Two more Cincinnati players were suspended Saturday for breaking NCAA rules, leaving coach Bob Huggins without two top starters for three games.
Guard D’Juan Baker, the Bearcats’ top scorer, and center Kenyon Martin, the second-leading rebounder, were each suspended for three games for making unauthorized long-distance calls from the university.
Athletic Director Bob Goin said the players obtained the coaches’ long-distance access numbers and made dozens of phone calls. Other players made calls by using the access codes, but the number of calls was insignificant and those players won’t be suspended, Goin said.
The three-game suspensions were the most the NCAA would impose for such a violation, Goin said. A report will be sent to the NCAA early this week after a review of phone logs is complete.
– Jason Collier didn’t stay around long enough to become an Indiana star. One player who did, Damon Bailey, says he considered leaving early too.
The thought of leaving Indiana “goes through every player’s mind,” said Bailey, who now plays in the CBA. “It was definitely something that was thought about. But things changed and changed drastically in a short period of time.”
Bailey, Indiana’s high school Mr. Basketball in 1990, said he was “probably going to leave” at the end of his sophomore season at Indiana. “And then we go to the Final Four, and everything was great.”
– One school where Collier won’t land is Ohio State. The former Ohio Mr. Basketball told the Columbus Dispatch he won’t transfer to any other Big Ten school because the conference prohibits players who transfer within the league from getting athletic scholarships.
