THE LATEST LINE: SEMO HOOPS PLAYING THE WAITING GAME

The National Collegiate Athletic Association is generally regarded by its member schools as a fairly unpredictable organization, mainly because the NCAA appears to have its own agenda and schools never seem to know what it will come up with next.

But in the case of Southeast Missouri State University, this is getting ridiculous.

SEMO officials still have not heard from the NCAA regarding the organization's final ruling on its investigation into the Indians' men's basketball program that allegedly committed several violations under former coach Ron Shumate and his staff.

It has been more than eight weeks since SEMO officials traveled to Florida to meet in front of the NCAA's infractions and enforcement committees. The school expected to hear back from the NCAA within about four to six weeks.

Then, when the NCAA Tournament began and there was still no word, SEMO expected to hear something soon after the championship game, which was Monday night.

But still no word. And it's got to be driving Indians' coach Gary Garner just crazy, what with Wednesday's start of the spring signing period.

The Indians are reportedly in line to sign some talented players who would lend immediate help next season, but those players have not been willing to commit until the NCAA releases its ruling.

You certainly can't blame the prospective recruits. They want to know what kind of -- if any -- sanctions SEMO is going to be hit with so they know if the school will still be an attractive option for them. If the Indians get a postseason ban, then a lot of players might want to go elsewhere.

So say Wednesday gets here -- and the NCAA has still not notified SEMO on possible sanctions. Then what's to keep a kid who was seriously considering the Indians from signing on another school's dotted line?

Let's just hope we hear from the NCAA real soon so Garner and his assistants will at least know where they stand in the recruiting wars.

* What a great Final Four we had and what a splendid national championship game between two teams that really weren't expected to advance that far.

Utah was a total surprise and champion Kentucky, while having considerable talent, was certainly not blessed with the kind of NBA-style roster that the Wildcats featured the previous two seasons.

There is no sure-fire NBA star on this Kentucky squad, although at least a couple players will probably eventually make it to the sport's highest level.

* Major congratulations to SEMO softball coach Lana Richmond, who recently won her 500th game.

* Also big-time kudos to a pair of former Cape Central High students, Jon Younghouse and Erin Vogt, who are among the nation's top swimmers.

Younghouse, a sophomore at Texas, recently finished fourth in the NCAA Championships.

Vogt, who is spending her senior season of high school in St. Louis, has been competing the past few days in the U.S. National Swimming Championships in Minneapolis. She has signed to swim for Arizona next year.

~Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian