By David Borges, Register Staff
dborges@newhavenregister.com

While UConn’s response to allegations of eight recruiting violations should become public over the next few days, the NCAA’s punishment of the men’s basketball program won’t likely be known until this winter.

UConn must formally respond to the NCAA committee on infractions by Friday. Apparently, separate responses will also be turned in by coach Jim Calhoun and former assistants Patrick Sellers and Beau Archibald, both of whom resigned from the program in May. A press conference to explain all or most of the responses should occur Thursday or Friday.

Calhoun, athletic director Jeff Hathaway and other members of the UConn program are slated to meet before the committee on Oct. 15-16, but aren’t likely to get a final decision before November or December.

For UConn fans, that means another few months of hand-wringing over how hard the NCAA committee on infractions might come down on the Huskies. Loss of scholarships, recruiting restrictions and some sort of probationary period are likely punishments, but there are really only two words that fans of the program don’t want to hear: postseason ban.

The chances of the Huskies being banned from NCAA (or NIT) appearances seem slim, but not entirely out of the question.

“I think based on the allegations, there’s probably a remote possibility,” said Dan Fitzgerald, a New Haven attorney who specializes in sports law. “I would never say never, when you’re dealing with the NCAA. But these are recruiting violations. To me, the most logical sanctions would be recruiting sanctions, punishment parallel to the act.”

Added Michael Buckner, a Florida lawyer who represents coaches and schools in NCAA infractions hearings: “Based upon what we know, I do not see (a postseason ban), unless there’s some other information that we haven’t seen. Normally, that occurs when you have an ineligible student-athlete that’s involved in some serious NCAA rules violations (and) plays in some kind of NCAA postseason contests.”

Nate Miles, the central figure in the NCAA investigation, never played a second in a UConn uniform. He was expelled from school in October 2008 after an alleged assault on a 19-year-old female UConn student. Does that bit of “luck,” if you will, mean the Huskies should have no fear of a postseason ban?

“The committee of infractions could still impose that,” Buckner said, “but it would have to explain a sound basis for it. The committee has been trying to implement more stringent penalties lately. Look at the USC case.”

Indeed, the USC football program recently received a two-year postseason ban, along with the loss of 30 scholarships over the next three years, for what the NCAA deemed a “lack of institutional control” regarding Reggie Bush, who allegedly received gifts from sports agents while at the school. Of course, Bush played three seasons at the school. That makes his situation different than that of Miles, who is believed to have received improper benefits from ex-agent Josh Nochimson, a former UConn student manager. Continued...

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However, UConn has been admonished by the NCAA for “a failure ... to adequately monitor the conduct and administration of the men’s basketball staff.” Likewise, Calhoun has failed to “promote an atmosphere of compliance in the men’s basketball program,” according to the NCAA.

“The only way a postseason ban would come up,” Fitzgerald said, “is if the lack of compliance was so pronounced — the failure to monitor was more than just negligent, it was reckless. I certainly don’t think they would find that with a program like UConn, that for the most part has been very clean and on the up-and-up.”

Added Buckner: “The only reason I could think of (for the NCAA to hand UConn a postseason ban) is that they’re trying to punish or sanction UConn and its men’s basketball program for not doing the job it should have been doing, in terms of ensuring impermissible contact between agents and boosters is not occurring with prospects. The NCAA is taking a very harsh, stringent approach against not just UConn but USC, (several) SEC, ACC schools, for their dealings with prospects or enrolled student-athletes. They could come up with some reason for a harsh approach, (saying) that you’ve got to be proactive and ensure that your program isn’t doing these things.”

Then there’s there’s the curious case of Ater Majok. A report in the Hartford Courant last week said Majok is almost certainly leaving the team. A UConn source confrmed that on Monday. If Majok’s departure has anythig to do with potential recruiting violations involving him — and an ESPN report back in March 2009 chronicled his dealings with Nochimson as well — then the Huskies have more of a problem.

Majok, of course, played forthe team last season. A separate university source categorically denied that the NCAA investigated his recruitment.

Buckner has been surprised by the NCAA before. In the USC case, for instance, he was shocked that the school was docked 30 scholarships over three seasons. He said the “rough formula” has been a two-for-one ban: two lost scholarships for every one student-athlete involved with improprieties. USC is appealing that particular punishment.

As for UConn: “I could see them losing at least two (scholarships), but it wouldn’t surprise me if they lost more. I don’t have a basis for it, but that’s up for the appeals committee to decide (if UConn appealed the decision).”

It’s likely that UConn will suggest self-imposed penalties like recruiting limitations by its staff, probation, and, possibly, loss of scholarships. In a recent Twitter message, prime UConn recruiting target Angelo Chol of San Diego said he’s crossed the Huskies off his list because “they lost all their scholarships.”

It’s virtually impossible to believe that UConn will self-impose some sort of postseason ban. USC, in its combined investigation of its football and basketball programs, self-imposed a postseason ban for its basketball team the past season, stemming from improper benefits received by O.J. Mayo. Of course, Mayo played a season with the Trojans.

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