The Goat Pen

Meeks does not plays soft ever, always uses his body for position, boxes out , clog's the lane,

he id not explosive but I dont care he can also pass the ball better than anyone on the team.

From IC:

As to the new CNN piece, a couple of thoughts.

(1) It is much better in the sense that it takes a broader view and does not focus solely on UNC.

(2) Ms. Willingham's claims do not seem particularly credible based on the info provided.

She claims that more than one basketball player in 2003 (this would have been Fall 2003 as she started in academic support in Oct 2003) was completely illiterate and another (maybe b-ball maybe not) could only read single syllable words. On the team spanning 2003, UNC had the following players:

Melvin Scott (Jr); Raymond Felton (So); Jackie Manuel (Jr); Damien Price (Sr); Jawad Williams (Jr); Damion Grant (So); Phillip McLamb (Sr); Jonathan Miller (Sr); Rashad McCants (So); David Noel (So); Byron Sanders (So); Sean May (So); Reyshawn Terry (Fr); Justin Bohlander (Fr); Jesse Holley (Fr); and CJ Hooker (Jr).

Which of these kids was COMPLETELY illiterate (i.e., could not read or write)? Ray (Academic All-State in SC)? Sean May? Noel (who was a walk-on as a Frosh)? McCants? Sanders (who graduated high school with high honors)? Terry (who was on the Honor Roll at Reynolds)? Scott (also on honor roll student in high school)? Bohlander (who quit b-ball to focus on academics)?

I call BS on that. Sounds like classic embellishment to get attention.

(3) Willingham's "study" . . . the article claims that Willingham conducted research as part of her graduate program at UNC-G which looked at with SAT scores of "183 athletes in revenue-generating sports admitted to UNC between 2004 and 2012". It has a link to her Master's Thesis entitled "See Willingham's Research." I just read her Master's Thesis and discovered several things.

(a) It was submitted in the fall of 2009 (the creation date in the UNC-G library system is Aug 1, 2009) and thus COULD NOT have looked at admissions data through 2012.

(b) Her master's thesis contains exactly ZERO references to the alleged examination of SAT scores of UNC athletes. ZERO. ZILCH. NADA. This alleged research is NOT MENTIONED AT ALL in her master's thesis. In fact, in the one graph that uses school specific date (about "special admits" among athletes vs. non-athletes) UNC is NOT one of the schools used.

(c) The ONLY mention of UNC specific data is a single sentence citing a small scale study involving 46 athletes from 2007 which concluded that 28 of the 46 had previously undiagnosed learning disabilities or ADHD and that remedial support (incl. tutoring and supplemental instruction provided during the first two semesters were positive. [pp. 27-28]. I cannot find the study to which she cites (on Google Scholar, the interwebs, on in the UNC System library).

(d) She reaches her "conclusions" about the literacy levels of college athletes generally based solely on the NCAA minimum requirements and general info about the ACT and SAT. Her very general, and not specific to UNC in any way shape or form, is this:

"It is reasonable to argue that the graduation rate of these particular students [special admits who are at or near NCAA minimum standards] is in jeopardy. Even the best remedial support and tutorial could not close the educational gap enough in the 4 or 5 years that it takes to earn a college degree. Such 'catch-up work'
would have to be done while maintaining eligibility—passing degree-applicable hours each semester—and basically working a full time job (hours on the field) as well. It is likely that college level literacy skills are not present in this student population who
generally score between the 1st and 15th percentile as compared to their college classmates." [p. 30 - note the lack of citations]

This argument and extrapolation of very basic data is in no way UNC specific.

(3.1) Willingham's "study" . . . so, any research she did was not part of her Master's program at UNC-G (per her CV she received her MA in 2009 and one would thing this type of detailed research would have made it into her master's thesis). There is no indication I have found that she is continuing to study these issues via another masters program or a doctoral program.

(3.2) Willingham's "study" . . . so where is this data that she allegedly provided to CNN? How did she gather it? When did she gather it? The CNN report mentions correspondence between her and UNC about it, but does not provide details.

(3.3) I will refrain from speculating about the other aspects of this "study" . . . however it certainly appears suspect at this point.

(4) Willingham's statement that there are still athletes who cannot do the work based her role as "a graduation adviser with access to student files" is really troubling as a breach of student confidentiality and an abuse of her position (regardless of whether she honestly holds this belief, which I am happy to assume she does).

Daggum. I have spent another block of time on this. Back to grading final exams from last semester (yes, I am a professor - not at UNC).

Paige is like 2 for his last 15 form three beginning to think beginning of the year was fluke and the kid is not much better than last year.

Play the 1-2-2 zone Roy please

bloomberg businessweek should be the bigger concern for UNC.

The writer is dedicated to keeping this issue on the fore front.

Paige get s blown by and wide open three for Borwn down 7

Roy cant coach

Again wide open to three to end half,

Roy needs to be fired Now

Nit Nit Nit with this dumb fuck coaching this team

Kentucky has blown it up open in the second half with a fast paced up and down game - this should put to rest the angst the fans had from the first half.

Still doesn't do much for me at this point, but I'm glad they flipped the switch for this game.

down 6 at home James ejected which is good

Britt is terrible

Roy staying with Man and Paige gts beat off the dribble 4 straight times,

just a terrible coaching job

Roy cant recruit kids like Lacante he
is terrible this team might not win a game in the ACC

meeks plus minus as to be way better than anyone else but ROy refuses to play him big minutes

but Meeks was the key in all three good wins

Why does ROy let Britt take 18 footers down 7 with 3 minutes left dumb shot

Kenny Britt sucks

Suck it, Arkansas!

Syracuse will beat UNC by30 with their zone

Roy out coached on the in bound he sucks as a coach,

I dont understand how American cant see that

Shut it Sasquatch.

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