ROCHELLE RILEY: Only players who cheated should pay

I haven't been able to keep my mind off the University of Michigan student athletes who are suffering the shame of punishment for past players' deeds.

I'm not a sports expert; I'm a fan who has time and again seen the wrong players punished. It seems so unfair because it is so unfair.

And it made me wonder why the NCAA cannot come up with punishments for universities and cheaters without making future players suffer.

My colleague Mitch Albom rightly suggests that players who violate NCAA rules should be forced to reimburse their schools and be able to be sued.

I think we should go a step further.

Players who cheat should do more than repay their scholarships. They should repay all fines associated with illegal activity, including all university fines.

U-M should forfeit the basketball victories that players who broke rules helped attain, and take down banners connected with that shame.

But I draw the line at punishing current players. If a university discovers a major violation of an NCAA rule, the program should be placed on a multiyear probation. Any future infraction during probation should net a simple version of the NCAA death penalty -- prohibition of competition for a year. Shut down the gym. Close the locker room.

Let's enlist NBA's help

There's even one more step I'd suggest: If the NCAA wants its rules taken seriously, it should enlist the NBA's help.

The league should work with colleges, which provide nearly all the human capital for a billion-dollar industry. NBA contracts should include a clause fining players who damage the college that took them to the big show.

The NBA should feel a responsibility to help.

And if they don't? Well, I'm one fan who plans to pick up my pom-poms and go home. As a matter of fact, I won't support any NBA team whose roster includes players who's making millions while their alma maters suffer.

Maybe players should get aid

There will be those who ask: Why can't the boys whose families are struggling and who themselves are struggling to make ends meet get a little cheddar for all the glory they bring to their schools?

Because the rules forbid it. Those who need the money should leave school early. Or the university should pay basketball and football players because of the revenue they bring in.

Poor kids can't get the cheddar without a good season. But they can't make it through the season without some financial help here and there.

But it's the same dilemma that student doctors, journalists, biologists, politicians and economists face each year.

I don't know Chris Webber or his teammates personally. I never saw them drive fancy cars or pick up tabs they shouldn't have been able to afford.

But I was a fan. I loved the Fab Five and wanted them to be the Cinderellas they appeared to be.

But now it's midnight and some of those little princes may turn out to be pumpkins.

My disappointment with the university is great: Those responsible for handling the players, and there are many, might have turned their heads from behavior that's been a problem since I attended college.

But my disappointment in the players is greater. Cheating is an individual choice and those individuals should be punished. No matter where they are now.

Contact ROCHELLE RILEY at 313-223-4473 or e-mail riley@freepress.com. Her columns appear on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays.