Duke May Have Committed an NCAA Violation by Practicing from 1:30 am-4:45 This Morning After the Miami Loss [UPDATE: Dan Patrick's producer says they were goofing.]
By Jason McIntyre
Dan Patrick is reporting that Duke practiced last night starting at 1:30 AM and didn't finish until 4:45 this morning.
— Adam Rowe (@AdamRoweTDD) January 24, 2013
That’s fantastic, except for one thing – it’d be an NCAA violation.
John Infante, who knows the NCAA rule book as well as anyone, notes the NCAA prohibits practice between midnight and 5 am. It’s a relatively new rule that dates back to 2010. If you’re wondering about exceptions to the rule – yes, Midnight Madness is one, and so is an actual game.
Practice after a game on the same day has been prohibited for a long time, which led to the late night practices that the NCAA prohibited.
— John Infante (@John_Infante) January 24, 2013
Infante also notes that if the alleged practice was led by the players, it wasn’t a violation. So does Coach K have some explaining to do?
Before anyone gets too giddy with joy about Coach K squirming in explaining this situation … Jeff Goodman of CBS is already saying the practice report may not be totally accurate. [UPDATE: Andy Katz is also refuting the practice report.]
[UPDATE: Paul Pabst, Dan Patrick’s producer, emails in to say they were “goofing” about the idea of a 1:30 am practice.]