KU’s Cliff Alexander Claims Mother Was ‘Tricked’

Former Kansas Jayhawks big man Cliff Alexander ended up sitting out his team’s final eight games last season due to allegations of improper benefits, specifically regarding a loan that his mother received from a finance company that does business with professional athletes. Now, Alexander is claiming that his mother was tricked and wasn’t 100 percent aware of what was going on.

Speaking to Michael Kim of 120 Sports, Alexander further elaborated in what was eventually reported by Jesse Newell of the Topeka Capital-Journal.

“My mom got tricked into something she didn’t know what she was doing,” Alexander said, “and we needed money at the time.”

“I was thinking about staying. I was thinking about staying,” Alexander told Kim. “Then when the incident went down, I felt like I was going to be ineligible for my sophomore season, so I made the choice to leave.”

The former five-star recruit and McDonald’s All-American from Chicago has since declared for the NBA draft, and averaged 7.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.3 blocks over 17.3 minutes per contest while shooting 56.6 percent from the field his freshman season. NBADraft.net currently projects him as an early second-round pick.

If what he claims is true, then either the NCAA needs to dig a little deeper into the practices of Ludus Capital, the finance company in question, or needs to loosen up on what does indeed constitute “improper benefits.” I’m sorry, but if a student athlete’s family is unable to pay bills, buy groceries, or meet some other necessary expense, they should not be penalized and ruled ineligible just for taking some money to help them out.

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*Featured Photo (above) credit to Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

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