(U-WIRE) LINCOLN, Neb.-Microsoft and NCAA men’s basketball may have more in common than most people might think.

Both are giants of their domains-Microsoft of the computing industry and men’s college basketball of intercollegiate athletics. But the two are linked in a more sinister way as well: both have recently undergone probes by a federal grand jury.

But unlike the Microsoft investigation, which centered on anti-trust laws, a grand jury in Kansas City, Mo., is hearing testimony on the corrupt underworld of summer recruiting that involves shoe companies and advisors who act more like agents than coaches.

So far only a few players have been affected by illicit actions during the summer, but two of the three players who have lost eligibility over the scandal come from Big 12 country.

Missouri became the first conference school to be bitten by the inquiry. Freshman Kareem Rush was suspended after his brother JaRon Rush, a sophomore at UCLA, was suspended on Dec. 9 for allegedly receiving money.

Last week Oklahoma State’s Andre Williams became the second Big 12 player to be implicated in a similar scandal. He was ruled ineligible by the NCAA for the rest of the season for receiving a high school scholarship. The NCAA said he also would have to repay $20,000 to his Maine prep school. OSU has filed an appeal on his behalf. Coach Eddie Sutton criticized the summer recruiting process.

“I think it’s a problem; any college coach will tell you that,” Sutton said. “There are a lot of great people who work with players over the summer, but there are others that you wouldn’t want working with your players.”

The NCAA intends to discuss the issue of the summer recruiting this week at its annual meeting in San Diego. While most Big 12 Conference coaches don’t expect any changes to result from the meeting, they have mixed views on how summer recruiting should be handled.

Kansas Coach Roy Williams thinks all parties in the issue should be brought together to discuss the issue.

“There is not an easy answer,” Williams said. “The first thing we need to do is to get everyone involved together-the coaches, the NCAA officials, the high school federation and the shoe companies. If we could get everyone together I think we could resolve some things.”

Kansas State Coach Tom Asbury said that the early signing period is the culprit rather than summer recruiting.

“I’ve got a quick fix,” he said. “Eliminate the Fall signing period. I’ve said that for two or three years. That way the summer would be an evaluation period instead of a hands-on recruiting period.”

The summer recruiting season has turned into a bonanza for coaches and players since the NCAA instituted the Fall signing period more than a decade ago in an attempt to control recruiting costs.

Sutton said the recruiting period allowed mid-major schools that do not have large recruiting budgets to see players they ordinarily would not.

Several coaches thought the summer recruiting days should be limited, but Oklahoma Coach Kelvin Sampson said the summer recruiting period should be ended.

“There is only one solution,” Sampson said. “You can do everything you want to try to fix it, but the only way to stop it is to eliminate summer basketball.

“We have a set of rules in place. What we need to do is have coaches follow them, and the NCAA has to enforce them.”