Former Missouri basketball player Ricky Clemons says he stands by comments he made during taped phone conversations in the Boone County Jail. He said he and other players, including Rickey Paulding and Arthur Johnson were paid. In a pre-recorded interview, which will air this morning on the Sporting News Radio, Clemons isn’t surprised that Paulding and Johnson have both denied the accusation, saying, “That’s what they’re supposed to do. They are supposed to say that. Nobody is supposed to say they get money.” The jailhouse phone calls have created yet another controversy. In the conversations, Carmento Floyd, wife of University of Missouri President Elson Floyd, suggests that Clemons stop dating white women. Yesterday Elson Floyd apologized for his wife’s comments saying, “There is no way that I could stand before you to say that any of those comments were acceptable or appropriate and I apologize that those comments were made.” Floyd also said that he will not resign as a result of the flap and that he hasn’t considered firing anyone.
