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Arizona Suspends Stoudamire

Associated Press

Player of the Year candidate Damon Stoudamire and a teammate were declared ineligible Saturday for Arizona’s regular-season finale against Arizona State because of possible NCAA rules violations.

Arizona athletic director Jim Livengood said the university acted after being notified Tuesday of NCAA allegations that Stoudamire and Ben Davis received possible extra benefits. Livengood said a bid would be made to have both players eligible for postseason play.

He said the university’s investigation indicated that a rules violation had occurred concerning Davis. But Livengood emphasized a belief that neither player had done anything improper, that the university’s investigation was continuing and that it will appeal Monday morning to the NCAA’s committee on eligibility for immediate restoration of eligibility for both players.

“There is a tremendous outstanding belief that these studentathletes will have every opportunity to have that eligibility restored,” he said.

At a news conference, Livengood declined to cite specifics, but said Davis was accused under the rule of preferential treatment. Stoudamire, he said, was alleged to have violated a rule that a family member or relative cannot accept improper gifts.

Sources said Stoudamire was under investigation because of the possibility his father accepted an airline ticket from a sports agent.

Davis allegedly accepted a pair of shoes from friend Kebu Stewart when playing in a pickup game last year, sources said. Stewart has been suspended from UNLV because of allegations that he accepted shoes from an agent.

Livengood said Stewart was a close friend of Davis, providing “mitigating circumstances.”

“I need to make this very clear and very distinct,” Livengood said.

“Damon has done nothing wrong. Damon knows nothing of what has transpired, and Damon has had no part in that.”

Stoudamire was under NCAA investigation in connection with a wider inquiry involving the activities of Steve Feldman, a sports agent from Newport Beach, Calif., the Houston Chronicle reported Saturday.

The newspaper quoted a source “close to the investigation” as saying the NCAA obtained records indicating Feldman bought a plane ticket for Stoudamire’s father, Willie, last month from his home in Portland to Los Angeles. Arizona was in Los Angeles for games against UCLA and Southern California.

Under NCAA rules, an athlete can be ruled ineligible if he or a relative accepts transportation or other benefits from a sports agent.

The Chronicle said Willie Stoudamire said he had no dealings with Feldman, didn’t know him and had received no plane ticket from him. “Nope, not at all,” Stoudamire said.

The players were declared ineligible before the Wildcats’ last regular conference game.

Stoudamire leads the confer ence in scoring (23 points) and assists (7.4), is Arizona’s No. 4 alltime scorer with 1,831 points, behind No. 3 Khalid Reeves (1,925). He’s also the school’s No. 2 career assist leader with 659, behind Russell Brown (810).

Davis is a backup center averaging 9.9 points.