‘Covering’ hearing is a waiting game

Covering a NCAA Committee on Infractions hearing does not contain the promise of a big news story.

Reporters who “cover” the hearing have a difficult time. Reporters are not permitted to sit in the hearing room.

So we’re sitting in a lobby area down a hall from the ballroom serving as a hearing room. We gossip about college basketball. We look at websites on our computers. Mostly, we wait.

The NCAA also hired an Indianapolis policeman to act as a guard preventing reporters from wandering too close to the hearing room. Except for the uniform, the guard could be a reporter. He has a computer in his lap and cell phone or Blackberry in his hands.

So far, no reporter has attempted to slip past security.

When Kentucky had its hearing in 1989, the reporters sat outside the hearing room all day. When the hearing ended, the NCAA members declined comment. UK officials made a point of saying how fair the process was, a thinly veiled attempt at throwing themselves at the mercy of NCAA justice.

There’s no reason to believe that will change this time.

NCAA staffer Stacey Osburn is here to answer media questions. She also is not permitted inside the hearing.

Her sense of it is that it will be a long day. With a full day blocked off to hear the Memphis case, Osburn does not expect the hearing to end before 5 p.m. She says we shouldn’t rule out the hearing running into the evening.