Little League Star Mo'ne Davis Sad Over UConn's NCAA violation

By Feroze Dhanoa

Little League star Mo’ne Davis is “sad” Connecticut received a secondary NCAA rules violation for University of Connecticut women’s basketball coach, Geno Auriemma’s phone call to her during the Little League World Series, the Connecticut Post reports.

During the World Series, Davis mentioned she’d like to play basketball for UConn.

The call happened last month when Auriemma called Davis to congratulate her on her success in the World Series. Davis told the Connecticut Post that there was no recruiting talk on the phone and the coach was simply calling to congratulate her.

UConn athletic director Warde Manuel said in a statement that Auriemma checked with the compliance department prior to making the call, and was advised the call would be permissible since Davis was not considered a potential athlete, the Hartford Courant reports.

The NCAA announced the violation on Thursday after a complaint was brought to the attention of the American Athletic Conference. According to the Courant, neither the Atlantic Coast Conference nor the American Athletic Conference were responsible for the complaint.

The Connecticut Post reports that University of Connecticut officials said they were not sure if the conference would impose any sanctions.

Davis, 13 was a guest at the annual WNBA luncheon on Friday and travelled to the WNBA conference finals in Minnesota. She also threw out the opening pitch for the Dodgers against the Washington Nationals on Tuesday.

Davis is now headed home where she hopes life will return to normal, she told the Post.

Patch file photo.