NCAA Suspends Myck Kabongo for the Entire Season

The NCAA continues bullying its student athletes—yes, the ones that generate all the revenue for them and the NCAA continuously refuses to compensate—and this time the victim is Texas point guard Myck Kabongo. #FreeKabongo From Yahoo! Sports: “Texas guard Myck Kabongo will be suspended by the NCAA for the rest of the season, Yahoo! Sports has learned. As the NCAA investigated Kabongo’s amateur status over the past several months, Texas held Kabongo out of the lineup. The NCAA’s investigation has centered around whether Kabongo, a one-time potential NBA first-round draft pick, received impermissible benefits from agent Rich Paul, who represents NBA superstar LeBron James and two former Texas Longhorns players: Cleveland Cavaliers forward Tristan Thompson and San Antonio Spurs guard Cory Joseph. In most impermissible benefits situations, players usually are suspended from three to 10 games and ordered to repay the amount of the benefits received. In this case, the penalty was made more severe because Kabongo provided inaccurate information to NCAA investigators when he was interviewed, sources with ties to Texas’ basketball program said. The season-long ban is consistent with the penalty applied to former Oklahoma State wide receiver Dez Bryant in 2009 when he lied to the NCAA. The loss of Kabongo is a major blow to an inexperienced Texas team that already has been struggling without its best player. The Longhorns are 6-4, including a shocking loss to NAIA Chaminade in the Maui Invitational last month. Kabongo averaged 9.6 points and team highs of 5.2 assists and 1.3 steals last season. As Y! Sports reported previously, one element of the probe centered on whether Paul played a role in Kabongo traveling to Cleveland last spring on a trip that included at least one workout with New York-based professional trainer, Jerry Powell. At issue was who paid for Kabongo’s travel and expenses, and whether Powell’s training was provided without cost.”