NCAA frowns upon cyberspace recruiting

Remember in January when Kansas basketball coach Bill Self was investigated for a potential NCAA rules violation at a tournament in Missouri?

No? Well let me refresh your memory.

In mid-January, the Jayhawks coach was in Springfield, Mo., to watch a high school basketball tournament during a "no-contact" period for coaches.

According to published reports, Self essentially said "Hello" to prized recruit John Wall and told him "Good game" in passing afterward.

Self isn't denying "that's basically what happened" and what is described could be an NCAA violation. Self's fellow Big 12 coaches, however, jumped to his defense, saying avoiding contact of this nature is essentially impossible during "no-contact periods."

"I think that was, in my opinion, blown a little out of proportion," Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel said during February.

"As a coach you're kind of caught in between a fine line because you don't want to be rude. If you're rude then maybe you don't get that kid. But you hope the family understands and the kid understands."

The Kansas University administration has been "looking into" the report since January, which makes about as much sense as Lehman Brothers internal audit.

But that is nothing compared to last week's news (also involving Wall) that the NCAA declared a Facebook group violated NCAA recruiting rules.

The group, which was started by a North Carolina State freshman, was called "John Wall PLEASE come to NC STATE!!!"

The NCAA considers this a recruiting violation because it "attempts to influence a college choice of a recruit."

Are you freaking kidding me?

With the ever-looming threat of "possible NCAA sanctions" present, the student received a cease and desist letter from the NC State compliance director, Michelle Lee.

But even Lee thinks it is ridiculous that she is forced to take this action.

"I think nationally the NCAA needs to address further Facebook and how these groups play a part in recruiting," she told the AP on April 10.

"Is it realistic for us to be able to monitor them? What harm is a group like this causing? But as the legislation stands right now, this is the position we have to take."

The NCAA says this is a recruiting issue, rather than a free speech issue. As a media professional, I have to disagree and say this is all about free speech and has nothing to do with recruiting.

What top-10 national recruit, who has had the likes of UNC, Duke and NC State salivating over the prospect of landing him for years, would make his decision based on a Facebook group created by an overzealous freshman basketball fan?

What if instead of creating the 700-member group, the kid had simply gathered a posse of fellow NC Staters and stood outside Wall's home until all hours with a bullhorn, imploring him to pick the Wolfpack?

No doubt that would have also constituted a recruiting violation, though that sort of obsessed action might have the reverse of its intended effect.

How far will the NCAA go to legislate what a person can and cannot say to a recruit?

Think Taylor Griffin ever said to younger brother Blake, "Hey, you should really come play basketball at Oklahoma"?

Think Remsen St. Mary's alum and Northern Iowa offensive lineman Austin Steichen ever told baseball-playing younger brother Andy he ought to play for UNI?

At what point does a brother cease being a family member and become just another recruiter for his school's athletic program?

To call a Facebook group, which is nothing more than a glorified message board, a recruiting violation, is patently absurd.

But this is the NCAA, whose actions tend to rival insurance contracts and tax codes in their illogical complexity.

Let the kid keep his group. After all, it could be worse: he could be playing "World of Warcraft."