Ostensibly Hoops

[eCat]

"They also reported no school with a first-round pick over the last three years should sleep easy each night."

I guess that means UNC is in the clear. But, given that wording, I can't imagine the same can be said for UK fans...

One thing that Pat Forde and Pete Thamel share is their hatred for UK. Thamel tried to find dirt on Bledsoe and Noel, came up empty both times.

I do remember the talk about Roy Williams not being able to talk to John Wall even though Wall grew up a UNC fan.

[eCat]

Its going to boil down to this I believe - and Pitino set the standard for it.

Is there hard evidence of a coach of a team arranging or directing payments to be made from a shoe company to a player. If so, hammer drop.

If the kid was paid to go to a school but no hard evidence of the school, the player is ineligible and wins forfeited. Assuming this information is right, then going back 3 years won't mean much to UK, but is going to sting Villanova and Duke. And of course, the media darling UNC.

Because the NCAA just hammered UL for having ineligible players win a national championship, there is no way to squirm out of that.

[hedge]

Not only have we only produced 3 first round picks (one mid- and two very late) in the past 3 years, currently our best player statistically was a walk-on his freshman year. So not only are we not paying our players, we're not even offering them scholarships...

[eCat]

and the NCAA can't cherry pick with some horseshit interpretation of the rules because they aren't in charge of the investigation.

[hedge]

"If the kid was paid to go to a school but no hard evidence of the school, the player is ineligible and wins forfeited. Assuming this information is right, then going back 3 years won't mean much to UK, but is going to sting Villanova and Duke. And of course, the media darling UNC."

I can't imagine anybody gambling on Luke Maye, Kenny Williams, Theo Pinson, coming out of high school in hopes of a long NBA career complete with shoe contracts, etc. Maybe Joel Berry, but at this point he doesn't even project as even getting drafted at all. Cam Walker is Pittsburgh's problem. I really don't see Justin Jackson as the kind of kid who would be involved in that sort of under the table deal either. I guess somebody might've slipped Tony Bradley some money, but I doubt it...

[eCat]

after that horseshit UNC got away with in regards to 2 decades of systemic cheating, I wouldn't be surprised if they were never mentioned.

[hedge]

Actually, we will probably be mentioned as the one school that followed the rules, did it the right way, and still won. Your head will explode if that happens...

"I do remember the talk about Roy Williams not being able to talk to John Wall even though Wall grew up a UNC fan."

That fact alone should stand us in good stead...

[crotch]

Actually, we will probably be mentioned as the one school that followed the rules, did it the right way, and still won.

Heh..... Hedge the comedian.

[eCat]

yea, its going to be a few decades before anyone ever says that about UNC

[hedge]

This could actually end up, hilariously enough, that after years of UK and Duke fans thinking Carolina was going to get slammed, we are now going to be squeaky clean and ya'll both get the death penalty and vacating hundreds of wins and a couple of NC's. Then we'll make a run that will match UCLA's from the late 60's/early 70's and surpass everyone while all ya'll sit on the sidelines grumbling and snapping...

[hedge]

The above scenario would be the ultimate justice for what the NCAA put us thru over the past 6 or 7 years...

[Professor Tiger]

If Auburn cheated in basketball, and I’m pretty sure they did, we haven’t gotten much in return for the bribes paid. Up until this year, we’ve sucked for the past 20.

And UNC will never be sanctioned by the NCAA. UNC is the basketball equivalent of Bama football. They transcend the rules that mere mortal programs must obey. The Heels and the Tide are too big to fail. They put the NCAA on probation.

[crotch]

This could actually end up, hilariously enough, that after years of UK and Duke fans thinking Carolina was going to get slammed, we are now going to be squeaky clean and ya'll both get the death penalty and vacating hundreds of wins and a couple of NC's. Then we'll make a run that will match UCLA's from the late 60's/early 70's and surpass everyone while all ya'll sit on the sidelines grumbling and snapping...

Wouldn't it be nice to live in Hedge's fantasy world??

[Professor Tiger]

I think hedge is probably right on this one.

[eCat]

nope.....



The basketball programs at Duke, North Carolina and NC State were all named in evidence presented during discovery in the federal criminal investigation into college basketball, according to a report Friday by Yahoo Sports.

Yahoo obtained "hundreds of pages of documents" that showed federal authorities monitored multiple targets and intercepted more than 4,400 phone calls over 330 days.

"The documents tie some of the biggest names and programs in the sport to activity that appears to violate the NCAA’s amateurism rules," Yahoo reporter. This could end up casting a pall over the NCAA tournament because of eligibility issues."

Duke and UNC were among a host of universities that potentially gave impermissible benefits and preferential treatment to players and families, Yahoo reported. Specific players were not identified.

*Tony Bradley*

[eCat]

Kentucky - Bam Adebayo, Nerlens Noel

complicating facet to this will be the NCAA’s potential inability to view key documents related to this case, because those details not in the criminal complaints are sealed under protective order. In terms of eligibility, the NCAA and the institution may be prohibited from interviewing people associated with the case because of the parallel criminal cases. (The initial onus to decide is almost always on the school in an eligibility case).

No one is certain how the NCAA enforcement office would potentially handle the cases. The NCAA has been in constant contact with the feds but so far

[hedge]

I guess I shouldn't have said "I doubt it" when I posted "I guess somebody could've slipped Tony Bradley some money". He really is the only guy in the past 3 years (more, really) that I could see that happening with at Carolina. That would suck bad if it's true, b/c we won an NC with Bradley on the team. UK would only have to vacate wins from a season where we beat them in the tourny anyway and a season where they went to the NIT. UK fans are probably hoping those seasons would go away anyway...

[eCat]

Bam took the money and didn't even sign with the agent

guess he has the last laugh all the way around.

Noel was the one everyone thought would be busted. He's had handlers from day 1 and no shortage of people saying they were shady.

[hedge]

But if all this is true, I can't see how John Wall didn't take some caiiiish. Of course, that was another flame-out season for UK. Hopefully Anthony Davis and Gilcrest were on the take. You kinda got to think they were. Hell, considering the deluge of top recruits that UK all of a sudden started getting when they hired Cal, you've got to think the majority of them were getting paid to go to UK. The mere presence of a middle aged, jowly white man can't account for all of it...

[eCat]

This is so large, I'm betting the NCAA just requires the players to pay it back.

Where there is evidence of a coach or program directing a shoe company to pay a player, they'll get hammered, but otherwise the NCAA is going to go No Harm, No Foul on this one.