Duke removes signs welcoming basketball prospect

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St. Aug's tackles violations

Though the official word of their NCAA infractions came out Monday, St. Augustine's College has been working to fix the causes of several major compliance violations for nearly a year.

"It's tough to go through it," said Marc Newman, St. Aug's vice p-resident for institutional advancement. "No one wants to get publicly spanked, but what we gain from it will be the measure of our department. We'll use the time to strengthen the program."

The NCAA also penalized the school for a lack of institutional control in an August report from the Division II Committee on Infractions.

Wisconsin coaches warned

Three Wisconsin assistant football coaches have been admonished for violating NCAA rules by visiting prospects during an off-limits recruiting period, according to records released Friday.

The coaches -- defensive coordinator Dave Doeren, recruiting coordinator Randall McCray and wide receivers coach DelVaughn Alexander -- made the Jan. 4 trips during a "quiet period" in which no recruiting visits to players can be made.

A university official caught the violations in February while reviewing a recruiting log filled out by one of the coaches. The university reported the trips to the NCAA on March 27 as an inadvertent rules violation.

Michigan investigates charges

The University of Michigan announced Sunday that it has launched an investigation into allegations that its football program regularly violates NCAA rules limiting how much time players can spend on training and practice.

The announcement from Michigan athletic director Bill Martin came after a Detroit Free Press article in which players from the 2008 and 2009 teams said the amount of time they spend on football during the season and in the offseason greatly exceeds NCAA limits. The players spoke to the newspaper on condition of anonymity because they feared repercussions from coaches.

"We are committed to following both the letter and the intent of the NCAA rules and we take any allegations of violations seriously," Martin said in a written statement.

Irving picks Blue Devils

Kyrie Irving put on a blue ball cap and announced on ESPNU that he was committing to Duke on Thursday evening.

But Irving won't lobby his friend, Harrison Barnes, to join him in committing to the Blue Devils.

"I'll let the Duke coaching staff handle that," Irving said.

NCSU stops John Wall Web site

The frenzied pursuit of high school star John Wall of Raleigh has galvanized college basketball fans to get involved in an interactive way via Facebook and other social networking Web sites. That has schools concerned about running afoul of NCAA rules.

Thursday morning, N.C. State asked Taylor Moseley, a freshman, to shut down "John Wall PLEASE come to NC STATE!!!", a Facebook group that drew more than 700 members. By Thursday night, it was gone. Moseley started a new group -- "Bring a National Title back to NC STATE!" -- that makes no mention of Wall but includes a photograph of the senior at Raleigh Word of God, who is widely considered the nation's best point guard prospect.

The Wall craze points to the immense challenge facing the NCAA and individual schools, which are trying to regulate contact with recruits when the means of communicating electronically seem to be changing every day.