College Hoops Thread '09-'10

[The Poet]

Originally Posted by jcruse64

Bad thing is, didn't he turn someone else in from another school on violations, before he came to UT?

I really don't know, but I'd be interested to find out. If so, then he's doubly scummed in my book, and deserves whatever hit he gets.

And that's despite the fact that I held Pearl in some respect before this.

[The Poet]

Joe, I checked Wikipedia, and you are absolutely right. During the 1988-89 season, while an assistant at Iowa, Pearl was recruiting a player named Deon Thomas, who was also in Illinois's sights. When Thomas picked the Illini over Iowa, Pearl called him up and recorded his phone conversation, during which he asked Thomas if he'd been offered an SUV and cash by Illinois assistant Jimmy Collins. Thomas supposedly indicated that he had. Pearl turned the tape over to the NCAA, but during the investigation Thomas denied the allegations. A subsequent lie detector test supported this denial, and the NCAA did not find Illinois guilty of any wrongdoing, and went so far as to state that the proof provided by Pearl was not "credible, persuasive and of a kind on which reasonably prudent persons rely in the conduct of serious affairs". The NCAA did uncover other violations, however, and cited Illinois with a "lack of institutional control" charge, and implemented several recruiting restrictions, plus a one-year post-season ban on the school.

According to the Wiki article, this incident led to a blackballing of Pearl by many D-1 coaches, and Dick Vitale referred to his actions as "career suicide" during a telecast.

Well, Dickie V was wrong, but it seems that once again Bruce Pearl has shown himself to NOT be a "reasonably prudent" person.

Good call, Joe, and thanks for the heads-up.

[jcruse64]

I read in a comment on one of the stories about the UT incident, and then remembered a good story on it during this year's tourney.

I like Bruce's enthusiasm for the game, and we all make mistakes, but you gotta watch out when you throw stones...

[The Poet]

The Birmingham News has reported a story very similar to the earlier one in the NY Times about indiscrepancies in the high-school transcripts of former UK guard Eric Bledsoe. However, as this information is not particularly new, and it preceeds the release of an "official" investigation by an independent law firm into the matter (due within a few days), I will withhold further comment until said report is made public.

Suffice it to say that the preliminary information does not bode well for Wildcat fans.

[The Poet]

More and more damning information about Bruce Pearl and the Tennessee Vols is coming to light, including not only excessive calls to recruits (as in the case of U Conn's troubles) but overly-extended lengths of visits to recruits and their families beyond the 48 hours allowed by the NCAA rules.


Hey, I've been to Knoxville. No offense intended, but 2 days is long enough.

[The Poet]

OK, here's the latest on the whole Eric Bledsoe high-school algebra grade. The Birmingham school board has decided to allow Bledsoe to keep his grade, due to the testimony of his teacher, who stated that Eric completed makeup work to justify changing his final grade from a "C" to an "A". Superintendent Craig Witherspoon said an investigation "found no documentation to justify the improvement. But, he says, an investigation didn't prove that it was improper, either."

Hmmmmmmmmmm. Well, innocent until proven guilty, one can only presume. And it is not fair to argue against that either. Furthermore, it IS algebra we're talking about here, so as we all know it can be problematic solving for the unknown.

UK officials have said that the university was not under investigation by the NCAA at any point, and now consider the matter closed. NCAA spokeman Chuck Wynne told the Lexington Herald-Leader that the NCAA plans to review the report and work with Kentucky to determine if there is any impact on Bledsoe' academic standing. So, although this statement does NOT indicate that UK is under an official investigation into this matter, it also hints that the matter is decidedly NOT YET closed, whatever UK spokesman DeWayne Peevy thinks.

If you are a college hoops fan, stay tuned. If you are a Wildcat fan, tune out.

[The Poet]

The NCAA has announced that it plans no further action regarding the academic eligibility of Erid Bledsoe. Good for the Kentucky faithful, and good for Calipari. They have dodged this one potentially mortal bullet.

As for the earlier reports regarding the attempted bribary solicitation by Bledsoe's high-school coach, there is no news, one way or the other.

[The Poet]

I am not going to get into the whole sordid story of that Baylor player being "Dunn" for assaulting his girlfriend, nor the return of Sean Sutton to the game after his guilty plea this summer of illegally obtaining prescription drugs . . . though I do think it appropriate that a man addicted to popping pills shows up at Oral Roberts. But there are two other stories of note I shall report:

The Univ. of Connecticut has admitted its men's basketball program committed major NCAA recruiting violations, and has imposed on itself sanctions which include two year's probation and a loss of one scholarship for the next two seasons. Yet they deny the evidence that coach Jim Calhoun "failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance". This assertion comes after an investigation which began 'way back in March of 2009, with this being the first official response by the school. The 700-page response, much of which was "redacted" in this public release, was delayed numerous time at the request of the university. As for Calhoun's personal response, if you do not count his throwing of assistant Beau Archibald and director of basketball operations Patrick Sellers under the bus months ago, he defended himself (and his new contract) by questioning why he was singled out by investigators when neither athletic director Jeff Hathaway nor the UConn compliance staff was either referenced or charged by the NCAA, while he was. Seems to me he's looking for another passing bus, my friends. As for the NCAA, they will hold a hearing next week to decide if they will accept UConn's sanctions or impose others of their own.

And for those of you who think I am a helpless "homer", I report that the University of North Carolina has dismissed fifth-year senion Will Graves from the basketball team. Roy Williams said Graves did not comply with team rules, but further stated that the dismissal had nothing to do with "any NCAA matters on campus", which of course refers to investigations currently in progress regarding questions about some members of the football program there. Although no details were released, it may be important to note that Graves was also suspended from the team 2 seasons ago for not complying with team standards (Personal conduct? Academics? He and Roy know, but I don't.), and was sidelined during their 2009 national championship run.