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'No official investigation' Report: Car exchange subject of Barkley suspension
Posted: Sunday February 06, 2000 04:57 PM
NEW YORK (AP) -- Erick Barkley of St. John's, one of college basketball's top guards, was suspended for exchanging cars with a family friend, two sources told The Associated Press on Sunday. St. John's athletic director Ed Manetta Jr. said he expects the NCAA to address Barkley's status on Monday. The school on Saturday declared its leading scorer ineligible because of a possible NCAA rule violation. "There is no official investigation," Manetta said. "The committee that handles this interpreted it one way and we had to take action reluctantly." Barkley traded his late model Jeep Cherokee for a bigger but older Ford Expedition that belongs to a family friend, said a source close to Barkley and another with knowledge of the matter, both speaking on condition of anonymity. "No money was involved, no payments," the source close to Barkley said. The exchange could be a violation if the NCAA rules Barkley received preferential treatment because he is an athlete or if this constituted possible payback for when he turns professional. No one from the NCAA was available for comment Sunday. "It's their interpretation against our interpretation. They are accusing him of being guilty," Manetta said Saturday. "We have to prove he's innocent, but at this time we've had to suspend him." Barkley is averaging 16.9 points, 4.1 assists and 2.6 rebounds in 17 games for the Red Storm (14-6). The sophomore guard sat out Saturday's 59-58 victory over Boston College. The Red Storm's next game is Tuesday night at Providence. Manetta and coach Mike Jarvis vigorously defended Barkley, who missed two games earlier this season with a knee injury. Jarvis said Sunday he does not want to get into a war of words with the NCAA. But on Saturday, he was adamant in both his support of Barkley and criticism of the NCAA. "I hope and pray I see the day when there is no NCAA, and when we are guided by the values system with which we are brought up on, that we fight for every day in this country," he said. "Maybe St. John's will be a leader in that move. Enough is enough. It's time for a change. "This young man has done absolutely, positively nothing wrong," Jarvis said, using phrases like Communist totalitarianism and the Gestapo in describing the NCAA. "I hope that none of you feel the way I have the last two days, as if someone had come into my house and raped me." In the summer of 1996, the NCAA ruled Stephon Marbury of Georgia Tech did not commit a violation when he accepted a car from the director of an amateur basketball program in New York because they had a prior relationship.
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