KU still waiting for word on Silvio De Sousa: “It’s beyond frustration.”
There was no change in the eligibility status of Kansas sophomore forward Silvio De Sousa on Wednesday — the day after the Jayhawks’ 73-63 loss to Texas in Austin, Tex.
“It’s beyond frustration,” KU coach Bill Self said Wednesday night on his weekly Hawk Talk radio show. “If we are frustrated, just think about how the kid is. He’s handled it beautifully. He comes in every day and asks what’s new. He comes in happy and leaves out sad it seems like every day because we don’t have any information to tell him.
“We’re still holding out hope that we’ll have information for him, but certainly it’s been very disappointing we haven’t been told anything yet,” Self added.
De Sousa has not played in a game during the 2018-19 season as he awaits a determination on his eligibility, currently in the hands of the NCAA.
“I’m sure in whoever’s mind, there’s good reason that’s the case, trying to put everything (information on his case) together or whatnot. For the youngster’s sake, it’s certainly been very frustrating,” Self said of the wait.
The Jayhawks (16-5, 5-3), who have lost three of their last four games, obviously would love to hear word from the NCAA that De Sousa can play the rest of the season, starting with Saturday’s 3 p.m. home game against Texas Tech.
The information is one phone call away from the NCAA. When that call will come — or if the call will come — is anybody’s guess.
“I do believe, speaking hypothetically, if it does happen it still is not going to happen overnight as far as impact,” Self said, referring to De Sousa being able to produce big-time in games right away.
“We have no indication it’s going to happen, though … although we still ask every day and are holding out hope,” Self added.
De Sousa, a 6-foot-9 native of Angola, was declared ineligible by KU two weeks ago, according to sources. The university formally acknowledged to the NCAA that a violation took place involving De Sousa and submitted a request to the NCAA for reinstatement.
The NCAA has not yet ruled on possible reinstatement. It’s been 13 days since De Sousa’s attorney issued a statement requesting De Sousa be cleared immediately.
“I represent University of Kansas men’s basketball student-athlete Silvio De Sousa,” read the start of a statement written by Kansas City-based attorney Scott Tompsett. “Silvio has cooperated fully and completely with the investigation of his NCAA eligibility, which has now caused him to miss over half of his sophomore season.
“Silvio came to the United States from Angola at the age of 15, and he did everything he was supposed to do and was asked to do to become an eligible student-athlete at the University of Kansas. Silvio followed the rules. He did nothing wrong.
“If adults did something illicit or against the rules, they did it without Silvio’s knowledge or involvement. Their actions and conduct can be dealt with through the courts and/or the NCAA major infractions process. It’s time for the NCAA to be fair to Silvio and immediately reinstate his eligibility.”
Adidas representative T.J. Gassnola said at a federal trial he provided $2,500 to De Sousa’s guardian, Fenny Falmagne, so De Sousa could enroll in an online course to assure his early graduation from IMG Academy in Florida and his eligibility at KU.
Gassnola also testified in a trial last fall that he offered Falmagne $20,000 but never paid it, saying he did give him $2,500. Gassnola also testified during the trial that he paid the family of former KU player Billy Preston $89,000. Falmagne in the past told The Star he took no money from Adidas reps during the recruitment of De Sousa.
KU in 2005 and 2010 had two players, Darnell Jackson and Josh Selby, receive nine-game suspensions from the NCAA and were ordered to pay back money received from third parties. Jackson in 2005 had to repay $5,000 that was provided him by a family friend. Selby in 2010 had to repay $5,758 provided him by a family friend prior to signing with KU. They each sat out the nine games and returned to competition.
De Sousa has already missed 21 games this season while awaiting word on his eligibility. He averaged 4.0 points and 3.7 rebounds a game in 20 games his freshman season at KU. He arrived from IMG Academy in December of 2017 after accelerating his graduation.
Self said Wednesday that De Sousa has been faring well on the scout team at practice this season.
“He’s gotten better, no question,” Self said on Hawk Talk. “The reality of it is you can grow and get better but you can’t really practice him with the first group unless you have a good hunch he would be declared eligible because you’d be taking reps away from guys who need that. We don’t have the depth we can practice two and a half hours a day.
“His attitude has been great. The reality, there’s no pressure playing on the scout team. If you throw it away it’s not its the end of the earth. … The reality is whenever he’s told that he could (play in a game), if that day ever comes, it’s still going to take a while before he’s ready just to step in and be an impact guy. Last year he’d been practicing with us about two weeks (after arriving from IMG as a freshman).
“The first time he checked in against K-State he caught the ball and literally threw it into about the 12th row. He said he never felt anything like that (speed, intensity of college game), never had been through anything like that. It took some time. We all saw what happened after guys get time, how well they adjust,” Self added.
Kentucky, Texas revisited
KU on Saturday lost to Kentucky by eight points; the Jayhawks on Tuesday fell by 10 to Texas — both games on the road, where KU is 1-5 this season.
“Obviously we had a bad 72 hours and hopefully we can be better for it. I’m certainly not very happy right now,” Self said.
“I thought we tried really hard,” he added, specifically referring to the Texas game. “I thought our bench enthusiasm was better than it has been. Even though I thought we labored miserably for the majority of the game to score, I thought our defense was pretty good. After the first three or four possessions where they had a couple putbacks, our defensive rebounding was good too.
“Down the stretch I thought the guys played hard, tried hard and actually executed pretty well in full-court pressure type situations. We put an average free throw shooting team on the line and they made 21 of 23 (to KU’s 13 of 16). That was a huge difference in the game. We cut it to four twice. They got an offensive rebound on a free throw. They were 17 of 18 the second half and the one they missed they got back. Dedric (Lawson) missed a long three down four (with 48 seconds left). We could have put game pressure on them if we cut it to one or two. We just didn’t get it done,” Self added.
Hurt to visit KU this weekend
Matthew Hurt, a 6-foot-9 senior forward from John Marshall High in Rochester, Minn., who is ranked No. 7 in the recruiting class of 2019 by Rivals.com, will make an official recruiting visit to Kansas this weekend.
He has already visited Duke, Kentucky and North Carolina. Minnesota, Indiana, Villanova and Memphis also are on his list of schools.
Hurt, who recently became the 10th player in Minnesota prep history to score 3,000 points, scored a high school career-high 55 points in a game this season. Last summer he played for KU coach Self’s gold-medal winning USA under-18 basketball team at the FIBA Americas U18 championships.
This story was originally published January 30, 2019 at 8:26 PM.
