[Stardust]

Before the NBA corrupted major-college basketball and kids competed in the classroom as well as on the court, it was far easier to predict the future.

Using the recent Final Four as a measuring stick, I could analyze the rosters and trumpet with reasonable certainty that Kentucky and Connecticut would be the most likely to return for the climax of 2012 March Madness.

If coach John Calipari’s players valued education as much as basketball, the Wildcats would welcome back Brandon Knight, Terrence Jones, Darius Miller and Doron Lamb from the starting lineup that took UConn to the wire. Right now, all four underclassmen are considering the NBA Draft. Only Lamb seems likely to return to campus. If others stay, it might be because the NBA collective-bargaining agreement expires June 3 rather than love of learning.

Unfortunately, thanks to coaches like Calipari and Kelvin Sampson, mercenaries who have no interest in acquiring a degree continue to infiltrate our campuses, making a mockery of the term student-athlete. Give them bed and board, pamper them for a year or two at most, then bring in the next batch of NBA wannabes.

Hypocrisy be damned; Calipari doesn’t blink an eye. His next recruiting class, ranked No. 1 nationally by ESPN, includes top-rated Anthony Davis, a Chicagoan who evolved from a guard into a 6-10 player with a 7-foot-4 wingspan. He also bagged Marquis Teague, a 6-2 point guard from Indianapolis Pike, 6-10 Kyle Wiltjer, who led the Jesuit Crusaders to three straight Class 6A state titles in Oregon, and 6-7 Michael Gilchrist.

That’s how it works at Kentucky, home of the crave and land of the fee. Why else would officials there hire someone who derailed programs at Massachusetts (1996) and Memphis (2008)? Both schools had Final Four appearances nullified under Calipari’s watch, but he continues to thrive. To label him an innocent who naively surrounds himself with questionable characters is ludicrous.

Violations continue to pop up under the man from Teflon. The latest involves assistant director of basketball operations Bilal Batley, who resigned after only four months at Kentucky. His resume also includes stints with Calipari at Memphis, and Sampson at Indiana. Batley has been accused of illegal calls to recruits and illegal participation during workouts at Kentucky.

If the NCAA really cared about cleaning house, shady characters would be banned from coaching, and recruits would be required to spend two years in college. Instead, Calipari earns more than $3.9 million a year and freshmen like John Wall quit going to class when basketball season ends. It’s an obscene figure, more than the combined salary of UConn’s Jim Calhoun, Butler’s Brad Stevens and Virginia Commonwealth’s Shaka Smart.

Calhoun doesn’t hide his dislike for Calipari. They first butted heads when the latter served at Massachusetts. Calhoun suspended the series after two meetings in 1990, stating he would not schedule the Minutemen as long as Calipari coached there.

Of course, the venerable coach is hardly in a position to cast the first stone. He will start next season with a three-game suspension because of recruiting violations. The Huskies also have been slapped with probation and scholarship reductions.


http://posttrib.suntimes.com/sports/4767...ndals.html

[outdoorsman43]

:yawn::zzz:

[BoyleCounty]

I can't believe I just sat here and read this whole story.

[ImagineThat!]

I, for one, do not like the "one and done" philophy/rule or whatever you want to call it. I do not think it is good for NCAA basketball. Also, I am not a fan of Calipari. It has nothing to do with UK. I did not like him at UMass, NJ Nets or Memphis. With that said, you cannot blame him or any other coach that takes advantage of it. They are only doing what the system allows (as far as we know). The coaches are not the problem....the system (NCAA) is the problem.

[zaga_fan]

I've said it once and I'll say it again....

ah boys...

[Strikeout King]

This is nothing more than a JOKE :zzz:

[Wildcatk23]

Lol? If Coach cal was more interested in education then basketball? What the ?????? Is he a teacher now?

[Brooks4Prez]

This article is the most ridiculous thing I have read in a while. Calling Cal a hypocrite for recruiting #1 classes???? He is a basketball coach. He is doing his job. If he doesn't do his job he gets fired just like everybody else in the world. And why do we continue to beat the dead horse of one and dones? yeah, how dare John Calipari help kids make millions of dollars and live their dreams of playing in the NBA!!:please:

[BoyleCounty]

This article is the most ridiculous thing I have read in a while. Calling Cal a hypocrite for recruiting #1 classes???? He is a basketball coach. He is doing his job. If he doesn't do his job he gets fired just like everybody else in the world. And why do we continue to beat the dead horse of one and dones? yeah, how dare John Calipari help kids make millions of dollars and live their dreams of playing in the NBA!!:please:

You nailed it. I actually regret reading this article. It was a big waste of time.

