Did the MSU basketball team violate an NCAA rule concerning impermissible benefits?

Submitted by ST3 on

At the MSU-Bama game tonight, they showed coach Izzo and the MSU basketball team.

http://www.thealpenanews.com/page/content.detail/id/1009567/THE-LATEST--Bama-routs-Michigan-St-38-0--heads-to-title-game.html?isap=1&nav=5017

After the Spartans lost their Big Ten basketball opener at Iowa on Tuesday night, they were told they were flying to Minnesota for a few days in advance of their next game Saturday against the Golden Gophers. But players got a surprise on the plane when they found out they were instead going to Texas to see the Spartans play Alabama in the Cotton Bowl.

NCAA rule 16.01.1 states:

A student-athlete shall not receive any extra benefit. Receipt by a student-athlete of an award, benefit or expense allowance not authorized by NCAA legislation renders the student-athlete ineligible for athletics competition in the sport for which the improper award, benefit, or expense was received. In the student-athlete receives an extra benefit not authorized by NCAA legislation, the individual is ineligible in all sports.

The rule continues:

For violations of Bylaw 16 in which the benefit is $100 or less, the eligibility of the student-athlete shall not be affected conditioned upon the student-athlete repaying the value of the benefit to a charity of his or her own choice.

Furthermore,

Receipt of a benefit by student-athletes or their relatives or friends is not a violation of NCAA legislation if it is demonstrated that the same benefit is generally available to the institution's students or their relatives or friends or to a particular segment of the student body (e.g., foreign students, minority students) determined on a basis unrelated to athletics ability.

Clearly, the benefit exceeds $100. I also assume that this benefit is not generally available to the institution's students. This would seem like a benefit that is much more substantial than whether or not their bagels had cream cheese on the.m. I bet nothing comes of this, but I'd love to see Izzo and his program run into a little trouble as a result of this.

MSU might argue that this situation is covered by rule 16.9.1. However, it's interesting that the rules allow tickets for HOME events in other sports (16.2.1.3) but they specify HOME events, leading one to believe that away events in other sports (like the bowl game tonight) would not be permissible.

BornSinner

January 1st, 2016 at 1:33 AM ^

Is this really a violation we give a fuck about? 

And besides that game was punishment enough bahahaha

ST3

January 1st, 2016 at 1:46 AM ^

Rules are rules. I wouldn't take away a kid's eligibility over something like this, but tickets for this game probably ran around $300 or more considering where they were sitting, plus airfare, and unless they are flying home tonight, that's lodging and meals. I wouldn't be surprised if this little extra benefit that's not available to the general student body totaled something like $1000. Again, that's more than cream cheese. But the TV guys showed the players and didn't think anything of it. I suppose this exposes the NCAA hypocrisy more than anything else.

ThadMattasagoblin

January 1st, 2016 at 1:35 AM ^

I would feel kind of bad for their players if going to the game made them ineligable. I'm sure that this was cleared by compliance unless their compliance department is braindead.

BlueCube

January 1st, 2016 at 1:38 AM ^

does 30 times a quarter. They will say they won't do it again for at least 20 years which will be the next time they might make the playoffs and nothing will happen.

Mr. Owl

January 1st, 2016 at 1:52 AM ^

Meh.  Whatever.  I'm sure there are real violations they have to focus on covering up.

I just hope they enjoyed the game as much as their football team did.

GoWings2008

January 1st, 2016 at 2:00 AM ^

I recall this happening in a similar manner a few years ago, I think when Louisville won the NCAA championship and their women's team was in the finals too. Seemed dumb back then, too

Seth

January 1st, 2016 at 2:04 AM ^

really who gives a shit? State isn't a clean program anymore but this wasn't paying off some coach or blackmailing a parent to get recruits. If this is illegal it shouldn't be.

Seth

January 1st, 2016 at 11:32 AM ^

Some kids got a trip they'll remember their whole lives. The football team went to the playoffs and they got to go. That is not a tragedy for anyone who didn't get to go. It's just an awesome thing for those who got to go.

I don't think we fans need to play lip service to the fiction that a volleyball player and a basketball player at Michigan State are there to do the same thing. And if Michigan, who will see plenty of big football games in the future, can do the same thing for our hoops players, we'll only benefit.

 

Jon06

January 1st, 2016 at 4:22 AM ^

I would like to see an actual explanation of why this wouldn't have been a violation, instead of people just rejecting the question as not worth discussing.

claskowski

January 1st, 2016 at 9:34 AM ^

When I was in school the athletic department flew our team to Australia, Hawaii, and Colorado for training. It was allowed so long as we had a competition before we got back home (not necessarily at the destination and often perfunctory; once it was against one high school student). I don't know the language of the rule, but I imagine that's why the trip is allowed.











bacon

January 1st, 2016 at 6:25 AM ^

How much were student tickets to the game? If they were less than $100, there's probably no issue. The article says they were going to go to Minnesota and stay until their game Saturday. A hotel in Texas is probably equal to a hotel in Minnesota given they were paying for the kids to stay either way. The flight could be argued is a layover. Plus, they're students. They should get to have the experience of being fans for their school's football team. Especially when that team gets blown the f out. I'd like to think that Michigan would send the bball team to see the game tomorrow as well if schedule permits.

Jon06

January 1st, 2016 at 7:14 AM ^

If you can actually get away with it by this reasoning, there is no reason to have the rule in the first place. The NCAA should just explicitly say that student-athletes can be taken to attend bowl/playoff games in football or in all sports or whatever.

bacon

January 1st, 2016 at 10:03 AM ^

I don't see this as a loophole. These kids played Iowa and then they were supposed to go to Minnesota for three days. I'm sure there would be some activities for the team if they were in Minnesota, so I look at this as similar. If MSU had the team attend a Justin beiber concert in Minneapolis instead, would anyone care? It seems like a punishment to me, but some people might see it as a benefit. It would have probably been slightly less painful than the event they did attend.

Mr. Yost

January 1st, 2016 at 11:10 AM ^

And don't you think the MBB program would've checked with their compliance department before being plastered on national TV in front of millions?

I mean come on.

This is such a stupid question/thread. You really think you may have caught MSU in a "gotcha!" moment? They were all watching the game as students without a care in the world.

Sorry, I'm not as worked up as I seem...it's just weird that someone would watch that game and think that somewhere along the lines someone made a mistake or was trying to cheat rules by flying an entire team to Dallas to watch a football game while millions watched on TV --- and no one would notice.

Maybe if they were all wearing these this thread would be relevant.