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Indiana recruit at center of A-HOPE allegations responds

Indiana recruit Hanner Parea is one of the players at the center of an ESPN report on the African Hoop Opportunities Providing an Education Foundation, which alleges among other things that he received impermissible benefits while playing for Indiana Elite.

It’s a massively detailed report that would seem to cast doubts on Parea’s future as a Hoosier.

The 6-8 forward is one of the prize recruits in the class of 2012, yet there’s some serious stuff here:

But a five-month ESPN.com investigation into the Bloomington, Ind.-based African Hoop Opportunities Providing an Education (A-HOPE) Foundation, which claims the South American-born Perea as a foundation beneficiary, has found circumstances outside of the Baylor issue that very well might impact his initial NCAA eligibility at Indiana. Treatment afforded him by A-HOPE and its president, Mark Adams, including roundtrip airline tickets to Colombia, appears to put Perea in violation of NCAA preferential treatment and extra benefits bylaws (12.1.2.1.6).

Also at issue are gifts Perea has received from A-HOPE and Adams, whose son served on the IU basketball staff from September 2009 until this month. Perea is a member of an AAU team -- Indiana Elite -- which Adams coaches and whose best players have in the last year begun committing verbally to IU in bunches. The NCAA declined to comment specifically on Perea, but a spokesperson said that generally, “benefits from the prospects’ coach other than basic living expenses are considered against NCAA rules.”


But Parea’s not worried.

“I didn’t know somebody was doing a story like that. Not everything they said is true so I’m not going to worry about it. I haven’t done anything wrong,” he told the Indianapolis Star.

“I’m just going to keep playing and doing what I’m doing. In the end, everyone will know what is true. When I first saw it, it bothered me but I just have keep moving ahead.”

That’s all he can do while the NCAA sorts everything out. And who knows when that’ll be? Parea may have already completed a season in Bloomington before anything’s settled.

You also can follow me on Twitter @MikeMillerNBC.