Enes Kanter ruled permanently ineligible

ESPN.com news services

Kentucky basketball recruit Enes Kanter has been ruled permanently ineligible for receiving impermissible compensation while playing for a professional team, the NCAA ruled Friday.


AP Photo/Rick Bowmer
The NCAA ruled Enes Kanter, who played for a senior professional team in Turkey, can not play for Kentucky.

The NCAA reinstatement committee confirmed that Kanter received $33,033 above his actual and necessary expenses for one year while playing for a club basketball team in Turkey.

"We were informed by the NCAA that the flexible decisions made by the NCAA staff in other high-profile cases could not be used in case precedent and were not binding on the NCAA going forward," Kentucky AD Mitch Barnhart said. "The University of Kentucky was very hopeful that our student-athlete might receive the same type of consideration afforded to these other athletes but that did not happen."

Kentucky had appealed an earlier decision by another NCAA department. The reinstatement committee is the final appeal opportunity.

Kanter will not be allowed to compete, practice or travel with the team, but is able to receive financial aid to stay in school.

"The silver lining is that Enes will always be part of this team," Kentucky coach John Calipari said. "My job will be to prepare him for his entry into the NBA draft, which this decision by the [NCAA] will likely necessitate. Enes will always be a part of our family and I plan to be by his side in the green room whenever he is drafted."

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=6000134

Apparently Tubby took that magic fax machine with him to Minnesota!

most UK fans had hope but figured it was a long shot. Just wish the NCAA had some consistency. They took the hard line but started making rulings that were all over the map. Left a lot of fans with optimism.

This is my problem with it. Make a damn decision and draw a line that leaves no gray area. The NCAA is an absolute joke, but I'm glad it worked against UK for once.

If anyone is having a slow night, go read catspause.com

Haha I just read for about 30 minutes. Fantastic stuff. Actually I was surprised that there seems to be some intelligent objective UK fans, though they seem to be an extremely endangered species.

There's a thread that's titled something like if Kanter went to Duke he'd be eligible. It's like all the moron Red Sox fans that complain about the Yankees spending too much.

Poor Enes. At least he still has a home with Cal and the family.