KU response to NCAA allegations makes one thing clear: College basketball is broken

The University of Kansas made public on Thursday its response to allegations of serious NCAA rules violations in the men’s basketball program.

It’s an aggressive, frontal assault on the NCAA’s claims, and a robust defense of head coach Bill Self and others connected with the program.

The main document is 149 pages long. It accuses the NCAA of using “novel” legal theories in pursuing the case, theories that would alter “the collegiate sports landscape.”

“There is no reasonable conclusion that members of the University, including the men’s basketball staff, knew or should have known about any violations of NCAA rules,” the response says.

The allegations are “simply unsupported by the evidence and the record,” the school says.

The documents are the latest chapter in this sad episode, which began three years ago. Last September, the NCAA notified the University of Kansas that it would examine activities revealed in a federal investigation and trial that exposed the often shady business of recruiting top-tier athletes to big-time basketball programs.

The trial dealt with under-the-table relationships involving young athletes, shoe companies such as Adidas, coaches, families and university athletic programs.

KU deserves every chance to state its case to the NCAA. The institution that governs major college sports is deeply flawed, and its sanctions scheme is often opaque and contradictory.

At the same time, the university must be transparent and thorough in its ongoing response to the probe. Excuses and technicalities won’t cut it.

Head coach Bill Self should not be immune from this scrutiny.

In a separate 77-page response attributed to Self and his attorneys, the coach claims the allegations involving him “are based on a misguided, unprecedented, and meritless interpretation and application of NCAA booster and recruiting legislation.”

Texts involving shoe company consultants have been misinterpreted, the coach says. Further, Adidas should not be considered a “booster” of the basketball program, despite its well-known financial relationship with the team. He calls the idea “unthinkable.”

At the same time, though, shoe companies are “heavily involved in grassroots basketball,” leading to conversations surrounding athletes that are common and harmless, the filing claims. The intersection of shoe companies, athletes and their families, agents and college sports programs is the crux of this scandal.

The NCAA — and perhaps the courts — will ultimately decide the legal and factual questions. But there can be no dispute that the close relationship between big-time college basketball programs and apparel companies is sordid, potentially corrupt and completely unnecessary.

According to ESPN, KU’s contract with Adidas is worth $191 million over 14 years. Why should any college sports program sell itself like that, or risk a scandal?

The University of Kansas can take the lead in seeking reforms in men’s college basketball. Imagine the impact if the No. 1 team in the nation said it would no longer sign contracts with Adidas or any similar “sponsor.”

There is no legitimate reason — other than a lust for cash — that a college sports program must affiliate itself with a private company that makes clothes and shoes, or which hires people to pressure 15-year-old kids who want to go to college.

KU must defend itself, and the NCAA must act on evidence, not just supposition or allegation. But college basketball is broken. Kansas should take a lead role in rebuilding it, making it cleaner and more transparent for athletes, students and all Jayhawks fans.