Silvio De Sousa Ruled Out for Rest of Kansas' Season; Bill Self Rips Decision

The NCAA ruled Friday that Kansas sophomore forward Silvio De Sousa is ineligible for the remainder of the 2018-19 season and for the entire 2019-20 season.

In a statement released by the NCAA, it was found that De Sousa's guardian accepted a $2,500 payment from an agent and Kansas booster. De Sousa's guardian also agreed to accept a future payment of $20,000 from the agent and an Adidas employee for getting De Sousa to commit to Kansas.

According to Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports, Kansas head coach Bill Self ripped the NCAA's decision:

"In my 30-plus years of coaching college basketball, I have never witnessed such a mean-spirited and vindictive punishment against a young man who did nothing wrong. To take away his opportunity to play college basketball is shameful and a failure of the NCAA. Silvio is a tremendous young man who absolutely deserves to be on the court with his teammates in a Jayhawk uniform. This process took way too long to address these issues. We will support Silvio as he considers his options."

Jesse Newell of the Kansas City Star provided a statement from Kansas athletic director Jeff Long saying the school plans to appeal:

De Sousa has not played this season while awaiting word on his eligibility.

Both Jeff Goodman of Stadium and Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic joined Self in questioning the NCAA's decision:

As part of its statement, the NCAA noted student-athletes are considered responsible for the action of a third party if they involve them in their recruiting process regardless of whether they are aware of improper benefits being dispersed.

Last season as a freshman, De Sousa averaged 4.0 points and 3.7 rebounds in 8.8 minutes per game for the Jayhawks.

The Angola native performed well in key games down the stretch, including registering 16 points and 10 rebounds in Kansas' Big 12 Championship Game win over West Virginia.

De Sousa also had nine points and six rebounds against Clemson in the Sweet 16, four points and 10 rebounds against Duke in the Elite Eight and seven points and seven rebounds in a Final Four loss to Villanova.

He was expected to be a key part of the roster in 2018-19 after 247Sports ranked him as the No. 32 overall player and No. 10 power forward in the 2017 class.

De Sousa's ineligibility is a major blow to Kansas since center Udoka Azubuike is out for the remainder of the season due to injury.

The No. 11 Jayhawks have lost three of their past four games and are currently 16-5 on the season.

De Sousa can appeal the NCAA's decision to the Division I Student-Athlete Reinstatement Committee.