UK's Morris suspended for season

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- The NCAA restored the eligibility of Kentucky center Randolph Morris Thursday, but said he must sit out the entire basketball season as a condition of his reinstatement after his unsuccessful entry into the NBA draft.\nMorris also must repay expenses related to tryouts for NBA teams, the NCAA said in a statement released Thursday, adding that the conditions were imposed "based on the seriousness of multiple rules violations involving dealings with an agent and accepting expenses to tryout for NBA teams."\nMorris, a 6-foot-10 sophomore, would have two years of eligibility remaining after this season. He will be allowed to continue practicing with the 15th-ranked Wildcats, and he did so Thursday. But Kentucky officials, who said Morris would comment when his situation was resolved, did not make him available to the media after the team's practice.\nKentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart called the ruling by NCAA's Student-Athlete Reinstatement Staff unfair to Morris and said the university will appeal immediately to the NCAA's Student-Athlete Reinstatement Committee. The appeal will be filed early next week and should be heard before Christmas, Barnhart said.\nIf the committee, which consists of five members from NCAA Division I conferences and institutions, upholds the staff's decision, Kentucky and Morris would have no other methods of appeal through the NCAA.\n"We don't feel the punishment is consistent with the past precedents established by previous NCAA cases," Barnhart said. "The NCAA has tried to become a more student-friendly organization, but this direction is a significant step away from that."\nKentucky coach Tubby Smith, who has said on several occasions that he expected Morris to be able to return this season, had little to say about the situation Thursday, two days before the Wildcats (6-2) play No. 18 IU (4-2) in Indianapolis.\nSmith wouldn't address how Morris' season-long absence might affect the team, which has received inconsistent play this season from juniors Shagari Alleyne and Lukasz Obrzut, who were Morris' primary backups last season, and freshman Jared Carter.\n"We're worried about Indiana right now. We'll deal with that after the appeals process," Smith said.\nAlleyne, a 7-foot-3 junior coming off a career-high 16-point outing in a 73-46 win over Georgia State on Tuesday, acknowledged the Wildcats' remaining centers now must shoulder more responsibility.\n"We're a team," Alleyne said moments after learning the news about Morris. "Each guy on the team has their own role. Myself, Lukasz and Jared have similar roles, so we just have to carry that out whenever we go out there on the basketball court."\nThe NCAA said sports agency SFX marketed Morris' skills to NBA teams. The agency scheduled, arranged and confirmed workouts with NBA teams and sought feedback from teams on Morris' draft status. The NCAA did not declare Morris permanently ineligible "because there was no explicit or oral agreement with an agent" but noted that such activity "represented an implicit agreement with the agency."\nMorris also received more than $7,000 from nine NBA teams for expenses related to tryouts. NCAA legislation states that summer tryouts are permitted, but student-athletes may not receive expenses or other payment from NBA teams.\nMorris started 33 of 34 games last season, averaging 8.8 points and 4.2 rebounds per game as Kentucky finished 28-6.\nAfter the season, Morris returned to his hometown of Atlanta and from there informed Smith via fax that he planned to enter his name in the NBA draft. In its statement Thursday, the NCAA noted Morris' apparent lack of regard for his coach's opinion.\n"When deciding to test the professional waters, a student-athlete should work closely with his or her institution to ensure compliance with NCAA rules, steps which Morris did not take," the statement said.