[Dan_ref]

Taken from here:

http://www.foxsports.com/chm/home/ch...&cont_id=66953

Adding fuel to the fire
July 16, 2001
BY FRANK BURLISON
FOXSports.com


The report that a mother of one of the
better high school players in the country
received money from the director of the
Nike All-America camp is sure to further
fire up those NCAA and college
administrators who’ve been decrying the
summer basketball “culture”.

Carrie Stoudemire, mother of 6-foot-9 Amare Stoudemire—a
standout at the past two Nike camps in
Indianapolis—reportedly told HBO’s Real Sports (in a
segment on her son set to air Monday night)
that George Raveling “sent me a little money to survive.”

She was recently released from a Florida correctional facility after being convicted of check fraud and placed on
probation.

Her son, scheduled to be a senior this fall at Cypress Creek in Orlando, Fla.—the sixth high school or prep school he has
attended—came to national prominence on the basketball scene
during his performance at the July, 2000 All-America camp sponsored by the Nike athletic apparel company.

Raveling, the former coach at Washington State, Iowa and
USC, has been in charge of the Nike Camp for five years and
formerly served as the head of Nike’s Grass Roots
(youth) basketball program.

He currently helps administer Nike’s basketball programs overseas—including China—and was
expected to be in Barcelona until July 24, helping run a Nike-sponsored camp with Vince Carter.

It’s conceivable that the NCAA could rule that any money Stoudemire’s mother received could cost the
player some or all of his eligibility at one of its member schools.

But, although he reportedly gave the University of Memphis a “commitment” this past winter, any NCAA ruling that
affected his college eligibility could be moot.

His academic record is reportedly such that he is a long way from being academic eligible as a potential
2002-03 college freshman.

And, although he said during an interview at the Nike camp two weeks ago that the chances are
“50-50” he’ll enter the 2002 NBA draft, NBA scouts and personnel believe it’s a near certainty he’ll
bypass college and be a lottery pick next June.

It was believed that Stoudemire would attend the Nike camp rival—sponsored by Adidas and held in
New Jersey during the same July week—because his traveling team coach, Travis King (whom he lived
with last fall and winter), had switched affiliation from Nike to Adidas.

King reportedly has merged his Florida-based team with another Adidas-supported program, the Atlanta Celtics.

But Stoudemire said he had decided to attend the Nike camp well before most college coaches became
aware of it just before its July 5 start.

Among the proposals for a new summer recruiting “model” being considered by the NCAA is that those
who run events such as the Nike and Adidas camps and the large “traveling team” tournaments be
required to “open up their books”.

If they don’t submit to the scrutiny, their events won’t be certified and NCAA coaches won’t be
allowed to attend them.

Translation: The NCAA wants to know if any monetary or other benefits are provided to coaches and
players to in order to coax them to participate at the events.

And the news that the director of one of the most high profile events may have given money to the
mother of one of the most talented high school players in the class of 2002—even if the intentions were
strictly honorable—isn’t going to do anything to soften that NCAA stance.