PF Nikola Kecman (official thread)

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

NCAA is getting paid by the hour on this one.....

[jimotis4heisman]

Originally Posted by OSUBasketballJunkie

NCAA is getting paid by the hour on this one.....

or theyve recently joined a union...

[LitlBuck]

And we wonder why it takes so long for them to complete an investigation like Indiana or USC. Sometimes I think they're part of the government.

[osugrad21]

Scout Free--Ohio State Forward To Miss 12 Games

[LitlBuck]

The sucks! What a bunch of y idiots the NCAA is. The kid received absolutely no benefits and this is what he gets. Practices with the team but can't play until January 6.

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

OSU men's basketball: Transfer must sit out first 12 games

Monday, November 3, 2008 5:00 PM
By Bob Baptist


THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Junior-college transfer Nikola Kecman will miss the first 12 games of the Ohio State men's basketball season for playing on a club team in his native Serbia two years ago that included players the NCAA considers professionals.

Ohio State announced the penalty in a statement today.
Kecman, a 6-foot-8 forward, will be eligible to return for a Jan.6 game at Michigan State.
Kecman played last season at Eastern Arizona College. He has two more seasons of eligibility after this one at Ohio State.
The Buckeyes will play an exhibition game Nov.13 against Walsh in Value City Arena and open the regular season Nov.20 against Delaware State in St. John Arena.

[crazybuckfan40]

Not horrible...12 games, about 40% of the season...

The only thing he is only going to miss is game time, but it will also give us more time with the 4guard lineup to see if it will work for us...

[MaxBuck]

I see no problems here. Nikola received no pay, but he played alongside guys who were paid.

NCAA rules on this are, I believe, well-documented. And we'll have him by the time conference games arrive.

[osugrad21]

Dispatch

OSU men's basketball: Transfer ineligible for first 12 games, NCAA ruling says

Tuesday, November 4, 2008 3:06 AM
By Bob Baptist


THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Ohio State men's basketball coach Thad Matta was aware of the risk when he recruited junior college transfer Nikola Kecman last spring. Matta said he knew the NCAA was investigating Kecman's involvement two years ago with a club team in his native Serbia that might have included professionals. But Matta said "the people we've spoken to said they had documentation" otherwise. "They say he's in good shape."
They were mistaken, at best.
Kecman, a 6-foot-8 sophomore signed to give the Buckeyes a three-point threat from the power forward position, will miss the first 12 games of the upcoming season after the NCAA ruled yesterday that some players on the club team indeed were professionals by its standards.
"Nikola participated on a team that was in the transition of moving from an amateur team to a professional team," Doug Archie, associate athletics director for compliance, said in a statement. "Under NCAA rules, any team that provides players with more than actual and necessary expenses is tantamount to a professional team. After consultation with the NCAA eligibility-center staff, the athletics department concluded that members of the foreign team may have received more than actual and necessary expenses during the transition year."
Cont...

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Serbian shadow

When I talked with coach Thad Matta in May about the addition of junior-college forward Nikola Kecman, and how he might be declared ineligible for some games if the NCAA found he had played for a professional team in his native Serbia two years ago, I had to ask Matta a touchy but necessary question.
Four years ago, when Matta was hired by Ohio State and getting a late start on recruiting, I asked him if he would try to fill the gaps in his program with foreign players. He said he didn?t think it was the best time for that considering that his predecessor, Jim O?Brien, had been fired for ?loaning? a Serbian player money and the program had been penalized for that and other violations involving another Serbian player, Boban Savovic.
In May, I asked Matta if he thought Ohio State fans had gotten past that sordid bit of history and wouldn?t paint Kecman with the same brush because his amateurism was being investigated by the NCAA.
?I would hope so,? Matta said.
Today I received this e-mail from a reader:



?You would think after the aftermath of Obie that Thad would stay 50 feet back from any hint of controversy. . . . I am not liking my peek into the soul of Thad Matta.?

I think it?s a reach to try to compare the two.

Continued...................

[LitlBuck]

aftermath of Obie that Thad would stay

Those two incidents are so non-comparable it is ridiculous. Kecman has not received any illegal benefits and was already playing for a community college in Arizona. I would think that those colleges have to abide by some regulations. We lose him for 14 games... big deal!

[osubuckeyes2731]

I think that everyone is forgetting that Kecman will be coming back and that may give us another player to use while Lighty is out. He seems to fit the system perfectly so I think that he could find a niche.

[LitlBuck]

I didn't forget but the problem is that the NCAA really screwed him over and not being able to play until the Big 10 season starts will really hurt him IMO. Hopefully I will be wrong. When even bothers me more is now that the NCAA is going to change the rule that affected Kecman next season. I guess they never heard of the word retroactive and he could have started playing 3-4 games ago.

[PtownBuckeye]

Hopefully Nikola can come in and be somewhat productive and provide some morale after losing Lighty and possibly Crater and Grycko within the same week. He should be able to play vs. Sparty right?

[Oh8ch]

The problem is not having a body to step in for Lighty - it is not having a leader to step in for Lighty.