[LClion4life]

That was ridiculous. John Wall didn't just quit going to class? He maintained something like a 3.5 GPA throughout his freshman year until it was over.

[Wildcatk23]

Lol, get your facts straight.

[LClion4life]

Orton was the one that made media headlines about skipping class and stuff after the season was over, not Wall.

[outdoorsman43]

You nailed it. I actually regret reading this article. It was a big waste of time.

I didn't even read the article. I wasted enough time reading the title of the article.

[Bolt]

First of all this retard needs to know that John wall might be one of the smartest players to play for Calipari, a lot like Knight.
Second of all, this dudes a joke, just a UK hater who cant stand our dominance.
Guy needs to get a life and quit worrying about his articles that never get read.
BTW these arent kids. Legally their grown men who have the choice to get a basket weaving degree from UK or go to the NBA and make millions. Kind of a no brainer to me. I also like that atleast 1 of the 2 WV fans usually get on here and sway their opinions. Nobody really cares.
As Zaga said, Ah boys.

[Spud6]

Well, I just wasted some minutes of my life reading this.

[dangerousdaneerfan]

First of all this retard needs to know that John wall might be one of the smartest players to play for Calipari, a lot like Knight.
Second of all, this dudes a joke, just a UK hater who cant stand our dominance.
Guy needs to get a life and quit worrying about his articles that never get read.
BTW these arent kids. Legally their grown men who have the choice to get a basket weaving degree from UK or go to the NBA and make millions. Kind of a no brainer to me. I also like that atleast 1 of the 2 WV fans usually get on here and sway their opinions. Nobody really cares.
As Zaga said, Ah boys.

If I had posted that article, y'all would have banned me in a heartbeat.

[Bolt]

If I had posted that article, y'all would have banned me in a heartbeat.

lol. We still mayhh:

[zaga_fan]

I will say this.....
John Wall DID quit going to class.
Dicky V was talking about it when there were specualtions of him coming back.

Vitale said that he knew he wouldn't come back because he hadn't been going to class since a few days into the second semester.

[Stardust]

I will say this.....
John Wall DID quit going to class.
Dicky V was talking about it when there were specualtions of him coming back.

Vitale said that he knew he wouldn't come back because he hadn't been going to class since a few days into the second semester.

I heard this before that Vitale had said that. I can't corroborate that, but I posted on here that my daughters best friend who is a student at UK, said that Bledsoe and Orton stopped going to class after Christmas break.

[outdoorsman43]

I would be surprised if any of the UK players went to class excluding Brandon Knight. UK basketball players are the campus gods. I've heard many people talk about having classes with DeMarcus Cousins, Patrick Patterson, and older players like Patrick Sparks, and never seeing them in a class the entire semester. Heck, the proffessors even want their autopraghs. I wouldn't go to class either if I were them.

So, this John Wall thing is nothing new.

[LWC]

It seems like at bigger campuses, people can get away with not going to class. Many NAIA schools actually have attendance policies that make you go to class. I had a teacher that would FAIL you if you missed 4 classes or more!!!! There were at least 5 people that failed before Spring Break, lol.

I have had friends at UL (must be a crime, I know, lol) that went to class 3 times: First day, Mid-term, and Finals. They passed the classes with B's and C's.

I guess the same can happen at UK.

[Hoot Gibson]

I heard this before that Vitale had said that. I can't corroborate that, but I posted on here that my daughters best friend who is a student at UK, said that Bledsoe and Orton stopped going to class after Christmas break.

People ask us how we can be Kentucky fans and not like John Calipari. If proof surfaces that not only is Coach Cal recruiting a bunch of one-and-dones, he is knowingly recruiting half-dones, then I will stop supporting UK until they clean house of the president, athletic director, Calipari, and every one of his assistant coaches, and anybody else sitting on their bench. Setting aside the fact that I am a UK alumnus, it would be much easier for me to support a program like Butler anyway.

If Calipari is condoning players not attending class after the Christmas break, or worse yet, if he is telling recruits that they will only need to attend classes for a semester, then he needs to be banned from coaching anywhere - ever.

[Stardust]

People ask us how we can be Kentucky fans and not like John Calipari. If proof surfaces that not only is Coach Cal recruiting a bunch of one-and-dones, he is knowingly recruiting half-dones, then I will stop supporting UK until they clean house of the president, athletic director, Calipari, and every one of his assistant coaches, and anybody else sitting on their bench. Setting aside the fact that I am a UK alumnus, it would be much easier for me to support a program like Butler anyway.

