Bill Self on Cheick Diallo eligibility case: ‘We’re very upset’ with NCAA
Kansas head coach Bill Self had harsh words for the NCAA on Saturday regarding the ongoing eligibility case of freshman forward Cheick Diallo.
The Jayhawks (1–1) are two games into the season, and Diallo, a five-star recruit and native of Mali, has yet to be ruled eligible to play as the NCAA continues to investigate his academic background and the curriculum at his high school, Our Savior New American in Centereach, N.Y.
“Needless to say, we’re very upset,” Self told Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star. “The NCAA was given a list of 19 things 11 days ago on discrepancies or missteps or things that we really struggled with, and they said they would respond to us in writing, and they have yet to do that. So we decided to go ahead and take matters into our own hands. And we have found out that everything they have told us in why he wasn’t eligible — they even brought up class attendance, which wasn’t true, they brought up curriculum changes that weren’t true — they brought up several things that weren’t 100 percent accurate.”
Self added that he felt had Kansas been adequately informed about the information the NCAA needed in September, Diallo’s eligibility “would never have been in question.” He told ESPN Saturday that Kansas representatives had made six trips to Our Savior New American, and that the NCAA had not made any.
“If there was any partnership between the school and the NCAA, we could have worked through this. This is not an enforcement case, where you’re trying to dig up dirt or information.”
Jesse Newell of the Topeka Capital-Journal reports Kansas hired two independent groups to examine Diallo’s high school coursework, and that the NCAA’s evaluation did not match up.
Diallo arrived in the U.S. during his freshman year in 2012, spending 3 1/2 years of high school at Our Savior. In 2012, the school was placed under review by the NCAA, after Diallo arrived, Self said. He added that he feels Diallo should be eligible immediately. The university has hired representation for Diallo.
Diallo was given an NCAA exception to travel with the team to Hawaii for the Maui Invitational on Monday.
- Jeremy Woo
