Glendale, AZ (My Sportsbook) - The Connecticut men's
basketball program reportedly violated NCAA rules in the recruitment of Nate Miles, who was expelled from school in October of 2008 without even practicing with the Huskies.
Yahoo! Sports conducted a six-month investigation and said Miles was provided with lodging, meals and transportation by Josh Nochimson -- a professional agent and a former UConn student manager.
Since Nochimson had a relationship with UConn basketball, the NCAA defines him as a person with "athletic interests" for the school. Therefore, he would be unable to be involved in the recruiting process.
The report also states that the UConn basketball staff, including five different coaches, had at least 1,565 phone and text communications with Nochimson during Miles' recruitment between 2006 and 2008. Connecticut head coach Jim Calhoun was said to have been involved in 16 of those calls.
Calhoun and the Huskies are in Arizona to play in the West Region semifinals of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday against Purdue.
The Yahoo! report indicates that former UConn assistant coach Tom Moore made 27 calls to people close to Miles in December 2006. The NCAA permits just one call per month to prospective recruits in a player's junior year of high school.
Moore, according to the Yahoo! report, knew Miles had a relationship with Nochimson, another potential NCAA violation. Moore has since left UConn and is the head coach at Quinnipiac University.
The report states that Nochimson advised Miles, who eventually enrolled at UConn in June 2008 after attending five high schools in four different states.
In late September 2008, Miles was arrested by UConn campus police and issued a restraining order after a female student said she was physically and sexually assaulted by him. Miles then made contact with the woman, leading to felony charges of violating a restraining order.
The school expelled Miles in early October before basketball practice began. Miles eventually enrolled at the College of Southern Idaho.
