NCAA = Kansas City Mafiosi

[alibrat66]

This dreck sure gets old. It seems like there has been a cloud over our program every year for the past several years. Also, the NCAA seems to enjoy rearing its ugly head over Orangeland every year at tournament time.

Either, SU has absolutely abysmal institutional control over its athletic programs, or there is exceptional animus against SU by the NCAA.

The NCAA, to me, is beginning to take on the air of the CIA or the Cosa Nostra.

Unknowingly or not, the Indianapolis mafia seems to be trying to turn intercollegiate sports into a glorified intramural league. Maybe it's time to pay the players a salary and let the local police force in each college town deal with any transgressions. Otherwise, what is the incentive for talented kids to go to college to play ball when they can go to the league, overseas, etc. to play for pay with a lot less scrutiny? They can buy their own books!! I've often said that the difference between regular college students and athletes, both kids, is that the latter has to grow up in the public eye. I shudder to think of some of the publicity and resultant blowback I would've garnered while, as a college student, learning to be an adult.

If the Bernie Fine mess didn't get JB to prematurely walk away from coaching, IMHO, this could. It's like a chronic, debilitating disease.

 

[llandz]

The NCAA needs to be deregulated. Don't talk to me about academics when you are making players go to college, and you have other players like Kobe, and Lebron who were allowed to skip college and go right in to NBA before this rule was put in place. Making some of these basketball players go to college is like putting the square peg into the round hole. Yes for some, like Scoop it works out quite well, and there should be a system in place for that student athlete. But none of Kentucky's players are going to graduate, nor are many other very talented D1 players. Enough with this sham. Do something with the "d" league that allows players who are not students to develop and mature as young men, and if anything make them play there for a year or two. Expand the league, have mentors for the kids, etc. You are taking kids who would not get into these colleges without basketball, and yes, there are all sorts of "sports" courses for them, but some of them are just not meant to be students. Just like some of our own "non basketball" kids are not meant to be students. So we allow them to do other things. Be a hairdresser, play in a rock and roll band, be an electrician etc. But these basketball kids have a talent, and they are forced to go this route. Then when a school tries to work with them and help them succeed, they are breaking "academic NCAA rules" that regular students do not have to follow. So Syracuse is being investigated. We had a basketball player/ student who lived in this country for one year. English was not his native language. I believe he had some learning disabilities that had not been previously diagnosed. He got into some academic trouble, and he got suspended right before the tournament because he was that player who had to fit in the wrong peg. How did this help him become a better person? What did the NCAA do to help him further his education? Oh let's kick him out of our system. I really hate what they have done.
Thank you for letting me vent, LOL

 

[CuseTroop]

The NCAA needs to be deregulated. Don't talk to me about academics when you are making players go to college, and you have other players like Kobe, and Lebron who were allowed to skip college and go right in to NBA before this rule was put in place. Making some of these basketball players go to college is like putting the square peg into the round hole. Yes for some, like Scoop it works out quite well, and there should be a system in place for that student athlete. But none of Kentucky's players are going to graduate, nor are many other very talented D1 players. Enough with this sham. Do something with the "d" league that allows players who are not students to develop and mature as young men, and if anything make them play there for a year or two. Expand the league, have mentors for the kids, etc. You are taking kids who would not get into these colleges without basketball, and yes, there are all sorts of "sports" courses for them, but some of them are just not meant to be students. Just like some of our own "non basketball" kids are not meant to be students. So we allow them to do other things. Be a hairdresser, play in a rock and roll band, be an electrician etc. But these basketball kids have a talent, and they are forced to go this route. Then when a school tries to work with them and help them succeed, they are breaking "academic NCAA rules" that regular students do not have to follow. So Syracuse is being investigated. We had a basketball player/ student who lived in this country for one year. English was not his native language. I believe he had some learning disabilities that had not been previously diagnosed. He got into some academic trouble, and he got suspended right before the tournament because he was that player who had to fit in the wrong peg. How did this help him become a better person? What did the NCAA do to help him further his education? Oh let's kick him out of our system. I really hate what they have done.
Thank you for letting me vent, LOL

Great post!

