While UConn coach Jim Calhoun and his staff are left to clean up the mess they made recruiting Nate Miles, Miles is headed to the NBA.
Connecticut newspapers reported that Miles will not be prosecuted on charges of violating a restraining order against his former UConn girlfriend.
With the case behind him, Mike Anthony of the Hartford Courant sites a source saying that the 6-foot-7 Miles will make himself eligible for the NBA Draft in June.
Calhoun once declared that Miles had “as much basketball ability” as any recruit he ever signed. Pretty high praise considering Ben Gordon, Ray Allen and Emeka Okafor all played for Calhoun.
After getting booted from UConn last fall, Miles spent part of this past season at the College of Southern Idaho. He would have to sit out next season if he were to transfer to a Division 1 program.
A Yahoo! story written by Dan Wetzel and Adrian Wojnarowski alleged that UConn had committed major recruiting violations in the recruitment of Miles. The story provided documentary evidence that UConn staffers had made more than 1,500 phone calls and test messages to former UConn manager Josh Nochimson, who was acting as an agent at the time. Nochimson also allegedly provided Miles with meals and travel expenses. A separate report in the Tampa Tribune provided evidence that Nochimson paid for Miles to have surgery, an NCAA violation.
Now Miles could be headed to a multi-million dollar payday while Calhoun and UConn clean up the mess.