If Calipari is condoning players not attending class after the Christmas break, or worse yet, if he is telling recruits that they will only need to attend classes for a semester, then he needs to be banned from coaching anywhere - ever.

Hoot, I WAS ticked last year when I heard about Orton and Bledsoe. To me, it is completely unacceptable for any coach to allow this practice to happen. The first argument others will make is that everyone does it. That is BS, no, not EVERYONE allows it. I've heard that too many times from my kids when they want to do something and I say not, the first response they have is everyone does it. I could care less what is done anywhere else, it will NOT be done by us. Relate that to UK, if indeed players are not attending class, the coaches KNOW of this. This is a fact, and it is 100% controllable by the head coach. Which means, the head coach supports players not going to class 100%. Thus, it's all about winning and he could care less about the taxpayers money. And yes, it is tax payer money. Scholarships are not privately funded from the millions of dollars that support the programs, that does not weigh into the scholarship!

[Hoot Gibson]

Hoot, I WAS ticked last year when I heard about Orton and Bledsoe. To me, it is completely unacceptable for any coach to allow this practice to happen. The first argument others will make is that everyone does it. That is BS, no, not EVERYONE allows it. I've heard that too many times from my kids when they want to do something and I say not, the first response they have is everyone does it. I could care less what is done anywhere else, it will NOT be done by us. Relate that to UK, if indeed players are not attending class, the coaches KNOW of this. This is a fact, and it is 100% controllable by the head coach. Which means, the head coach supports players not going to class 100%. Thus, it's all about winning and he could care less about the taxpayers money. And yes, it is tax payer money. Scholarships are not privately funded from the millions of dollars that support the programs, that does not weigh into the scholarship!

You're right, SD, this is 100 percent controllable by the head coach and lack of institutional control is what nearly destroyed UK's program under Eddie Sutton. A coach cannot make players attend class but he can suspend them from the team for not going to class. If these allegations are true, then it would explain Coach Cal's sudden dominance among college basketball recruiters.

[Stardust]

You're right, SD, this is 100 percent controllable by the head coach and lack of institutional control is what nearly destroyed UK's program under Eddie Sutton. A coach cannot make players attend class but he can suspend them from the team for not going to class. If these allegations are true, then it would explain Coach Cal's sudden dominance among college basketball recruiters.

The problem is, coaches do not make final fours if you take discipline action against players who do not abide by the rules. But you do get Final Fours taken away from you.

[itzAmazing]

It's sad how misplaced the values of education and atheltics have become, simply to win.

[Stardust]

It's sad how misplaced the values of education and atheltics have become, simply to win.

I guess if coaches did not make $4M a year to coach a college sport, then doing the right thing would be a bit more meaningful. And if the school is paying a coach that much, it's an indication that they really don't care about the academic side of the athlete either. But neither are excusable, sorry, they are student-athletes first and foremost. Otherwise just create an 18-19 year-old professional league and forget about college altogether

[Hoot Gibson]

The problem is, coaches do not make final fours if you take discipline action against players who do not abide by the rules. But you do get Final Fours taken away from you.

Not completely true. Mediocre coaches do not get to the Final Four by running a tight ship but well coached teams (like Butler) seem to be able to do it. I was never a fan of Joe Hall's style of basketball but I always respected his coaching ability and his willingness to discipline players for breaking rules no matter who the 'Cats' next opponent was.

[Hoot Gibson]

I guess if coaches did not make $4M a year to coach a college sport, then doing the right thing would be a bit more meaningful. And if the school is paying a coach that much, it's an indication that they really don't care about the academic side of the athlete either. But neither are excusable, sorry, they are student-athletes first and foremost. Otherwise just create an 18-19 year-old professional league and forget about college altogether

:Thumbs: I agree. I don't follow college basketball to watch dunkfests by players just passing time until the can join the NBA. Let the one (and the one-half) and dones join an NBA minor league so that I can watch college students compete.

[Stardust]

:Thumbs: I agree. I don't follow college basketball to watch dunkfests by players just passing time until the can join the NBA. Let the one (and the one-half) and dones join an NBA minor league so that I can watch college students compete.

Well, that thinking will go against the masses. All that is wanted by college sports fans is championships, and they don't care how they are attained. Meaning, do whatever it takes, just don't get caught.