March 8, 2003

Press Conference Quotes

VILLANOVA, Pa. - As a result of an internal inquiry into telephone access code violations, 12 Villanova men's basketball players have been suspended. The penalties will range from 3-8 games depending upon the dollar value of the benefit according to NCAA guidelines. The penalties will be staggered over a series of games so that the institution may field a team for its upcoming games.

The available players for Sunday afternoon's home game with Pittsburgh include: forward Marcus Austin (3.1 ppg); guard Mike Claxton (0.0 ppg); guard Randy Foye (10.0 ppg); guard Tom Grace (0.0 ppg); guard Allan Ray (10.0 ppg); guard Derrick Snowden (8.3 ppg) and forward Curtis Sumpter (5.4 ppg). Guard Baker Dunleavy will be in uniform but is not expected to play as he is completing a redshirt season. Those serving suspensions include: Andreas Bloch; Gary Buchanan; Chris Charles; Jason Fraser; Lou Ruskey; Andrew Sullivan and Ricky Wright.

An internal university audit of telephone records detected irregularities in the use of a university access code on March 4. The code was used to make unauthorized telephone calls from various campus locations over a period of months by Villanova students, including members of the men's basketball team. After consultation with the NCAA, it was determined that suspensions were warranted in these cases.

"The misuse of a university access code is a serious matter," stated director of athletics Vince Nicastro. "We learned of this breach on Tuesday and have moved quickly to analyze the records. This is a complicated process because the breach involves members of the general student population as well as student-athletes.

"We are working diligently to get to the bottom of this. I trust in the integrity of our people. We have established that no member of the coaching staff supplied this information to the athletes and that the individual whose code was abused had no knowledge of the abuse.

"This is a disappointing moment for all of us at Villanova. We understand that errors in judgment may ultimately result in the premature end to some of our student-athletes' careers. However, the NCAA has clear guidelines for withholding athletes based on dollar values of the extra benefits."