Can we land Romeo?
- Thread starter Let 'er Fly
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I believe Blackmon tried pretty hard to play defense. He just was not very good at it. Helluva shooter though.
...are you kidding me?? Duke is UK's #1 competition for OAD's every year now....I'm guessing that since they go to Duke, they're all 'academic all-stars' too? Keep dreaming.
Why can't / won't you answer the question?
How many academically-suspect kids like Rose & Bledsoe has Duke admitted? Be specific please.
I guess that's a better answer than admitting you made it up. One would ordinarily have to earn an Indiana State "degree" to possess such insight.
What Cal is really good at is managing prima donnas, 'cause let's face it, a team of one-and-dones, sheesh.
Outside of when you were burning furniture and assaulting police, you all sounded pretty miserable.
Not me. I still expect a team relevant to the university. There might be others here willing to sell their souls for a win, but they are unlikely to be alumni.
Proclaiming that any individual coach was coming is as silly as claiming they were not. None here knew, and pretending to be an expert always always fails eventually.
Is there definitive PROOF he has cheated? No.
Is there strong circumstantial evidence giving credence to him being involved at least peripherally? Yes - unless you're going to try to tell us he knew nothing about the incidents that led to Final Fours at UMASS and Memphis to be vacated (and if you insist on that being the case, you're gonna say Pitino had no idea of the hookers in Billy Minardi?).
IF you're honest (which, I know, is asking a LOT) you'll admit the same things we bring up now are the same things BBN had to say about Calipari BEFORE he was hired at UK - back when they were replacing Tubby and were sure Billy Donovan was coming to Lexington. Only after being turned down TWICE by BD did BBN warm up to Calipari.
What I've asked about the UK standards fits right into what UK basketball has become as a program. You're interested in getting the best players possible - which everyone else is, too. The difference is UK will take a guy regardless of whether the player is academically prepared or not to BE an actual student, instead relying on having them "technically" eligible.
UK basketball is about one thing: getting guys to the NBA. Period. Does Duke operate like that? It was pretty telling that they had recruited Bledsoe but NEVER offered him a scholarship. IU denied admission to Ron Patterson (who was eligible by NCAA minimum standards) after he failed to achieve the necessary GPA during the summer session of 2012 (where he had help from tutors and still couldn't achieve the 2.0 required).
Admit it: UK basketball isn't about being college basketball. Players are interested in getting into the league, period. And UK - who wanted to be relevant again in their small minds - are more than glad to accommodate this because the players are "eligible".
Ask the UK clowns if they believe Pitino knew about the hookers. Their entire logic process changes.
Those of us who follow the program closely knew, just as we knew of Miller's close relationship with Cal (though the pretenders and fanbois weren't aware that they're extremely close "pals").
You're arguing with someone who appears (screen handle) to be inhabiting a faith-based reality, which is to say, fantasyland. Can't learn anything from the likes of such...
Oh great. A smug atheist. Now this thread has everything.
Keep in mind that he's probably comparing Kentucky players to the Kentucky population in general. It's easy to shine bright in a dark room.
Really? Haven't noticed much in the way of reason or grace. But regarding the attribution, badge of honor to be sure.
Rave on.
Yeah just like the fab 5 right. You think we have to have four year players but that's not true. And personally thats the only reason I watch the NBA is to watch former IU players so go back to the sports illustrated forums.
Exactly.
They want to rip Pitino for the hookers, but look the other way when kids like Rose or Bledsoe are made "eligible" thru unsavory processes.
UK didn't consider Calipari to be a serious candidate in 2007 to replace Tubby. (From the article:"John Calipari has signed a contract extension in Memphis, and he was probably not a serious candidate at UK anyway.") Only after being rejected twice by Donovan did Calipari's methods become ok.
(From the article: "the reason Todd and Barnhart didn't call Calipari in 2007 was that they were scared by the coach's reputation for working in the college basketball gray areas.
The reason they did call him in 2009 was that Kentucky's athletics honchos were feeling a whiff of desperation to get UK basketball back to winning at a " Kentucky level."
Kentucky fired Tubby even though he led them to a National Championship, 3 Elite 8's and had a .760 winning percentage (remember when the media was blasting IU fan for wanting Crean gone after 3 Sweet 16's and two outright B1G titles in a 5-year span? Imagine if he'd done that in Lexington . . .), while never missing the NCAA Tournament and never lost a 1st rd game .
Why? Because they hadn't won enough. Only Final Fours and titles can satisfy BBN, and UK fans were convinced that Billy D was coming to the Bluegrass. But he turned them down, and the UK administration still wanted nothing to do with Calipari, didn't want his shadiness to cast a shadow over UK basketball.
Then BCG took the UK program to the dumpster - and Kentucky was turned down again by BD (and Izzo . . .and others . . . ). BBN was in an uproar and wanted to be relevant on a National stage once again - so they hired Cal.
Does it matter if a guy had grade issues (Bledsoe)? Nope - "the NCAA cleared him, so we're good".
Does it matter if a recruit has legal issues? (John Wall) "Hey, he wasn't actually arrested!" - even though he was cited for breaking and entering.
As this article so eloquent states . . .
From the article:
"That brings us to the weakest argument of all: John Calipari had no idea rules violations were happening all around him.
Institutions have the ability to do extensive informal background checks on recruits, talking to coaches, teachers, family, and friends. The New York Times might not be able to access transcripts legally, but the University of Kentucky can.
Evidently Derrick Rose’s surprisingly respectable SAT score and odd high school transcript didn’t raise any red flags around Memphis.
Eric Bledsoe’s sudden academic success should have also been looked at with some degree of skepticism. Marcus Camby’s bling and shiny new rides should have raised some eyebrows.
But they didn’t."
