The chances of Cliff Alexander playing in the NCAA tournament are beginning to look slim.
The Kansas forward has been sidelined since Feb. 23 as the NCAA investigates him due to his mother's connection to a financial firm that may have received impermissible benefits. The open-ended nature of the investigation is such that head coach Bill Self has said the team is moving on as if Alexander won't return, but Alexander's attorney, Paul Stafford, applied some pressure to expedite the process on Thursday.
Stafford released a statement through his law firm accusing the NCAA of taking too long based on a part of the process that has nothing to do with Alexander.
From the release:
Mr. Alexander has completely and expeditiously complied with the NCAA's requests. Throughout his attorneys, Mr. Alexander has provided his telephone records, text records and bank statements.
Mr. Alexander has been ready, willing, and able to be interviewed since March 2nd, yet he has been informed that the NCAA will not interview him until they receive additional documents that are not his documents, the content of which he has no knowledge, and document which have never been in his control or possession.
Mr. Alexander is in Kansas City with his team ready to be interviewed by the NCAA and ready to clear his good name, so that he can get on the court to lead his team through the championship season.
The play here on the part of Stafford is to try to force the NCAA into moving the process along, with the hope of Alexander being cleared for next week's NCAA tournament.
The NCAA is still going to conduct their investigation, even if it may come at the player's expense if he's later cleared, and it's unclear if public pressure will make much of a difference in the timeline. That's an unfortunate reality of situations like this, where the player may or may not be guilty of an infraction and therefore may or may not unfairly miss important games.
- With h/t to Eye on College Basketball
