...1) The USC/Tim Floyd connection. The Mayo situation embarrassed the NCAA, and they are now in crackdown mode. Sydney is seen as connected to the same program/coach.
2) The dirtiness of basketball recruiting has been high profile lately. Mayo, Rose, Dozier, numerous articles written about AAU teams and how everything works. The NCAA had a blind eye turned to all this stuff, but not anymore. They need to make an example of somebody.
3) We are MSU, not UNC, UCLA, etc. They view this as a great opportunity to make an example out of a high profile kid not going to play for a high profile program. Stans has a shady reputation, and they know that dealing with this at MSU is totally different than dealing with this at UK, UNC, etc. in terms of outcry. What does it matter if it makes us mad?
That said, I had pretty much resigned myself to this when they started asking for bank statements. He's not going to play for us. We should still be good enough for a Sweet 16 next year. And I still say that even if he were eligible, he might not have been good for team chemistry, there might have been daddy issues, etc. I figured that from the moment we signed there would be around a 10% chance that Sydney would become eligible AND help the team get past the second round.