-Star game, or the Dallas-Houston All Star game that Quentin Ross played in a few years ago. Or, in this case, the Global Games. Games played with your national team are exempt from the 3-4 game limit.

jtstang wrote:Where was the SMU compliance officer when this was being decided? It is his freaking job to make sure this crap doesn't happen for godsake. We are the death penalty school, we have to do it better than everybody else. This is unbelievable.

AMEN!!!!!

Sounds like Wisneski is really on top of things. I'm speechless. What a joke. You can't just drop the ball like that, not at SMU.

Is he is ONLY college player on the US Squad? What a dolt whoever is in charge and not to check with the rules and NCAA. HOW STUPID!

Just a thought....maybe before you start ripping Wisneski....did you ever think that he didn't know that B-Hop was playing in the Global Games. The game was on a weekend. It's just a minor infractions we don't have to worry about getting the death penalty again. How many other schools have committ major infractions over the last couple of years? Oregon, Alabama, Auburn....Do I need to go on

Okay, so maybe Wisneski didn't know. But come on, ONE of the hundreds of people involved should have known. SOMEBODY should have noticed that Bhop was the ONLY college player on the team, and thought that odd. All the other colleges seemed to know. The fact that it happened on a weekend, well, lots of sporting events happen on the weekend. Somebody dropped the ball, and it's indefensible.

Come on. Lets not make this bigger than it is. Was it stupid? Yes. Should someone have known? Yes. But lets not blame Wisneski. I saw a roster for the USA team two days before the games started and Hop wasn’t on it. The Mavs and Little Whistle a more concerned with the international teams than the USA team. Look who is coaching the USA team, Collin County CC's coach?? My guess is that getting Hop to play was a last second decision and probably never ran by Wisneski. I think it is unfair to blame him without knowing all the facts. Its very likely this was just an innocent mistake. Hop will sit out against SE Arkansas St. and we can move on.

Thank you LA_Mustang.....The ball was dropped but it may actually help the team to play one game without B-Hop.

SCHOOPS wrote:Just a thought....maybe before you start ripping Wisneski....did you ever think that he didn't know that B-Hop was playing in the Global Games. The game was on a weekend. It's just a minor infractions we don't have to worry about getting the death penalty again. How many other schools have committ major infractions over the last couple of years? Oregon, Alabama, Auburn....Do I need to go on

Is he in charge of NCAA compliance or not? If so, it is HIS JOB to know what is going on. Period.

Spoken like a true lawyer...and do you know every thing your secretary or clerk does when you're out of the office? Didn't think so.

PK wrote:Spoken like a true lawyer...and do you know every thing your secretary or clerk does when you're out of the office? Didn't think so.

Maybe not every minute detail, but more importantly, I know where the buck stops. If this guy did not do his job right, that's his responsibility. If a well known basketball tournament is coming up on your own campus, and a number of your players are playing in it, you damned well better make sure it is proper under NCAA rules if you job entails NCAA rules compliance. And if there is a question, you better damned well let your players know in advance. How can you even argue with that PK?