National Collegiate Athletic Association

The NCAA News Digest

April 26, 1999

Sportsmanship survey



A new study shows a sharp drop in the acceptance of trash talking by men's college basketball players.

The survey of almost 2,000 players by the National Association of Basketball Coaches and the Institute for International Sport revealed that 39.7 percent of the respondents believed that trash talking is an acceptable practice. That is a drop of more than 18 percent from a similar survey taken five years ago.

A sharp drop also was reported in the acceptance of cheating. Asked if they thought teammates would expect them to cheat if it meant the difference in winning a game, 22.3 percent said they agreed to some extent. However, that was a drop from 37.6 percent of all respondents two years ago.

This is the sixth consecutive year that the sportsmanship survey has been conducted by the NABC and the Institute for International Sport. Those interested in a copy of the report may contact David Brennan at the Institute for International Sport at 800/447-9889.

LITIGATION

Division I agrees on payment for restricted-earnings decision

The Division I Board of Directors has agreed on a three-part compromise for funding the $54.5 million settlement in the restricted-earnings case.

Staff contact: David Berst.

FARA

Faculty athletics representatives take a stand on standards

The executive committee of the Faculty Athletics Representatives Association recently approved a statement on NCAA initial-eligibility legislation in the wake of the Cureton decision that ruled Proposition 16 illegal.

The statement, approved at the committee's April 8-9 meeting, says: "In light of the fact that a combination of grade-point average and standardized test score is the best available pre-college predictor of collegiate academic success, we believe that both grade-point average and standardized test score should be an integral part of any initial-eligibility standards."

Staff contact: Todd A. Petr.

NCAA SPORTS LIBRARY

Association agrees to outsource publications fulfillment

The NCAA has entered into an agreement with Service Graphics, Inc. (SGI), to provide telesales, customer service, online credit-card processing services, warehousing, payment processing, distribution and fulfillment of NCAA Sports Library publications.

Based in Indianapolis, SGI will process all orders for Sports Library products within 24 hours of receipt. Orders should be sent to: NCAA Publishing, P.O. Box 781046, Indianapolis 46278-8046. Orders also can be placed by calling toll-free 888/388-9748 (FAX 317/337-2181).

Staff contact: Michael V. Earle.

GAMBLING

Connecticut conference available on Internet

Nearly 200 college and high-school athletics personnel participated in the Sports Wagering and Sports Agents Conference hosted by the University of Connecticut on April 7.

A videotape of each session may be viewed on the Internet on the broadcast.com site at http:// www.broadcast.com/sports/NCAA/Conn-ecticut/sos. The site also can be accessed from NCAA Online at www.ncaa.org/gambling. To access the video, computers must include the latest version of RealPlayer software, G2 RealPlayer. The software may be downloaded free of charge from www.real.com/products/player.

The sports wagering sessions included panel discussions about the problems of sports wagering and college athletics; consequences, detection and prevention of gambling problems; and accounts from former student-athletes involved in sports wagering incidents.

The afternoon sessions focused on sports agents and included featured speaker Len Elmore, college basketball analyst for ESPN, NBA veteran and a former sports agent, as well as panel discussions about agents, ramifications for student-athletes who become involved with agents, and how to detect and prevent problems with agents.

The Internet videotape is expected to be available for three to six months.

Staff contact: William S. Saum.