Hollis tweet -- no violation, just irritation

The MSU compliance department checked with the Big Ten this morning and got confirmation that Mark Hollis' tweet to Trey Burke did not violate any NCAA rules, associate AD John Lewandowski confirmed. The Detroit News raised the question of a violation today, citing this portion of NCAA bylaw 13.1.1.3: "An athletics staff member or other representative of the institution's athletics interests shall not make contact with the student-athlete of another NCAA or NAIA four-year collegiate institution, directly or indirectly, without first obtaining the written permission of the first institution's athletics director (or an athletics administrator designated by the athletics director) to do so, regardless of who makes the initial contact."

    Now here's the entire bylaw, which puts it in the proper context -- this rule is essentially designed to prohibit schools from recruiting athletes at other schools to transfer.

 "13.1.1.3 Four-Year College Prospective Student-Athletes.
An athletics staff member or other representative of the institution’s athletics interests shall not make contact with the student-athlete of another NCAA or NAIA four-year collegiate institution, directly or indirectly, without first obtaining the written permission of the first institution’s athletics director (or an athletics administrator designated by the athletics director) to do so, regardless of who makes the initial contact. If permission is not granted, the second institution shall not encourage the transfer and the institution shall not provide athletically related financial assistance to the student-athlete until the student-athlete has attended the second institution for one academic year. If permission is granted to contact the student-athlete, all applicable NCAA recruiting rules apply."

    "There was no intent to initiate any kind of discussion to get him to transfer," Lewandowski said of the tweet. "This would be like bumping into (Burke) in the hallway and saying 'Nice game.'"

    Unless ... might Hollis be plotting a sinister player theft at the behest of Tom Izzo, so MSU can overtake college basketball in 2013-14 with a four-point-guard lineup of Burke, Appling, Trice and Valentine? Let's keep this story going!

    Once it gets old, Denny Schwarze has a look at MSU linebacker Taiwan Jones and his opportunity this spring. And here's the chat replay if you missed it.