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Joeviair Kennedy, ex-Western Michigan player, gets at least 17 years in prison

Associated PressJul 17, 2018, 8:43 AM EDT

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) — A former Western Michigan University basketball player has been sentenced for his role in a robbery that led to the fatal shooting of another student.

The Kalamazoo Gazette reports that 21-year-old Joeviair Kennedy was ordered Monday to spend at least 17 ½ years in prison.

Kennedy was convicted last month of armed robbery and using a firearm during a felony. But he was acquitted of murder in the 2016 slaying of 19-year-old Jacob Jones in an off-campus apartment.

Kennedy’s co-defendant and former Muskegon High School teammate, Jordan Waire, was convicted in April of murder and armed robbery. He’s been sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Witnesses said Waire and Kennedy burst into Jones’ apartment demanding money and marijuana. Kennedy was on Western Michigan’s basketball team when he was arrested.

Duke’s White to chair NCAA selection committee for 2019-20

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Associated PressJul 16, 2018, 9:40 AM EDT

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INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Duke athletic director Kevin White will serve as the chairman of the NCAA Tournament selection committee in 2020.

The NCAA announced White’s role Friday. White will serve as vice chairman this season for the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee headed by Stanford athletic director Bernard Muir, then take over for the 2019-20 season.

White has been a committee member since the 2015-16 season.

In a statement, White called it “an incredible honor” to serve on the committee and be selected for a leadership role.

Creighton athletic director Bruce Rasmussen served as chairman of the committee last season and will rotate off the committee Sept. 1.

Oklahoma’s Brady Manek preparing for bigger role without Trae Young

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Associated PressJul 12, 2018, 3:50 PM EDT

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NORMAN, Okla. — Brady Manek’s strong freshman season was largely overlooked while the college basketball world was enamored with his Oklahoma teammate Trae Young.

The 6-foot-9 forward was Oklahoma’s No. 3 scorer last season with 10.2 points per game. Now that Young has left for the NBA, Manek will be depended upon more.

“I feel like people really sleep on Brady,” Oklahoma guard Christian James said Thursday morning after a conditioning session. “He’s going to have a great year.”

Manek is hard to overlook for other reasons, too. He’s given up his buzz cut, and with the longer hair and mustache, he bears a striking resemblance to Larry Bird in the late 1970s. Manek gave no specific reason for the new look, though he said his mother likes it and his father isn’t a fan.

“I’ve never had it this long, ever,” he said. “Why not?”

Manek is undergoing another physical change, too — filling out a slender frame that got knocked around a bit last year. He also is working to diversify his offensive skills. Last season, more than half his shots were 3-pointers.

“Mainly just trying to create my own shot, not just catch it and shoot it,” he said. “Working down low, going for the offensive rebound every time. Little things in the game to make me a little bit better.”

The results are already starting to show.

“He’s improved so much,” James said. “Just ballhandling, being relentless on the boards, and his shot is getting so much better.”

From December to January last season, Manek shared the marquee with Young. He scored 21 points against Wichita State, 22 against Northwestern State, 28 against Oklahoma State and 22 against TCU.

Manek reached double figures just once in his final eight games, but still shot 47 percent from the field and 38 percent from 3-point range for the season.

“He was incredible,” James said. “He knocked down big shots. He rebounded the ball well. I feel like for a freshman, he had an unbelievable season.”

Manek will have to adjust without Young to set him up. Aaron Calixte, a graduate transfer from Maine, will compete with graduate transfer Miles Reynolds and freshman Jamal Bieniemy for the chance to replace Young.

“It’s a little bit different,” Manek said. “When you have a player like Trae on the court, he does a lot of things. When you lose that, you bring players that have other advantages to them and strengths to them. You figure out how to play with them and play with each other.”

Manek already has left an impression on Calixte.

“He’s tough,” he said. “He’s a hard-nosed forward. He plays hard all the time. He can really shoot it from deep. He just plays hard. He brings that every single day.”

NC State’s Yow savors Top 25 goal, even amid FBI hoops probe

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Associated PressJul 12, 2018, 3:46 PM EDT

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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina State finally owns the Top 25 national status that athletics director Debbie Yow has sought during her eight-year tenure.

