Calhoun got off easy, but the NCAA spared the current players

The verdict is finally in for Jim Calhoun and the UConn Huskies.

And what the NCAA found in its report essentially corroborates everything that Yahoo! Sports reported back in March of 2009, when this infractions first came to light -- essentially, that the UConn coaching staff was recruiting Nate Miles through Josh Nochimson, and that UConn was aware that Nochimson, a former manager for the Huskies, was a certified agent and "overlooked" the fact that he was providing Miles with illegal benefits. There are a laundry list of infractions in the report, but these are the goods:

The head coach allowed a booster, who was a certified agent by the National Basketball Association, to be involved in the recruitment process. Further, the committee found that the head coach “overlooked indications” that this booster might be breaking NCAA rules. Specifically, the booster provided the prospect with impermissible inducements, including the payment of at least a portion of the expenses for the young man’s foot surgery; the cost of his enrollment at a basketball academy; the registration fee for the SAT; as well as strength, conditioning and basketball training.

The men’s basketball staff was aware of the booster’s status as an agent and his relationship with the prospect. In fact, the coaches had frequent contact with the booster through approximately 2,000 phone calls or text messages with the agent throughout the recruitment process. Despite this regular contact, the men’s basketball coaching staff did not question the booster about his relationship with the prospect. In fact, the staff was sharing information about the prospect’s recruitment with the booster, knew of the booster’s frequent contact with the prospect, and was aware that the booster hoped to someday serve as an agent for the prospect.

Calhoun was given a three game suspension at the start of Big East play next season, the team was placed on probation for three years effective immediately, and a number of recruiting sanctions -- a reduction in scholarships for three years, reduced recruiting days, fewer allowed phone calls, the usual.

In other words, Calhoun got off easy.

For getting caught making hundreds of impermissible phone calls and essentially using an NBA agent and booster of the program to land himself a recruit, Calhoun will miss three Big East games next season, less than the number of games he missed last year due to exhaustion. Don't let the big words fool you when looking at the recruiting restrictions -- those matter far less than you think.

But hey, at least he didn't lie to NCAA investigators about it. That's what cost Bruce Pearl more than $1 million dollars and eight games this season, and that's before the NCAA gets to hand down their decision.

There isn't really much else to say about it. Yes, Calhoun was given a light punishment. Yes, the NCAA made zero sense when explaining how Calhoun gets three games whiles Beau Archibald, the Director of Basketball Operations for the Huskies at the time, gets a two-year show-cause penalty. No, you shouldn't be surprised.

Its the NCAA.

What I haven't seen mentioned anywhere is that this ruling may actually be fair for the kids on the UConn team.

Only two players currently on the UConn roster could conceivably have been enrolled at UConn while Miles was being recruited -- senior Donnell Beverly and Charles Okwandu. Kemba Walker was in the same recruiting class as Miles. The rest of the team? They are all freshmen and sophomore, pieces that were added well after Miles had gotten the boot from the university.

I know that they came to UConn with the knowledge and understanding that a punishment was, eventually, going to be handed down.

But with the surprising success that the Huskies have had this season, would it be fair to those kids to have their postseason taken away because of violations that were committed as far back as 2006, when some of them were just high school freshmen?

A postseason ban for this season probably would have better fit the crime.

But the people bearing the brunt of that punishment would have been the current players, the kids that wouldn't be able to enjoy the fruits of what has been an excellent season.