And why didn't they? Simple - because as long as wins are produced and as long as there is plausible deniability, it's ok.
That's why.
Here's a couple...
"In 1995, center Greg Newton was suspended from school for two semesters after he was found guilty of cheating on an exam. Ricky Price also received a two-semester suspension in 1997 due to academic issues. Both eventually returned to the team."
Here's a few of their 'incidents' where the NCAA looked the other way....
"Former Duke player Corey Maggette admitted taking cash from a booster Despite fears they would have to give back over $200,000 in NCAA Tournament revenue and stripped of their Final Four appearance in 2000, Duke was never punished by the NCAA after an investigation determined Duke coaches were unaware of the payments.
A 2003 New Orleans Times-Picayune investigation (article not available online) revealed that former Duke guard Chris Duhon's mother “landed a job working for a Duke booster; co-workers say the job opening was never posted and that Harper was overpaid and lacked qualifications.”
In 2010, former Duke player Lance Thomas was sued for failing to repay an alleged $67,800 credit to a jeweler."
....nowhere near as miserable as starting the season looking pretty legit, even earning a #1 ESPN Power Ranking from Jeff Goodman only to fizzle out through the season and end with a resounding thud in the 1st round of the NIT.
My handle has nothing to do with my lord and savior. It's just a combination of my nickname and reference to Joe Crawford.
...tons of evidence pointing to Rick having knowledge, apparently.... why else would the NCAA reject his argument in their most recent response? Whether he knew or not, it doesn't matter. By the 'impermissible benefits' standard (in this case, sex with strippers paid for by coaches in the dorms), they had 2 ineligible players on their 2013 title team. Seeing that banner come down would be more satisfying to me than punishing Rick.
Sure, but you just confirmed the profile anyway was spot on in any case. Good luck with that.
What profile is that and what is wrong with people who have faith.
whether accurate or not, it's totally irrelevant and was only raised due to your inability to craft an intelligent argument or response.
Knowledge that can be PROVED?
I agree - Pitino likely knew (or should have known). Just as Calipari knew (or should have known/questioned) the academic credentials of both Rose and Bledsoe.
That's what's hilarious in all this. You BBN still bitter about Slick Rick taking the UofL job want to crucify him, but you overlook all the obvious warts regarding Calipari - the same warts you crucified him for BEFORE UK struggled with BCG, the same warts you're administration wanted nothing to do with.
You sold your souls to win. It's alright to admit it - it's not like Kentucky has ever been a bastion of integrity (although Tubby ran the program about as well as you could ask a coach to do).
When both of those players ran afoul of Duke's academic standards, what did they do? They suspended both.
We're still trying to find out what UK's standards are relative to the rest of the student population, so asking you how many Kentucky players under Calipari have been suspended is kind of a mute point, don't ya think?
That's funny coming from the queen of one-liners, especially if you imagine that "an intelligent argument or response" is going to make the least dent in that particular variety of UK donut.
And relevancy is subjective, unless its objective which I'm guessing is out of your league.
This entire discussion seems out of your league, as does your access to an editor, something of which you're in dire need.
BIG difference..... The NCAA never pointed a finger at Cal like they certainly seem to be doing with Rick. I was never 'bitter' about Rick taking the uofl job because he didn't leave UK to go to uofl. He left for the Boston Celtics and $70 million. Can't fault him for that. I've said before, in this very thread, I paid little to no attention to Memphis while he was there....except maybe for 1 game when one of Tubby's teams played against them.
Tubby (much to the dismay of the many UK detractors here) began his own departure process in December of his final season at UK. He had been losing recruit after recruit and was taking in players that simply weren't 'UK level' basketball players. (Sheray Thomas, Bobby Perry, Lucacz Orbzut, Shagari Alleyne, just to name a few). Even with some of the good talent he was able to land (Crawford, Bradley, Morris, Rondo, etc.), the end results weren't very good. He saw he writing on the wall.
Eddie Sutton was the last coach at UK when there was trouble with the NCAA.... almost 30 years ago. I know you keep wishing/hoping for something to happen at UK under Coach Cal, but if you keep your fingers crossed that long, you're going to get arthritis. Sandy Bell, formerly of the NCAA office herself, is in place and keeps everything in line with NCAA rules. Cal has numerously pointed out the faults of the NCAA. He's given them all the motivation they need to put UK under the microscope and yet nothing has happened to enact any punishment by the NCAA for any rules being broken. I'll simply tell you again.... there's reality and then there's the way you want things to be. I'll continue to stick with reality.
That's all you've got? Seems I owe you an apology - sorry you're not very smart, borrowed/contrived petulance being a poor surrogate. Cheers.
You didn't really mean to say "mute" point when talking about academics did you?
What else do I need? You're not very intelligent and you're a poor writer. There's no need for me to pile on with extraneous criticisms.
Bledsoe flunked algebra 1, skipped algebra 2 and received an "A" in algbra 3 to barely gain eligibility. UK should be ashamed to admit Bledsoe, and hide behind that statement.
Do they have Proof?
From the article:
"The NCAA is standing firm in its belief that Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino failed to monitor his team, a Level I violation that could carry a multigame suspension if proven true."
So, does the NCAA have PROOF? If not, then why do you keep insisting Rick is guilty - especially in light of the "Cal is innocent because they've never implicated him" defense you've been adamantly spewing? And, yes, the NCAA has attempted to hit Calipari; they would have regarding Bledsoe had the Birmingham administrators acted (but they were in full CYA mode).
Really?
Didn't you say this:
Your former coach wins a title elsewhere and since you think that he was responsible for hookers, you want that title taken away because it was improper - yet you turned a blind eye to your current coach accepting academically-suspect students because they were good players?
Really?
Please do tell . . .
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