I figured I would weigh in on the NCAA and LoVett's case. I think it would be one of the biggest mistakes we can make to try to sue the NCAA. For starters, LoVett had eligibility questions when we signed him, so it should come as no surprise that he has not been cleared yet. Secondly, the NCAA has how many sports and student athletes to worry about? Not too much of a shocker that they wouldn't worry about one basketball player from a university that hasn't been relevant over the better part of the past decade. If it were a player from Duke or Kentucky, or Alabama's starting QB, do I think it would have taken this long? Hell no....but we aren't in the same category as those schools. And finally, what is suing them going to accomplish? Suing them and winning is not going to 'stick it to the man.' But that's ok, because thats what we are teaching our youth today....that if you don't get your own way, all you have to do is threaten to sue, and that will make it all better. All it is going to do is p*ss off the NCAA, and for the next how many years, they will be watching every little thing that we do.
The biggest problem with these kids is when they are going to multiple high schools for athletic purposes only. They transfer to these "basketball factories" (as Scott Van Pelt from ESPN put it), and only concentrate on sports, and then wonder why their academics don't line up. Going to three different high schools is going to be a giant red flag every time....
If anyone has a right to complain, its Tacko Fall from UCF (if you haven't read his story, I would advise you to do so). Here's a kid who moved here from the Senegal with another student to try to make a better life for his family back home, and was made a lot of empty promised. He could barely speak English when he arrived, and ended going to a few different highschools because that's where people kept sending him. He was just ruled academically ineligible by the NCAA....and he has threatened to sue. This is the type of kid that should have a a beef with the NCAA. Oh by the way, Tacko Fall, the kid ruled academically ineligible, is an engineering major at UCF.
The NCAA is a self-serving dysfunctional organization that no longer serves the best interests of student athletes. They profit off of them at basketball and football factories like Alabama, UNC, Kentucky and Kansas and rarely disqualify players there out of greed and self interest. As for 4 and 5 star high school players attending basketball "academies", that has become the norm around the world and kids should not be punished for attending the best schools that can prepare them for college and the pros. The NCAA has already caved in to the Power Five and is very lenient with them but I suspect eventually the Power Five will break away and I wouldn't be surprised if the Atlantic 10, the Big East and the American conferences request admission for basketball only and also break from the NCAA.
If you are going to go after the NCAA, I feel that you must also go after the NBA and their age rule. The NBA is responsible for making these basketball factories. The top freshman in the country really have no business going to their one year of college, but are being forced to by the league.
With that being said, just as much as the NCAA is profiting off of these kids, many of these kids are profiting off of the NCAA. Obviously the NCAA is making a lot more than the players, but the players aren't really walking away with nothing. A free education and free access to some of the best coaches and facilities in the country is not a bad gig.
Kids profiting off the NCAA? That free education and coaching comes from the colleges not the NCAA. The NCAA is supposed to keep the playing field level among the member schools. An organization that mostly sanctions schools at the lowest levels of funding and television revenues is clearing not doing its job and none of their profits off of star athletes ever makes its way back to the students. The conference schools negotiate their own television contracts, endorsement deals and fundraising. The megabucks generated by the NCAA tourney with the television networks is their bread and butter.
To maintain that gravy train the NCAA clearly turns a blind eye to any minor offenses by most of the power 5 schools that make the tournament worth televisions' billion dollars investment while punishing both students and schools that rarely make the field of 64. That is not my opinion it is fact. However those small schools sometimes get their revenge and embarrass the NCAA's favorite sons as Monmouth did the other night by beating UCLA at Pauley in front of a quiet crowd of 6,600 stunned fans. Speaking of Monmouth, on the far right wing senior redmen.com board they discussed the top 10 NY area teams. No mention of Monmouth and King Rice. Very knowledgeable bunch. Guess it's those JD degrees.
Please provide examples of the NCAA clearly turning a blind eye.
People are just upset that one of our players chose to go to three different high schools in 3 years for athletic purposes only and was declared ineligible, and they need someone to blame. They are justified in being upset, but perhaps their anger should be directed towards someone other than the NCAA.
Jumbo, you are no Spring chicken so you shouldn't need examples if you have followed college basketball over the past 50 years. More recently on Big East Boards Dr. FUN gave examples but partially appended below for edification is an historical perspective :
If History Repeats Itself, The NCAA Won't Do Anything To Louisville
by Tyler Cox 2w ago
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We’ve all heard the cliché that “history repeats itself”, and in some ways it’s true. If that is the case, and it very well might be, then history could repeat itself when it comes to the NCAA’s decision on the University of Louisville basketball scandal.
You’ve all heard by now about what exactly happen in the Louisville scandal where their basketball of operations coach Andre McGee (and presumably someone else) paid for strippers/prostitutes, or as Louisville fans say “just women dancing in bikinis”, for sex for, at the time, players and recruits on their visits to the Louisville campus in the dorm rooms. Yes, this is a horrible occurrence and a terrible atmosphere for the women at Louisville and it shouldn’t be taken lightly. The media have had their opinions on what should happen, “Pitino should resign”, “Louisville should get sanctions”, and I completely agree with everything they are saying, but the NCAA may not agree, that is, if history repeats itself.
You see, about oh 52 years ago, one of the most legendary coaches of all time had nearly the same thing going on in his program, and it went above and beyond just prostitutes, the only difference is there was no backlash of the media or the NCAA. John Wooden’s first 16 seasons as a head coach Wooden went 200-143, the very next season Wooden and UCLA went 30-0 and won the National Championship. A little fishy right? Well, it is. His 17th year as head coach (1963) John Wooden brought in a very wealthy booster named Sam Gilbert. Gilbert owned an extremely successful construction company and his company was a great vehicle to pay for UCLA players cars, apartments, jewelry, prostitutes and abortions for the players girlfriends… HELLO!? The NCAA had to do something to John Wooden and UCLA right? Wrong. The NCAA did not do anything to the program, no bans, no wins stripped, no nothing. Was it because the NCAA didn’t want to do anything to their poster child? Who knows, but the fact is they didn’t do anything. I don’t want to come off arbitrarily aggressive towards John Wooden or UCLA but they did it, they know they did it, the NCAA knew about it and there was nothing done to them and that’s what really grinds my gears. If you want to read more about the John Wooden incident you can read my post about it a couple years ago here.
North Carolina didn’t have anything to do with prostitutes because they have a little more class, but what they did have is fake classes for their athletes. Fake classes means fake grades which makes players eligible to play in competition. It also should, in theory be against the rules to do these things. Not according to the NCAA. The NCAA did investigate North Carolina, and some people will say that sanctions will come down on North Carolina. Well, if they’re done with their investigation, then what the heck are they waiting for!? I mean you have players taking classes like dance appreciation 101, really? Come on, get a grip! Start coming down on these institutions that continually do things like this instead of playing patty cake with these schools and do your job.
The only thing that I can think of is these programs that don’t have anything done to them, like the Dukes and the UCLAs and the North Carolina’s is because they make the NCAA a ton of money. Schools like SMU, USC, UMass and Memphis who don’t make them money like the other schools do, they get appropriate punishment. The NCAA doesn’t want to lose their best programs or hurt their feelings. It’s time to grow up, have a back bone. Who knows what the NCAA will do to Louisville , but something needs to be done. If history repeats itself, as it often does, there will be nothing done to Louisville. So Louisville, you can rest easy if this is the case. All you have to do now going forward is pick your prostitutes better and better make sure they aren’t as resourceful as Katina Powell and write a book about what a disgrace your program has become.
