Kansas' Silvio De Sousa declared ineligible by NCAA for rest of this season, all of next
The University of Kansas men’s basketball team was dealt another setback on Friday evening, when the NCAA announced that sophomore forward Silvio De Sousa must sit out not only the remainder of this season, but also the 2019-20 season, because of what the association described as payments his guardian received for steering De Sousa to Kansas.
Kansas athletics officials said they will appeal the NCAA staff ruling, which would go to the Division I Student-Athlete Reinstatement Committee.
De Sousa, a four-star recruit, was one of several current and former players mentioned during the trial of former Adidas executive James Gatto that stemmed from an FBI investigation into corruption in college basketball.
De Sousa had missed all of Kansas' games so far this season while the NCAA reviewed his case. Recently, Kansas formally declared him ineligible, then asked the NCAA to reinstate him.
While the NCAA’s statement does not name the people who provided the payments, former AAU coach and Adidas consultant T.J. Gassnola testified that he helped facilitate payments to De Sousa's guardian, Fenny Falmagne, before De Sousa enrolled at Kansas, which has an outfitting agreement with Adidas.
No. 12-ranked Kansas (16-5 overall, 5-3 in the Big 12 Conference) has lost three of its past four games heading into a matchup Saturday at home against Texas Tech.
The Jayhawks are without starting center Udoka Azubuike, who has been out for the season since early January because of a wrist injury that required surgery.
Kansas had been hoping for De Sousa’s return. Instead, the NCAA penalized him.
It said in its statement that “according to the facts provided (by Kansas) for purposes of the reinstatement,” De Sousa’s guardian received one payment of $2,500 from "an agent and booster of the school" for a purpose that the NCAA did not identify.
The statement added that De Sousa's guardian also “agreed to accept additional payment of $20,000 from the same individual (who provided the $2,500 payment) and an Adidas employee for securing De Sousa’s enrollment at Kansas.” The statement did not specify whether the guardian received the larger payment.
According to The Kansas City Star, Gassnola testified that he offered Falmagne $20,000 but never paid it.
The NCAA’s statement Friday evening said: “According to the guidelines adopted by the NCAA Division I membership, when a prospective student-athlete allows a third party to involve himself in the recruitment process, the prospective student-athlete is then responsible for the actions of that person, regardless of whether the prospective student-athlete had knowledge or if benefits were received. Membership guidelines state the starting point for these violations is permanent ineligibility, but the NCAA staff recognized mitigation based on the specific circumstances of this case when making its decision.”
That did nothing for Kansas coach Bill Self or athletics director Jeff Long, who both issued statements of anger.
Said Long: “We are shocked and incensed by today's decision, and we will immediately appeal as this was clearly an unfair and punitive ruling for a young man who had no knowledge of any NCAA violation, nor did Silvio personally benefit from the violation. While we will continue to work with the NCAA on the broader matter, we have an obligation and a desire to advocate for our student-athletes, and will continue to do that for an outstanding young man."
Said Self: “In my 30-plus years of coaching college basketball, I have never witnessed such a mean-spirited and vindictive punishment against a young man who did nothing wrong. To take away his opportunity to play college basketball is shameful and a failure of the NCAA. Silvio is a tremendous young man who absolutely deserves to be on the court with his teammates. This process took way too long to address these issues. We will support Silvio as he considers his options."