By Nicole Auerbach, USA TODAY

Wait a second here. Two weeks ago, Nerlens Noel told CBSSports.com he’d been academically cleared by the NCAA to play college basketball at Kentucky.

But that may not be the clearance he needs.

The NCAA has expanded its inquiry into Noel, with two enforcement officials traveling to his prep school for a three-hour meeting in early August, according to SI.com. Academics weren’t the subject of the injury, but rather improper benefits surrounding Noel’s recruitment.

Noel, one of the top recruits of the 2012 class and the heir to the Anthony Davis throne at Kentucky, is being investigated to determine how Noel paid for his unofficial visits, SI.com reported.

What made the NCAA’s August visit — the second trip the NCAA has made to investigate Noel’s high school experience — so interesting is that a senior Kentucky official was present at the meeting. That might mean this investigation is more than just a simple routine background check.

“I would say it’s not common to utilize those resources to just check how recruiting went,” a former NCAA investigator told SI.com. “It seems there would be more significant information that has to be tested.”

Noel, a 6-11 center from Everett, Mass., who played for Tilton (N.H.) Prep last season, chose Kentucky over Georgetown and Syracuse.

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