Enes Kanter ruled permanently ineligible

For now, at least, it appears as if the Free Enes movement was unsuccessful.

Today, the NCAA ruled Enes Kanter permanently ineligible from competing for receiving $33,033 more than necessary expenses during the 2008-2009 season he spent with Fenerbahce Ulker. Kentucky will appeal the ruling and Kanter will be allowed to practice with the team during that process, which is likely why Kanter was spotted wearing his Kentucky practice jersey yesterday afternoon.

Before I get into my thoughts on the matter, here's the important stuff from the NCAA's press release:

Actual and necessary expenses are defined by NCAA rules and generally relate to a player's expenses directly necessary for practice and competition on a team. Some examples include meals and lodging directly tied to practice or competition, coaching, medical insurance and transportation tied to practice or competition.

Kanter played three seasons with the Turkish sport club Fenerbahce from 2006-07 to 2008-09. Although he competed primarily for the club's under-18 junior team, he did compete on the club's senior team in 2008-09. According to facts agreed to by the university and the NCAA Eligibility Center, Kanter received $33,033 more than his expenses for the 2008-09 season.

The new NCAA rule that allows prospective student-athletes to compete on teams with professionals while maintaining their amateur status prior to college applies; however, the bylaw states any such benefits cannot exceed actual and necessary expenses, which was the case here.

"Enes took advantage of an opportunity to play at the highest level available to him, but the consequences of receiving payments above his actual expenses is not compatible with the collegiate model of sports that our members have developed," said Kevin Lennon, NCAA vice president of academic and membership affairs.

This jersey will not be worn in Rupp Arena.
(photo credit: Wildcat World)

Needless to say, this is a huge blow to Kentucky's title hopes. With Kanter now out of the picture pending a longshot appeal, the Wildcat's are going to have to rely on Josh Harrellson and Eloy Vargas to play alongside Terrence Jones up front. That's not exactly a frontcourt that will strike fear in the hearts of SEC foes, at least not the same way having Kanter in the middle would.

But the good news is that Kentucky now knows.

With the Mississippi State and Renardo Sidney case last year, the biggest issue was how long it was dragged out. A ruling wasn't made until March 5th. That couldn't have been easy for the team to go through. Was Sidney going to be eligible the next game? Would Stansbury waste reps on Sidney in practice on the off chance he would be eligible? Would a season's worth of practice be worthless if Sidney changed the Bulldog's approach offensively?

Kentucky won't have to deal with that. They can start figuring out now whether or not Vargas and Harrellson will be able to handle the center spot. (Look at the bright side, they'll be able to go up against one of the best big men in the country on a daily basis in practice.) If not, the coaching staff will have plenty of time to figure out exactly how to utilize the versatility of Terrence Jones, something I'm sure they have already spent quite a bit of time doing.

The outlook for the Kentucky program without Kanter may be bleaker, but by no means is this going to be a bad basketball team. They still have a number of very good freshmen, especially in the back court, and a couple of perimeter returnees that could be primed for a big season. This is still a team that should be safely in the NCAA Tournament come March and will have a puncher's chance at winning the SEC.

As far as my opinion on the ruling goes, I feel bad for Kanter. $33,033 is not a lot of money in the grand scheme of things, especially when you consider that about $20,000 of it went towards Kanter's education (which, ironically, isn't considered "an actual and necessary expense" by the NCAA). And the general consensus seems to be that this is a kid that cared about his education and that left his Turkish club because he truly wanted to be a student-athlete.

It seems as if Kanter and his family made an honest mistake. Their intent wasn't for Enes to become a professional basketball player. Their doesn't appear to be deception here. Read through the timeline at the bottom of the NCAA's release. Kanter's family and the NCAA both agreed upon the benefits that Enes received for Fenerbahce.

They just couldn't convince the NCAA that those benefits with "actual and necessary expenses."

Having said that, one thing to remember here is that Renardo Sidney was forced to repay $11,800. Even if you take out the $20,000 in education, Kanter received $13,033 of disposable income.

And Sidney, for better or worse, was suspended for a year and a half.