 

[PeteCalvin]

F the NCAA. I say fight the bastards and end this BS once and for all. or get off the pot! This seemingly endless investigation is absolutely ridiculous.

 

[kirbivore]

This dreck sure gets old. It seems like there has been a cloud over our program every year for the past several years. Also, the NCAA seems to enjoy rearing its ugly head over Orangeland every year at tournament time.

Either, SU has absolutely abysmal institutional control over its athletic programs, or there is exceptional animus against SU by the NCAA.

Door #1

 

[Zelda Zonk]

I wish we could stop the cries of persecution and start looking at what we've been doing/not doing to incur the NCAA's wrath. Playing innocent and then screaming, "Look at Calipari (and recently even Pitino)" just makes us look guilty, hypocritical, and stupid.

Institutional control needs to be established before we can start with the conspiracy claims.

Paying players? Ick. Letting local police forces deal with transgressions? Conflict of interest. If the schools make money, so do the local communities. What's their incentive for doing anything other than enabling greater levels of violation?

Whether or not the NCAA is incompetent in their methodology or enforcement is irrelevant. We don't have a problem, we have problems. Plural. They exist whether or not the NCAA is legit in its examination of them.

This university represents me for the rest of my life. I'd so much rather it did so in a way that retains my pride.

 

[Zelda Zonk]

The NCAA needs to be deregulated. Don't talk to me about academics when you are making players go to college, and you have other players like Kobe, and Lebron who were allowed to skip college and go right in to NBA before this rule was put in place. Making some of these basketball players go to college is like putting the square peg into the round hole. Yes for some, like Scoop it works out quite well, and there should be a system in place for that student athlete. But none of Kentucky's players are going to graduate, nor are many other very talented D1 players. Enough with this sham. Do something with the "d" league that allows players who are not students to develop and mature as young men, and if anything make them play there for a year or two. Expand the league, have mentors for the kids, etc. You are taking kids who would not get into these colleges without basketball, and yes, there are all sorts of "sports" courses for them, but some of them are just not meant to be students. Just like some of our own "non basketball" kids are not meant to be students. So we allow them to do other things. Be a hairdresser, play in a rock and roll band, be an electrician etc. But these basketball kids have a talent, and they are forced to go this route. Then when a school tries to work with them and help them succeed, they are breaking "academic NCAA rules" that regular students do not have to follow. So Syracuse is being investigated. We had a basketball player/ student who lived in this country for one year. English was not his native language. I believe he had some learning disabilities that had not been previously diagnosed. He got into some academic trouble, and he got suspended right before the tournament because he was that player who had to fit in the wrong peg. How did this help him become a better person? What did the NCAA do to help him further his education? Oh let's kick him out of our system. I really hate what they have done.
Thank you for letting me vent, LOL

Good stuff in there. Except for the dereg of the NCAA. College sports are and have been fantastic, and for a long time. Fixes are in order, but why toss the baby out with the bathwater? We need reforms, and stricter adherence to a simplified set of rules. The penalties must be swifter and more severe.

I don't mind, at all, the suggestion to expand the role of the D-League for players who don't want to become students. I've sorta advocated the same thing and discussed it with the head of the NBA Players Association, but there is no perfect solution. We're going to have to accept compromise. In my opinion, it's never a bad thing to insist upon more education, so i'm more in favor of a 2-3 year college commitment rather than an option for zero. But, i realize that's not putting CBB on the same footing as other sports. I don't much care, though. Other sports are different in the requirements for preparing those kids. One rule just doesn't suffice for all situations.

Nice to see some empathy for Fab. Having spent a lot of time in Brazil, i know how much i'd struggle if i had to study there. Of course, i wasn't at SU concurrent with Fab, so i'd probably feel much differently if i saw him partying as much as is being reported...

 

[OrangeZone]

2 words; David Potter. Read the Post Standard article of today. He was forced out of his position at the university and that has come back to bite them.

