[theVILLE]

http://collegebasketball.rivals.com/cont...CID=978973
It appears some think like I do...lol
At the College Basketball Roundtable each week, we ask each member of the coverage staff for his opinion about a current topic in the sport. We have two questions this week - one Saturday and one today.

TODAY'S QUESTION: Is the NCAA punishment of Memphis appropriate? If not, what could the group do to truly punish schools and coaches involved in similar situations?



Derrick Rose led Memphis to 38 wins and the Final Four, and moved on to the NBA.
The NCAA's punishment is feeble and doesn't really solve any problems, but what else can the NCAA do? The NCAA Clearinghouse approved Derrick Rose to play even though he failed to get a qualifying score on the ACT three times in Chicago before passing the SAT in Detroit. If the NCAA doesn't have the power to apply the this-doesn't-smell-right test to ACT and SAT scores until a year after the fact, how can it hand out more serious punishments without looking foolish? The NCAA's ability to investigate programs, coaches and athletes is limited; its ability to penalize violations is equally limited. The end result of vacated wins is ludicrous, but the NCAA doesn't have much recourse when the organization itself is responsible for allowing Rose to play.

- DAVID FOX

Memphis certainly has been embarrassed by this whole fiasco, and the idea that the school has to forfeit some $615,000 in revenue from the 2008 NCAA tournament run does some damage. But the whole idea of vacated wins is ludicrous. While vacating wins is embarrassing, who truly cares? The school made it to the Final Four; that memory isn't suddenly going to be erased from the mind of basketball fans. If the NCAA truly wants to punish teams, take away four or five scholarships, levy some postseason bans and keep teams off TV. As for John Calipari, this is twice that he has had a Final Four appearance vacated; he stands alone in NCAA history with two. And spare me the talk about how he wasn't found at fault by the NCAA. Why is it that head coaches, such as Calipari, can get all the credit and glory for the good things that go on in a program, yet almost always seem to avoid blame when something goes wrong? If you don't think that the higher-ups in the Memphis basketball office knew everything about Derrick Rose's academic situation, you're na? enough to believe in Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy and the idea that all hard work is rewarded.

- MIKE HUGUENIN

The NCAA's "punishment" of Memphis is a joke and does nothing to deter coaches from bending the rules in the future. While it wouldn't have been fair to penalize new coach Josh Pastner and members of the current team, the NCAA could've found other ways to penalize the school. Eliminate a scholarship or two in 2010-11, take away some in-home visits ? heck, fine the athletic director for a lack of oversight. Until the NCAA begins taking drastic measures, cheating in college basketball will continue to be widespread. There also should be harsher consequences for coaches. The NCAA should've done a more thorough investigation of what truly occurred with Derrick Rose and his allegedly fraudulent test score. If the Committee on Infractions discovered that John Calipari had any knowledge of or involvement in the situation, he should've been suspended without pay for a year ? if not more. No one will take the NCAA seriously until it decides to get tough.

- JASON KING

I guess the NCAA punishment for Memphis is appropriate since it's in line with the NCAA's recent history of forcing schools to vacate wins instead of ordering scholarship reductions, but I don't think it's much of a deterrent. The idea of vacating wins works for Florida State's football program ? whether or not you think that punishment was fair ? because of how it might affect Bobby Bowden's quest to become the winningest coach in major college football history. But in just about every other instance, it seems ludicrous to think the threat of vacating wins is going to prevent teams from cheating. The NCAA can force a school to remove a Final Four banner, but it can't erase the memories of fans who watched Derrick Rose lead Memphis to the NCAA championship game. The reduction of scholarships is a far more effective deterrent because it successfully hinders a program's future instead of trying in vain to change its past. In the most serious cases, a program should face an NCAA tournament ban or a TV ban. I don't know what the NCAA could have done to Calipari in this situation since he wasn't directly implicated, but I'd like to see the NCAA take more action against coaches who clearly act in the wrong. I can think of no better deterrent than the eight-year ban that the NCAA handed to former California coach Todd Bozeman (now at Morgan State) back in the 1990s. The NCAA hasn't come down nearly that hard on a coach since.

- STEVE MEGARGEE

[ComfortEagle]

Comes down to this:

If Memphis knew what had happened - then they deserve it.

If Memphis had hand it making the violation happen - they deserved more.

If Memphis had no idea and no hand in it - no, they did not deserve it and the weight of it should be put on the NCAA's shoulders.


I think the blame is being put on Memphis as a basketball team. They are being seen as a team that cheated. When, in reality, I think this should not be seen as a team that cheated, but rather, a player that cheated in order to get on the team.

[Stardust]

If coaches are indeed implicated, then they should be held accountable. Too often, we have a situation like Eddie Sutton that brought UK to it's knees and the coach just "moves on" with zero repercussion.

