NEW YORK (AP) — With legal disputes escalating over the use of name, image, and likeness compensation in the recruitment of college athletes, Hall of Fame basketball coach Rick Pitino believes it’s time for the NCAA to stand down when it comes to policing member schools. The first-year St. John’s coach says the NCAA enforcement staff is “a joke” and “should be disbanded” because it’s “of no value anymore.” The 71-year-old Pitino had his own history of run-ins with the NCAA when he coached at Louisville. He volunteered his current thoughts on the organization Saturday after St. John’s lost to top-ranked UConn at Madison Square Garden.
Also in the NCAA:
OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — Auburn’s Johni Broome met one of his favorite movie stars and had to apologize to Morgan Freeman for how it happened. Broome scored 15 points in the 16th-ranked Tigers’ 91-77 victory over Mississippi on Saturday night. He tried to save a ball from going out of bounds in the second half when someone in the front row grabbed his jersey. Thinking it was an Ole Miss fan trying to rattle him, Broome brushed the person’s arm away. It turned out it was Freeman, the Academy Award-winning actor who’s also a big Mississippi fan who often attends Rebels games. Broome said he apologized twice to Freeman who told him to just keep playing.
