Just days before official practice begins, Kentucky's national title hopes could hinge on the freshman center Enes Kanter, a star recruit from Turkey whose eligibility remains in question.
Kanter played for the senior club of Fenerbahce Ulker, a top team in a professional basketball league in Turkey. Fenerbahce's general manager, Nedim Karakas, said in an interview in Istanbul last month that Fenerbahce had paid Kanter and his family more than $100,000 in salary and expenses, including a $19,800 bonus for Kanter's making the team and $6,500 monthly. He also said the club had provided the N.C.A.A. with bank statements listing the payments.
The N.C.A.A.'s task is to determine whether the money Fenerbahce gave Kanter was, according to N.C.A.A. bylaw 12.2.3.2.1, ''more than actual and necessary expenses to participate on the team.''
No timetable is set for a decision. Kentucky coach John Calipari has said that Karakas had ''four million reasons'' to make those claims, insinuating that the club was trying to sabotage Kanter's eligibility to pick up a transfer fee if Kanter returned to play professionally in Europe or elsewhere.
''We have no intentions to ask for a release fee either from an N.B.A. franchise or any other pro club outside of Turkey,'' Karakas wrote in an e-mail on Monday. ''Fenerbahce is not going to demand for any fee for releasing his rights and will respect FIBA's International Rules.''
Kanter practiced with Kentucky before its trip to Canada this summer and participated in workouts after the trip until an N.C.A.A. waiver recently expired. He was not allowed to play in Canadian exhibitions.
While Calipari is confident Kanter will play for the Wildcats this season, Karakas disagreed.
''It was a surprise for us to learn that the N.C.A.A. permitted Enes to practice with UK,'' he said. ''The documents we have provided the N.C.A.A. with should have been sufficient to decide.''
Mehmet Kanter, Enes' father, told The Sporting News in an e-mail last week that Fenerbahce officials were ''trying to set an example'' of Kanter to scare other talented players in their youth system away from playing college basketball in the United States.
Karakas disagreed with Mehmet Kanter's contention that he had ''never once'' discussed salary with Fenerbahce and had kept ''meticulous'' records to ensure that his son kept amateur status.
''On the contrary to what he had said about his academic approach, he himself was the one to negotiate the terms of his son's salary,'' Karakas said.
Mehmet Kanter declined comment through e-mail, and his lawyer, Timothy Epstein, declined comment in a phone interview.
Karakas said the club was wealthy enough that it did not need the fee, which European basketball observers estimate at less than $500,000. Karakas said the club had an annual income of $275 million and was building a sports center in Istanbul that would cost more than $300 million. The club is considered one of the most prestigious in the EuroLeague, and its reputation in Turkey is similar to that of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Kanter's eligibility was always considered a long shot. Oak Hill Academy coach Steve Smith refused to accept Kanter for his senior year at the Virginia boarding school after one of Smith's former players, Brandon Jennings, said that he had played against Kanter in a EuroLeague game. Smith felt so strongly that Kanter was not an amateur that he also refused to play against two other prep schools that Kanter attended. As a result, Kanter attended three schools before settling at Stoneridge Preparatory School in California.
Mehmet Kanter told The Sporting News that his son aimed to come to the United States to further his education. ''He is very smart and academic and loves to study,'' Kanter told the magazine. Karakas disagreed, saying that academics were not among Enes Kanter's strengths. He said that Fenerbahce had no problem with helping academically inclined players on their youth teams like the Texas senior Dogus Balbay go to the United States to play college basketball and earn their degrees.
