re: UNC Admits Academic Fraud: Lack Of Institutional Controls, *NCAA Issues 3rd NOA

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North Carolina academic case puts NCAA and its 'mission' on trial

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As another NCAA tournament starts and with the 10th anniversary of that title next month, the anticipation of North Carolina's athletic fate intensifies. A star player on that '05 team, Rashad McCants, told ESPN last year he did not attend a single class in which he received an A in that 2005 spring semester. McCants added that he was "100 percent" sure coach Roy Williams knew about the bogus classes.

In denying McCants' accusations, Williams told Sports Illustrated, "What Rashad McCants said was not true. As opposed to saying he lied, I'd like to say that what he said is not right.

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Academic integrity goes to the heart of the NCAA mission. It is Chapter 1, verse 1 of the association's Book of Genesis.

Page 4 of the NCAA Manual reads, "... The admission, academic standing and academic progress of student-athletes shall be consistent with the policies and standards adopted by the institution for the student body in general."

To many, it's time to prove that decades-old proclamation still means something.

CBSSports.com spoke to several college administrative sources who did not want to speak on the record because of the sensitivity of the subject. On various levels, they all agreed:

The entire NCAA enterprise may be on trial with the North Carolina case.

If the school isn't hammered, then what good is the NCAA Manual? If thousands of athletes being passed through the system isn't a mockery of the mission, then what is?

Penn State was an unmitigated disaster. The Miami investigation was a mismanaged mess. The NCAA is still in court almost five years after USC was decided.

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