The Kanter Appeal: What happened and what to expect

As Kentucky prepares to do battle with UConn later on today something else is looming in the near future that will have Kentucky fans on their heels. I’m not talking about the riveting matchup against Boston University (Not to be confused with the Celtics) but the Enes Kanter appeal is supposed to be heard some time next week and it is sure to have Big Blue Nation on the edge of their seats while the appeal process runs its course. It’s been a long and crazy ride for Kentucky fans and even longer for Kanter who chose the University of Kentucky as his college to play basketball and has yet to suit up for the Wildcats but the looming appeal will put Kanter on the floor for the Wildcats or it will become a story of what could have been.

That being said I could easily fill this page up with information from the NCAA By-laws because believe me, I tried to take a look at them and it is just as boring as it sounds.

I’m going to attempt to break down the current Kanter situation and what the appeal would mean and what Kentucky fans can expect from this whole mess.

The initial decision by the NCAA: The reason the NCAA declared Kanter ineligible in the first place is pretty simple: The NCAA felt he was paid too many expenses for playing basketball for the professional team Fenerbache. Here is what the by-law states, with a hat tip to Eric Crawford for this one because digging through those bylaws is a pain (Plus it’s a really nice article on the whole situation with the technicalities that I’m not going to cover): Bylaw 12.1.2.1.3.1

"A prospective student-athlete may receive educational expenses or services (e.g., tuition, fees, room and board, books, tutoring, standardized test preparatory classes) prior to collegiate enrollment from any individual or entity other than an agent,professional sports team/organization, member institution or a representative of an institution’s athletics interests, provided the payment for such expenses or services is disbursed directly to the individual, organization or educational institution (e.g., high school, preparatory school) providing the educational expense or service."

According to the NCAA it is OKAY to receive money for such things as room, board, books or tutoring. Where the problem for the NCAA comes in is the $33,033 which was paid to the Kanter family. We will get back to that money in a minute. Regardless that isn’t exactly money for school if it was paid directly to the Kanter family and Enes. Therefore The NCAA committee that decided on this ruling goes strictly by the rules and takes in consideration nothing else but the rule and if it was broken, in this case it was. The NCAA did their job and did the right thing.

The Appeal: As soon as Kanter was announced ineligible news came right away that Kentucky will be appealing as they should rightfully do. The appeal process works a little bit different than the original committee. The appeal committee is the Division I Student-Athlete Reinstatement Committee (which is made up of a bunch of random people from coaches to athletic directors from schools in the NCAA). Instead of looking at the rule itself and going by what the bylaw states this committee looks at the other side of the story. They will look at things such as: Kanter never signed a contract with the pro team and how Kanter and his father both worked hard and did everything right (they thought) to keep Kanter an amateur. Eric Crawford of the Courier Journal put it best and this is exactly what the committee will look at:

"Enes Kanter is here today because he wants to play college basketball. He went to class this morning because he wants to play college basketball. He went to play for Fenerbahce because he wanted to play college basketball. He and his family turned down lucrative professional offers in Europe because he wanted to play college basketball."

Enes will also get to face the committee himself and present his case with Sandy Bell who is UK’s chief of compliance officer and likes Kanter’s chance going in. She said “I feel comfortable going in with him. He’s a good kid.” In Sandy Bell we trust.

What to expect: Unlike the past few months of drawing on and on about waiting for a decision the whole process should be done a lot quicker instead of a whole summer. According to UK Spokesman DeWayne Peevy , “We are working with the NCAA and believe the appeal could take place the first week of December,” and then Peevy added “It is our understanding that we could receive a decision after that.” Also, we can expect that decision to be final once the decision is made it does not have to go through any other process. Which means if Kanter is declared eligible then he will play unless they rule he has to miss ‘x’ amount of games. If they declare him ineligible then UK has done all they could do for Kanter.

Where UK goes from here: The only good thing is Kentucky’s offense is clicking right now and if Kanter doesn’t get to play nothing changes in their offense because they are used to playing without him. It would be a shame if he didn’t though because the kid is loved by everyone and is an obvious fan favorite given his situation. He’s loved by his teammates, his coach and the fans. Let’s hope the committee gets this right and finally frees Enes.

If push comes to shove then we can always show the committee Kanter’s entrance to Big Blue Madness and maybe that will sway them, let’s just hope they are wrestling fans.

Keep following www.http://wildcatbluenation.com for the best in Kentucky basketball and football news, rumors, and opinions. By Kentucky fans for Kentucky fans