Yet amid the excitement there’s concern: The men’s basketball program is entangled in the federal investigation into corruption within the sport. That’s left Yow to balance the best overall season in school history with potential trouble ahead for one of the Wolfpack’s highest-profile programs.

“You tell the truth, always,” Yow said in an interview with The Associated Press. “We know what our culture is. My goodness, you’ve heard us talk about ‘ERA: Establish the culture, reinforce the culture, act with integrity when the culture is threatened.’ . If there has been an errant individual who’s acted outside of the stated and expected culture, so be it. We’ll deal with it.”

Federal prosecutors last fall charged 10 men — including assistant coaches at Arizona, Auburn, USC and Oklahoma State and a top Adidas executive — in the fraud and bribery scandal, though prosecutors later withdrew a criminal complaint against one defendant.

The case involves hundreds of thousands of dollars in alleged bribes and kickbacks designed to influence recruits on choosing a school, agent or apparel company. It has touched schools such as Kansas, Louisville , Miami and Maryland , among others.

In N.C. State’s case, it received a grand jury subpoena in January for records tied to former one-and-done guard Dennis Smith Jr., former head coach Mark Gottfried and ex-assistant Orlando Early. And in April, a rewritten federal indictment alleged the former Adidas representative arranged $40,000 for the parent of an athlete committed to the school — and that an unnamed Wolfpack coach was involved in delivering the money.

The staff of current coach Kevin Keatts, who replaced Gottfried in March 2017, is not linked to the case. The school has said it is cooperating with investigators.

Asked if the case puts a damper on the overall season, Yow said: “I will always be disappointed if there’s an issue. Always. But that takes us back to who we really are and what our culture is. You have to go back to that.”

The rest of the news was better.

The Wolfpack finished 15th in the Directors’ Cup rankings of overall college programs, up from 89th when Yow arrived in summer 2010. The previous high was 27th in 2014-15.

“I think it gives us a different level of confidence in our ability to advance the program across the board,” Yow said, adding: “The next step is going to be consistency. It’s one thing to do it once, it’s another thing to make it a habit.”

The school had all-time highs of 12 teams with Top 25 rankings finishes and 12 individual national champions. The highest-profile programs did well, with football earning its second nine-win season in 15 years and reaching a five-year deal to keep Dave Doeren after he talked with Tennessee about its opening.

Keatts led men’s basketball to wins against Arizona, Duke and North Carolina before returning to the NCAA Tournament after a two-year absence. Wes Moore led women’s basketball to its first NCAA Sweet 16 since 2007, while baseball was an NCAA regional host under Elliott Avent.

The school also said athletes posted a cumulative GPA of better than a 3.0 for the first time.

N.C. State is spending $6.6 million to create broadcast and production space at the football stadium for the 2019 arrival of the Atlantic Coast Conference’s TV channel, a requirement for all schools. A $2.5 million update to football’s sports medicine facility is planned, though the $15 million Case Commons project to build a centrally located dorm to house the basketball teams is shelved amid rising steel costs.

The 67-year-old Yow is entering the final year of a contract that ends next July. She’s sticking to that timeline, including when pressed on whether uncertainty from the FBI investigation could change her plans.

“I look at it and say I need for that to be settled before I retire,” she said. “I need to have closure on that for this place. Now, if I didn’t, the head of compliance is still here. The chancellor is still here. So it isn’t like I have to be here. It’s just a matter of personal comfort. I want things settled.”

Former Louisville players file suit against NCAA over vacated 2013 national title

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Associated PressJul 11, 2018, 4:50 PM EDT

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A group of former Louisville men’s basketball players have filed a lawsuit against the NCAA over the organization’s vacation of the Cardinals’ 2013 national championship and 2012 Final Four.

John Morgan, one of several attorneys representing former Cardinals captain Luke Hancock, the 2013 Final Four Most Outstanding Player, and four teammates from that title team, said a lawsuit had been filed and described the NCAA as “a morally bankrupt organization” that exploits student-athletes during a Wednesday news conference.

The suit filed Wednesday in Jefferson County Circuit Court does not specify monetary damages. It states the NCAA cast the plaintiffs in a false light and seeks declaration that it wrongfully vacated the plaintiffs’ wins, honors and awards.

