This Could Get Ugly

Late Bloomers Beware!

The NCAA is moving forward with its new eligibility standards.  Incoming freshmen will now have to have a 2.3 g.p.a. in 16 core courses.  The 16 core courses include 4 years of English and 3 years of Math, Algebra I or higher.

The current rules require a 2.0 in 13 courses.

Under the new rules, in order to compete as a freshman, 10 of the 16 core courses must be completed in the student athlete's first three years.  Core courses taken in the first three years cannot be retaken for a better grade.

Eligibility Toolkit

The new standards will eliminate some of the temptation to hurriedly get an athlete qualified after he or she shows potential on the court or gridiron.  There will be very few opportunities to boost a student's academic average after that student did not perform well early in high school.

It's good, of course, to get rid of the shenanigans employed by sometimes well-meaning, but misguided administrators.

The countervailing argument is, of course, that some athletes get serious about school so they can get an athletic scholarship.  Some kids struggle academically during puberty, but get readjusted in the 11th grade.  These legitimate late-bloomers may struggle to meet the new standards, and may end up not going to college at all.

Maybe that's the way it is, and maybe that's the way it should be, but the rules will definitely change the college athletics landscape.

According to an NCAA study, 43 percent of men's basketball players and 35 percent of men's football players would not have met the new standards had the rules been implemented for the 2009/2010 school year.

Recruiting is going to get a lot harder for those high school athletes who have the grades and physical ability to perform at a high level.  And big schools will be less able to simply out-athlete smaller ones.

Vandy will probably win the SEC in football and basketball.

This could get ugly.

Do the Right Thing

I remember when UGA was recruiting Thomas Robinson. He was a senior the same year that Dustin Ware came out, if memory serves me. At any rate, we had a real shot at him, I thought. But that was before he blew up on the AAU circuit and attracted the attention of teams like Kansas.

I spotted the attached article that chronicles the tragedy that has struck in Robinson's life.

Lisa Robinson

Just in case the article becomes no longer available at some point, the story explains that Robinson's mother died suddenly of an apparent heart attack, and now the young man and his 7-year old sister (I think she's 7 and not 9) have to figure out how to manage.

Seems like the NCAA has really stepped up to the plate, here, allowing Kansas to foot the bill for taking the team to Maryland to show support for Thomas and his little sister. I hope that they will continue to do the right thing, and allow his sister to move to Kansas if that is the best thing for her. The best might be for her to stay in the D.C. area where she has some support, but the fact remains that the only adult that she is close to at this point is her big brother.

Sometimes the rules have to bend some to accommodate life.

Win or Else!

Mid-season firings. Coaches are decidely against it.

But the personnel decisions and the timing thereof are just a symptom. The real issue is the "professionalization" (my word) of the game. More money at stake. More pressure for athletic directors. You have to win. As a coach, your job is riding on it.

Less concern for the health and well-being of the student-athletes... Taking more chances on players with suspect backgrounds, but beautiful jump-shots. Merry-go-round rosters.

We are losing something beautiful about college basketball.

Are we really saying that the end justifies the means?

Lance Stephenson to Cincy?

High profile recruit Lance Stephenson recently visited Cincinnati. He has basketball talent. That much is unquestioned.

It's all the other stuff.

Besides his legal difficulties, I wonder, is he eligible to play? He seems to have some kind of deal with Under Armor.

My bet is that Stephenson plays internationally for a year. With all of the NCAA questions, I just can't believe that the situation with Cincy is going to work.

Mark Fox on "One and Done"

Fox prefers a system that would allow high school players, if they're good enough, to go directly to the pro's. If a player goes to college, however, they would have to stay at least 3 years before they're eligible for the NBA draft.

I thought that Randolph Morris did well in providing a player's perspective.

Morris is an interesting case in point. Morris was well-known in high school, went to Kentucky, and from there, to the pro's. However, how many minutes has he played since then? If he had gone directly to the pro's, would he still be in the NBA? As it stands, he has bounced around a little bit and earned a nice NBA check. He just as easily could have been bounced out of the league, and ended up competing for a job without a degree.

My take is that players should be able to go directly to the NBA. It's America.

I do have concerns for guys that end up without a degree and without a fall-back plan. The one-and-done rule doesn't help those guys, because they go to school for a semester, play ball and then declare for the draft.

