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Coach K, a phone call and a gray area

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Mike Miller

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski picked a bad time to extend a scholarship offer. But the NCAA might not mind.

The Devils are investigating whether Coach K violated an NCAA rule when he reportedly offered Alex Poythress a scholarship last week while his AAU team, the Georgia Stars, was still playing in a tournament.

This all started when Jeff Borzello of CBSSports.com got Poythress on record:

“It felt pretty good,” Poythress said Thursday morning. “It was pretty exciting to talk to Coach K. He said he saw me play at the Super Showcase and Peach Jam, and he liked what he saw.”

Sounds dumb, right? Right.

Problem is that NCAA bylaw 13.1.2 prohibits coaches from contacting athletes until they’re done playing in a tournament. (Not to mention every coach knows the rule.)

Poythress’ team was eliminated from the tournament, but his AAU team was still on the road. The school wants to know if that gray area matters. If it does, it’ll likely be a secondary violation and won’t affect the program.

I mean, Coach K couldn’t wait to call the kid. It’s not like he had Poythress and two other recruits over to his house when it wasn’t allowed ...

You also can follow me on Twitter @MikeMillerNBC.