 

[No Hoyas]

Really cant wait for 4- 5 super conferences to to finish developing and create enough mass to break away from the NCAA and form their own govering body.

 

[Texas Otto]

The only problem with this post is that NCAA is headquartered in Indianapolis but I digress

 

[llandz]

I like a lot of what Zelda has to say. Going back to my using Scoop as an example he does not walk out with 2 degrees without the current system that is in place. It forced him to be a student along with a basketball player. So it does work in many instances.
Cutting down on the regulations would be great. I know the rule book is way too thick. Mainstreaming investigations, and making quick decisions is also great. James Sutherland for example. They only found something because of the NCAA investigation. Why did it have to take so long for him to prove his innocence? Why did it takes weeks for the same hearing that could have taken place much earlier? I know this was a University issue, but still prompted by an NCAA investigation, and the fear of having to appease the NCAA in their handling of the situation. But once again, this led to an innocent player spending 6 weeks away from the game his senior year. A senior that is now drawing some interest from NBA scouts, and it makes you wonder how much greater that interest might be with those extra 6 weeks of exposure.

 

[Cuse_1999]

So, is the NCAA investigating 2007 incident or not? The Post Standard article is all over the place in regards to that.

 

[alibrat66]

The point I was trying to make in my post is that the NCAA uses selective prosecution methods; it spares those that kiss their asses. Coach K could sodomize a nun at half court during the NCAA final, and they wouldn't give him a second look. JB, outspoken as he is, pisses off people like those pink and unused jerks running the NCAA (I know, I've met some of them). Also, he pisses off the press. What's the old adage: don't pick an argument with anyone who buys ink by the barrel. Needs to be updated so it reads, don't pick a fight with whomever has the biggest and strongest and best financed (ads) websites. What was it in the early 90s? $50 in a Christmas card from Billy Rapp. Please. I knew plenty of SU footballers while I was in school. Apple Andy was legendary: money in the locker after the game if you had a good one; an apple if you didn't. Bar fights was a favorite weekend recreation. University athletics has turned into a fundamentalist church.

 

[realorange]

The point I was trying to make in my post is that the NCAA uses selective prosecution methods; it spares those that kiss their asses. Coach K could sodomize a nun at half court during the NCAA final, and they wouldn't give him a second look. JB, outspoken as he is, pisses off people like those pink and unused jerks running the NCAA (I know, I've met some of them). Also, he pisses off the press. What's the old adage: don't pick an argument with anyone who buys ink by the barrel. Needs to be updated so it reads, don't pick a fight with whomever has the biggest and strongest and best financed (ads) websites.[/quote
Possibly the original expression, which also applies, "Don't get in a pissing match with a skunk."

 

[Zelda Zonk]

The point I was trying to make in my post is that the NCAA uses selective prosecution methods; it spares those that kiss their asses. Coach K could sodomize a nun at half court during the NCAA final, and they wouldn't give him a second look. JB, outspoken as he is, pisses off people like those pink and unused jerks running the NCAA (I know, I've met some of them). Also, he pisses off the press. What's the old adage: don't pick an argument with anyone who buys ink by the barrel. Needs to be updated so it reads, don't pick a fight with whomever has the biggest and strongest and best financed (ads) websites. What was it in the early 90s? $50 in a Christmas card from Billy Rapp. Please. I knew plenty of SU footballers while I was in school. Apple Andy was legendary: money in the locker after the game if you had a good one; an apple if you didn't. Bar fights was a favorite weekend recreation. University athletics has turned into a fundamentalist church.

That's probably true. And, with that in mind, it would behoove JB to exercise a bit more diplomacy when dealing with the media idiocracy. He may feel like he's making an enemy of only that one person in front of him, but as we all know, everything is about your network, and that reporter has friends. Doesn't help, either, to play off the allegations as 'unimportant.' The 'meh' attitude doesn't seem to give much consideration to either the alleged violations or the consequences. If your hobby is nun sodomization, you'd better be charming to everyone. Coach K doesn't seem to pick fights.