At some point, you have to let adults make what could be bad decisions.

Lassez-faire?

Tim Floyd. Innocent until Proven Guilty

Good article. Really good article. Strongest point is that it urges us to consider the source of the O.J. Mayo allegations.

The part about the "innocent until proven guilty" is not as good. It's true that we are innocent until proven guilty in criminal law cases. However, the difference is that in the O.J. Mayo case, we are talking about recruiting violations. There is no presumption of innocence in this sphere.

Still, should the media afford Floyd such a presumption, simply as a matter of journalistic ethics? I think that a sense of balance is important, and in such spirit, I share the Maize and Brew article.

Tim Floyd, Coach at USC, Resigns

Amazing. Truly is.

Floyd, announcing that he has lost enthusiasm for the job, has resigned his position as head coach of the University of Southern California.

It's not an admission of his guilt in the alleged O.J. Mayo recruiting scandal, but it sure looks like it to me. The timing of the resignation could, of course, mean that he is tired of all of the media circus, the loss of recruits and other issues surrounding the NCAA investigation. However, I think most coaches in the game would stick around, if for no other reason, to clear their name.

There's probably a lot of fire underneath all that smoke, some truth to the allegation that Floyd paid a handler in order to get Mayo to commit to Southern Cal. And if Floyd did in fact pay for Mayo, is there any surprise that the rest of his players have jumped ship? Several members of his roster have announced that they are turning pro, and a number of his recruits have chosen to look for other schools.

How many of those players and potential players were paid under the table? Any? All?

What's the impact on the rest of college basketball? It's a wake-up call for coaches who might want to go outside the rules to bag a "one-and-done" superstar. You might win the recruiting battle but lose the war of keeping your career.

Schools have to choose carefully the overseers of their programs. Big-time sanctions are probably on the way for USC.

The Best Intentions

often go awry.

http://msn.foxsports.com/cbk/story/8399474/NCAA-to-investigate-Memphis-booster%27s-phone-call

This incident is a reminder that fans contacting recruits or their families is almost always a bad idea.

Billy the Kid Recruiter

"Doggone Billy," is what one coach had to say about the recruiting of younger and younger players.

It's unfair to UK's coach Billy Gillespie to blame it all on him. And I will, unlike some magazines, explain early and clearly what is satire and what is not. My title, above, is.

However, Coach Stallings did have a point. Although it is unfair to assign all the blame to one guy, when you offer scholarships to an 8th-grader, as Coach Gillespie did, someone is going to say something.

How many of us knew much about anything in the 8th grade? How can coaches avoid undue influence? How can the public be sure that children are protected, the parents' interests are fully taken into account, and there was no candy passed under the table?

So, after the news about Gillespie's scholarship offer got out (though not necessarily because of it), someone did say something, and it was the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC). The NABC published a recommendation that coaches not accept commitments until the end of the prospective recruits' 10th grade year.

http://www.kentucky.com/232/story/463154.html

Given the concerns duly noted above about the problems of recruiting younger and younger players, the goals of the NABC are understandable. And most coaches are going to go along with it. That is, until somebody like Greg Oden shows up in their basketball camp. Physically advanced and socially mature, and a heck of a ball player at 15 years of age. Fully able to understand the nature of the recruiting war, and looking forward to a career in basketball. Maybe the potential recruit concentrated on another sport, or didn't play AAU ball, so nobody really knows about him but the coaching staff at the camp.

What's a coach to do? There are so many existing NCAA restrictions on when you can recruit and how. So many coaches that cheat or test the limits of the NCAA's rules. So much pressure from alumni and administration to win. The practical result is that ethical and hard-working coaches are going to use whatever is at their disposal (within the NCAA's allowed rules), including the recruitment of younger players, to gain a competitive advantage.

Can you imagine a rival coach swooping in and pledging a top ten player, a kid who was from your town, had been at your camp, who liked your school, who even liked you as a coach, but you never gave him an offer because you were waiting until he finished the 10th grade?

The bottom line is this: unless the NCAA says kids are off limits, the coaches are occasionally going to take a chance on a guy who they think is a can't miss prospect.

I imagine that had LeBron James during his 10th-grade year pledged to the Dawgs, I would have heartily commended the coaching staff for their hard work in securing his commitment early.

Who's kidding whom?