Morgan added, “If all we get is this championship back for Louisville, and the players, and the city, and Luke’s MVP back, that’s going to be plenty pay for us.”

The attorney also mentioned former Louisville players Gorgui Dieng, Tim Henderson, Stephan Van Treese and Mike Marra as plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

The NCAA stripped Louisville of the title as part of sanctions for violations discovered during an escort scandal investigation .

Hancock stressed that his title ring “is not coming off” and said the embarrassing scandal continues to dog him despite not being involved.

“It’s been five years and I can’t tell you two days where I’ve gone without having someone come to me and ask me if I had strippers or prostitutes in the dorm,” he said.

“I’m excited that Morgan & Morgan has partnered with us and is going to represent us because enough is enough.”

The governing body in February denied the school’s appeal and vacated 123 victories, including their third NCAA title, following an escort’s book allegations in October 2015 that former basketball staffer Andre McGee hired her and other dancers for sex parties. Louisville removed the championship banner from its home arena soon afterward.

“We are used to fighting giants,” Morgan said. “In the sports world, I don’t think there is any Goliath that exists like the NCAA. The NCAA is a giant, but the NCAA is a morally bankrupt organization that has taken advantage of economically disadvantaged young people throughout our country.

“They answer to nobody but are bad for everybody.”

The liability attorney did not mention former Louisville coach Rick Pitino, who has denied knowledge of the activities alleged by Katina Powell in her book “Breaking Cardinal Rules: Basketball and the Escort Queen.”

Hancock said he frequently talks with Pitino but did not specifically ask if he wanted to be involved.

Several investigations soon followed after Powell’s allegations, including ones by the school and the NCAA. Louisville’s own investigation found that violations did occur and imposed penalties including sitting out the 2016 postseason in an effort to mitigate NCAA penalties.

The organization in June 2017 ordered Louisville to vacate victories that included the championship and Final Four appearance for activities it described as “repugnant” in its decision. Pitino was suspended for five games for failing to monitor McGee and vowed to fight the penalties. The school and the coach vowed then to fight the penalties.

As the appeals process unfolded, the Hall of Fame coach was suspended and eventually fired after 16 seasons last fall following Louisville’s acknowledgment of its involvement in a federal corruption of college basketball.

Pitino is not named in the federal complaint and has denied knowledge of any payments made to the family of former Louisville recruit Brian Bowen. The coach is suing the school along with sportswear maker Adidas, which dropped him after his firing.

Tyler Honeycutt’s former high school coach grew concerend before death

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Associated PressJul 9, 2018, 11:22 AM EDT

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LOS ANGELES — A former coach and family friend of onetime Sacramento Kings and UCLA basketball player Tyler Honeycutt says he had grown increasingly concerned about the young man before he was found dead following a standoff with Los Angeles police.

Bort Escoto, who coached Honeycutt in high school, told the Los Angeles Times that Honeycutt’s mother called him early Saturday to say her son had killed himself.

Escoto told the Los Angeles Daily News that Honeycutt had ”been going through some things.”

The day of his death, Escoto said he was planning on going to Honeycutt’s home after the 27-year-old called him.

”I planned on going to his house to talk, but his mom called me 45 minutes later saying, ‘He had a gun and was talking crazy,”’ Escoto said. ”I told her to call 911.”

Los Angeles police said they responded to a call reporting a man with a gun. They were talking with Honeycutt when they say he fired his weapon. Officers returned fire and a standoff ensued.

When police went into the home hours later, they found Honeycutt dead. The department said on Twitter that his injuries were consistent with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Escoto, who remained close with Honeycutt through college and his pro career, said the young man had been calling him recently ”and thanking me for all I’ve done for him.”

”He has been acting very unusual lately, and our conversations would leave me concerned for him,” he said.

Escoto told the Times that he never imagined Honeycutt would take his own life but knew the young man was having a hard time adjusting to life in Russia, where he was playing basketball in the Eastern European Professional Basketball League.

”It’s hard for an L.A. kid to go to Russia, not know the language or surroundings,” he said. ”I just kept telling him he needed to get out and meet people.”

He said Honeycutt was supposed to sign a new contract with either Russia or Israel the day he died.

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