LIARS, CHEATS: Sifting through the UNC rubble

So now the North Carolina mess gets down to cases.

Has anyone seen the cases for Robert Quinn’s two black diamond watches? Has anyone stumbled across the case for Greg Little’s diamond earrings?

And, pray tell, can any sleuth with intimate knowledge of the NCAA investigation explain why Quinn received a pair of matching earrings and the inventory list only credits Little with diamond earrings? You mean they don’t match?

No wonder jealousy plays such a big role when wily agents start rounding up talent for the next draft. The NFL views these prospects differently, but no prospect worth his boarding pass wants to see a teammate wearing flashier rocks.

Quinn, a junior defensive end who will never play another college down, ranks among the top 10 draft candidates, far more prized than senior receiver Little, who will never catch another college pass.

When the NCAA declared them permanently ineligible Monday, saying that both lied to investigators, the accounting for improper benefits showed Quinn’s package worth $5,642 and Little’s worth $4,952. Quinn got more jewelry. Little took more trips: one to D.C., one to the Bahamas and two to Miami.

Maybe the Carolina detectives are still sifting through the trinkets drawer belonging to one Marvin Austin, the senior defensive tackle who will never sack another quarterback (or take off another play) while wearing Carolina blue. His benefits package comes in vague wrapping, somewhere between $10,000 and $13,000.

But Austin still has enough earning potential to issue his public apologies through a Miami attorney. “I will pay a severe price for my poor decisions,” his statement reads, “by not being able to play my entire senior season.”

Ah, the self-pity of the well traveled.

As more and more details emerge, the chances grow slimmer that the NCAA will spare Carolina a severe price.

Will that mean forfeiting games going back a year or two? Quite possibly, depending on when the improper benefits started accruing and whether any players cheated in school.

The parallel investigation into academic fraud identified a tutor whose contract was not renewed in July 2009 because the athletics department concluded that she had become too friendly with players. This is the same tutor Coach Butch Davis retained for his teen-age son until the 2009-10 school year ended.

Since the NCAA showed up in July, 16 players have been sidelined for one investigative reason or another. Five have been cleared, and another will return in a week. Six are ineligible this year or forever. Four eligibility cases are still pending, the latest arising Saturday when Carolina held out fullback Devon Ramsay, who had played four games.

The team, 3-2 heading to Virginia, could experience further roster adjustments depending on how the student honors court rules and how many more transgressions the investigations uncover.

The largest issues — probation based on lack of institutional control and a coaching transition based on Davis’ lack of meaningful oversight — will take considerably longer to resolve.

Last week, Chancellor Holden Thorp told the UNC system’s Board of Governors that the NCAA inquiry might last a year, an ominous sign. The chancellor’s concerns about Davis’ purported lack of knowledge sound more pointed as time goes on.

Davis maintains that he didn’t know the extent of his right-hand man’s financial relationship with agent Gary Wichard. John Blake, the associate head coach and recruiting coordinator, resigned Sept. 5. Subsequent news accounts linked Blake to players at other schools, including 2010 draft pick Ndamukong Suh of Nebraska, whose family confirmed the contact.

Davis issued his first public apology Oct. 4. The latest NCAA hammer triggered a more remorseful Davis comment Monday: “I personally want to apologize to the chancellor, the board of trustees and our faculty.”

Meanwhile, Athletics Director Dick Baddour sounds less confident that the NCAA will see things through a Carolina lens. “They’ve signed off on the process that we’re using,” he said. “They have indicated to us several times that they have trust in our process, and we certainly have had more than a good-faith investigation going here.”

The investigations aren’t over, though.

The jewelry is still out.

lrawlings@wsjournal.com