Report: UConn Violated NCAA Rules

As the University of Connecticut looks forward to the Sweet 16, there's a possibility some serious off-court problems could distract the top-seeded Huskies. Yahoo! Sports has conducted a six-month investigation and has learned that NCAA rules have allegedly been broken by the University.

In a very lengthy and thorough article, Adrian Wojnarowski and Dan Wetzel lay out the details of how Connecticut has likely committed major violations, all revolving around the recruitment of troubled, yet talented, ex-UConn player Nate Miles. The principle allegations involve an agent, goods and services provided to Miles, and too much use of the good ol' cellular telephone.

UConn may have committed major recruiting violations by exceeding NCAA limits on phone calls to Miles and those closest to him, records show. The NCAA allows a single phone call per month to a prospect or his family in a player's junior year of high school. That limit was exceeded over several months from late 2006 into 2007. In December of 2006, for instance, former UConn assistant coach Tom Moore made 27 calls to Miles' guardian and a person Miles referred to as an uncle. He made three calls to Miles.

Also, reports claim that Miles has had a strong relationship with Josh Nochimson, a former UConn manager turned agent. Yet when questioned about his relationship with Nochimson, Miles couldn't really get his story straight.

After initially telling Yahoo! Sports that he had never heard of Nochimson, Miles then described the role that he played in his life. Miles said Nochimson would advise him, "Just do what I need to do in school and then college, so I can make my life a whole lot easier than it had been."

Over the course of two interviews, he offered conflicting statements. Miles said Nochimson "respected Coach Calhoun to the fullest," then said that he and Nochimson didn't discuss UConn's recruitment of him. Miles said Nochimson told him what coaches and scouts were looking for and "he tried to teach me the game" only to later say "I never was with him ... in person."

Miles and Nochimson were seen together in suburban Chicago in 2007 and 2008. Multiple sources told Yahoo! Sports that Miles stayed at Nochimson's townhouse in Glenview, Ill.

Miles would stay with Nochimson on school breaks, when the agent would try to secure workouts for Miles with professional trainers.

In one interview, Miles couldn't remember where he stayed in Chicago. In another, he said that it was with a cousin who was "in college in Chicago," but declined to name the individual or the school.

Miles played this past season at the College of Southern Idaho after being expelled from UConn for violating a restraining order.

There are many, many more levels to the Yahoo! report, and it's far too detailed to believe it's going away anytime soon. The bottom line is that the storied UConn program could be coming under NCAA fire quite soon. This is much deeper than just an overflow of phone calls and text messages. There are agents, free meals, free lodging, and much more involved here. And Connecticut never really washed their hands of the matter, because Miles' College of Southern Idaho coach, Steve Gosar, said they are still recruiting him for a return.

The news couldn't have had worse timing for head coach Jim Calhoun. After having to defend his salary last month, he was recently checked into the hospital with medical problems reportedly stemming from stress. This story should have spread enough nationally that Calhoun will have to entertain questions on the subject before facing off against a feisty Purdue team Thursday.