Vaught's Views: NCAA says no to having Hall, Bowie on the bench for UK stars against Dominican team

Former Kentucky coach Joe Hall and former UK¿All-American Sam Bowie have been benched by the¿NCAA.
Original plans called for the two to be honorary coaches when the Dominican Republic national team coached by UK coach John Calipari plays an exhibition game Aug. 15 at 7:30 p.m. in Rupp Arena against a team of former UK stars now playing in the NBA. However, the NCAA has put a halt to Hall and Bowie participating.
“The University of Kentucky can not have any affiliation with the event, therefore no former players or coaches will be honorary coaches,” UK spokesman DeWayne Peevy noted.
Actually, for this column and game, Peevy represents ProCamps Worldwide to avoid any affiliation he has with Kentucky since he is handling media credentials for the game.
ProCamps Worldwide and partners Urban Active and Orange Leaf put together the game to let Calipari see how his Dominican team, which begins practice in Lexington next week, will fare against all-star competition. The team begins play in late August in several tournaments, including the FIBA Americas Championship for Men/Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
“This event has no connection with the University of Kentucky and my role with the event is also independent of the University of Kentucky,” Peevy said.
Scheduled to play against the Dominicans are Eric Bledsoe (Los Angeles Clippers), Keith Bogans (Chicago Bulls), DeMarcus Cousins (Sacramento Kings), Jodie Meeks (Philadelphia 76ers), Nazr Mohammed (Oklahoma City Thunder), Tayshaun Prince (Detroit Pistons), Rajon Rondo (Boston Celtics) and John Wall (Washington Wizards).
The Dominican Republic team will feature current NBA stars Francisco Garcia (Sacramento Kings), Al Horford (Atlanta Hawks) and Charlie Villanueva (Detroit Pistons). Kentucky backup center Eloy Vargas is also expected to make the 12-player roster. Tickets go on sale Monday at ticketmaster.com or by calling 1-859-233-3535 and range from $15 for upper arena tickets to $100 for VIP seats — there will be no press seating on the floor as those seats will now become VIP seats. Normal lower-arena seats are $35 each.
Odds are there will be no TV or radio for the game, either. That apparently is another NCAA no-no, which is somewhat amazing, too.
Then again, with the way the NCAA operates, maybe it should be no surprise that having Bowie or Hall coach an exhibition game that has Calipari coaching, Vargas playing and ex-UK stars playing somehow goes against NCAA rules and that there is some NCAA bylaw preventing the game from being televised since it is in the home arena of the Cats.
Remember, logic and the¿NCAA never go together — and probably never will.