Many have taken the negative comments about this situation in thinking that I was saying that Coach Cal was directly involved in the situation. I never once said he was directly involved, but did he know? No way to know, and based on the investigation, one would have to go with what has been reported. But to think that the highest ranking official in the program did not know, suspect, or hear rumor of is completely ridiculous. So, should we hold those in charge accountable for not self-reporting, in the perfect world, yes. But in the real world, it is very rare that someone would do this. For anyone to think there are many in the high profile coaching ranks that thinks these guys are "good people", you are indeed naive....

[ComfortEagle]

If coaches are indeed implicated, then they should be held accountable. Too often, we have a situation like Eddie Sutton that brought UK to it's knees and the coach just "moves on" with zero repercussion.

Many have taken the negative comments about this situation in thinking that I was saying that Coach Cal was directly involved in the situation. I never once said he was directly involved, but did he know? No way to know, and based on the investigation, one would have to go with what has been reported. But to think that the highest ranking official in the program did not know, suspect, or hear rumor of is completely ridiculous. So, should we hold those in charge accountable for not self-reporting, in the perfect world, yes. But in the real world, it is very rare that someone would do this. For anyone to think there are many in the high profile coaching ranks that thinks these guys are "good people", you are indeed naive....

So where was the self-reporting by the NCAA clearing house? In the end, they are responsible for clearing Rose to play in the NCAA and they failed at their job.

[theVILLE]

true, but "IF" Cal knew about it then he should not get by free

[ComfortEagle]

true, but "IF" Cal knew about it then he should not get by free

I can agree with that, but that's a big "if."

The NCAA did not implicate Calipari in the violation, so he was either smart enough to cover his tracks, or had nothing to do with it.

[Stardust]

So where was the self-reporting by the NCAA clearing house? In the end, they are responsible for clearing Rose to play in the NCAA and they failed at their job.

I'm not disagreeing that this comes down to the NCAA clearing house dropping the ball. Rose should have never made it into college in the first place, thus Memphis, the AD, nor the Coaches would have ever been put in a position to play a player who is not elligible. But to just put this at the NCAA Clearinghouse and say "well, if they let him through, then it's OK"! Un-uh, that's not the way it's uspposed to work either, at least not ethically. It happens in everyday life, a guilty act goes un-noticed by those who should have caught it, but if someone finds out that an improper action was missed, is it OK to just let it slide and not say anything? Sure it is if it's going to impact you and your program negatively, take the chance, it's all about winning.....

[Batpuff]

The icing on the cake is Duke getting the pass for having an ineligible player and their reason for Duke getting the pass. In 1999 a player named Corey Maggette took Duke to the final four and then later admitted he took money from a summer basketball coach and that money came from sports agents. This made him an ineligible player. You may argue "well that isn't the exact same situation so maybe NCAA has a different rule for that." No, actually the NCAA went on record saying the reason why Duke received no punishment is because one Maggette didn’t know he took money...they actually said this...how in the world he didn't know money is in his hand is beyond me also the whole case got brought up because Maggette admitted that he did take money...

The second reason NCAA gave was Duke didn't know about the payment (Memphis didn't know about the SAT test if it even happened...)

This is a clear case of NCAA showing favoritism and it is a complete joke...that is just my take.



(This was off of Cal's Cats Facebook news)

[mrsportsfan]

Another thing is that the NCAA is playing favorites. Reggie Bush in 2006 took gifts for him and his family in excess of I believe over 20,000. The case is still open and this is the 4th year that the USC Trojans are playing football with the case still open and no sanctions and Rose Bowl wins behind them including the one won with Reggie Bush. They are also ranked in the top 5 in the pre-season poll. Now take O.J. Mayo, same school, coach is paying off player, Mayo has been in NBA same amount of time that Rose has, and they definitely knew about it. (coach) Yet they have reached no decision on them and have inflicted no sanctions or penalties on either program. Now I totally believe that Marcus Camby's problems stemmed from his own actions, and whoever this WW Wes is they keep talking about wasn't even in the picture at this time. I will not and cannot blame Coach Cal for his losing the final four banner for the actions of this greedy young man. I honestly believe he had no knowledge of it. I think that the NCAA and the NBA should work together to hold accountable these students who take these gifts and get rid of the one and done, because alot of them can play ball, but are not great in the academic dept. Memphis said they did their due diligence on Rose before they let him play and they also had their clearance from the NCAA that his test was validated. They hired an expert handwriting expert who says that she cannot be sure that it is or is not his hand writing on the test. I think that if they strip Memphis they had better back up and close some cases with the same results or they are playing favorites and everybody is watching.

[mrsportsfan]

They that hired an handwriting expert was the NCAA.

[theVILLE]

When does derrick rose speak about the situation

[BCF4L]

Derrick Rose made one comment while the investigation was ongoing and that was he took the SAT and that the allegations against him are false.

The NCAA made a ruling based on a certain word that I don't recall. But what it meant was that whether Memphis knew of the cheating or not was irrelevant and that Memphis was going to be punished anyway. If they can do this to Memphis, then Duke shouldn't have gotten away with their infraction based on the same ruling. Just shows favoritism if you ask me.