The NCAA is beginning to examine whether to declare former Duke basketball player Corey Maggette retroactively ineligible, a move that would force the team to forfeit its second-place finish in 1999 and return revenues earned from the tournament.
After his junior year in high school, Maggette allegedly accepted $2,000 from amateur coach Myron Piggie, who was indicted in federal court last week. If the allegations are true, Maggette compromised his amateur status, and Duke gained an unfair competitive advantage by playing him.
"The NCAA and the school will work together to determine the facts," said NCAA spokesperson Jane Jankowski, who added that there is no set timetable for making the decision. "If it's determined that an ineligible player is used during the course of the NCAA tournament, then there is a precedent that the school would have to return some portion of the revenues that it earned during the tournament."
Jankowski said that Duke would probably have to return 45 percent of the money it received, money which was divided among all of the ACC schools. The team would also lose its second-place standing, meaning that the Final Four banner could come down from the rafters of Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Those penalties would be the extent of Duke's punishment, unless the NCAA found that the University knew about the payments before Maggette left. In that case, Duke would forfeit 90 percent of its tournament revenue and possibly face other penalties from the NCAA.
However, Duke officials have maintained that they did not hear about the allegations until they were contacted by the U.S. Attorney's office from Kansas City last fall.
John Burness, Duke's senior vice president for public affairs, responded to similar comments by Jankowski in Thursday's Kansas City Star by saying, "Those are routine comments, routine process. That's the only thing they can say.... They're going through their process. That's fine. We're comfortable where we are."
The possible revocation of eligibility has surfaced recently because Piggie was indicted last week in federal court. Prosecutors have charged him with defrauding several universities, including Duke, by compromising players' eligibility with more than $35,000 in payments. The payments were allegedly made with the expectation that the players would give money to Piggie once they signed professional contracts. Jankowski declined to speculate on what would happen if Piggie were convicted.
There remains, of course, the factual question of whether Maggette accepted the money. He testified before a grand jury last fall, but those records are sealed.
A spokesperson for the Orlando Magic, Maggette's NBA team, said that Maggette told the local press last week that he preferred not to comment on the Piggie situation.
Because Maggette did not play at Duke this year, the questions about his eligibility were not handled this season, unlike several of the other players, who were suspended for several games each.
Jankowski added that NCAA officials are still talking with the University of California at Los Angeles about Piggie's connection with UCLA player JaRon Rush.
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