This all sounds ridiculous to me. I can't stand when the NCAA makes a mistake and then wants to point the finger. It's the job of the clearinghouse to clear student-athletes for competition, if they are cleared, then the school is to play them. If there is any question, then do some more investigating prior to clearing him.

I love how the NCAA claims to be understaffed, yet are signing billion dollar TV deals.

I hope that UK or some school along the lines files a lawsuit against the NCAA if they face penalties that are basically the result of the Clearinghouse not doing their job. I know it's sort of biting that hand that feeds you, but I think it might come to that.

I was NOT a Calipari fan before really, I'll admit it. I didn't really care for the way Memphis played, I felt their style was lacking fundamentals and not great basketball. However, I didn't hate on Cal for his less than stellar perception like others. I couldn't say I liked it, but I didn't dislike it. It was sort of just there.

With that said, that's irrelevant. He's at Kentucky. I love Kentucky. I am going to support him until he gives me reason not to. Thus far, with his past, personally with the NCAA, I am NOT going to sit here and admit my support was off-base because he's doing anything illegal. Does he operate in a gray area like many others in the NCAA, absolutely, but until that's breaking rules, it's BS to continue to hammer the guy.

As I said, if something happens and UK gets in trouble because Calipari gets caught, I'll be right there to admit my defenses were wrong. Until then, situations like this, I'm going to be on the defensive about because as I said, this is a witch hunt and everyone wants something bad to happen to Cal, or for him to "get his", they run with the story. All it does is lead the media to print more of it.

Azubuike24 wrote: I was NOT a Calipari fan before really, I'll admit it. I didn't really care for the way Memphis played, I felt their style was lacking fundamentals and not great basketball. However, I didn't hate on Cal for his less than stellar perception like others. I couldn't say I liked it, but I didn't dislike it. It was sort of just there.

With that said, that's irrelevant. He's at Kentucky. I love Kentucky. I am going to support him until he gives me reason not to. Thus far, with his past, personally with the NCAA, I am NOT going to sit here and admit my support was off-base because he's doing anything illegal. Does he operate in a gray area like many others in the NCAA, absolutely, but until that's breaking rules, it's BS to continue to hammer the guy.

As I said, if something happens and UK gets in trouble because Calipari gets caught, I'll be right there to admit my defenses were wrong. Until then, situations like this, I'm going to be on the defensive about because as I said, this is a witch hunt and everyone wants something bad to happen to Cal, or for him to "get his", they run with the story. All it does is lead the media to print more of it.

Ask Laley how that kind of "loyalty" works out when you're dealing with a known cheater. He learned that lesson the hard way...and I'm betting it still leaves marks.

As I said. Hammer the guy when he's guilty. Hammer him when the situation even involves him.

This situation doesn't. His name being attached to the story is as relevant as attaching Billy Gillispie.

His name is being used to generate press and sell articles. And people are feeding off of it.

That's my point. It's wrong that it's happening. Even if it's Mr. John Calipari, who everyone outside of Lexington, KY, wants to see fall flat on his face.

That's where I'm coming from.

I honestly don't hope he falls flat on his face. I'd rather not see that in college basketball, period. I hate them often, but I like college basketball better when Kentucky is a national contender. It's as important for the Wildcats to be great for college basketball as it is for the Red Sox and Yankees to be great for Major League Baseball. The same can be said for Duke, UNC, Indiana and Kansas, among others.

I only wish this kind of stuff upon one school And I really don't even wish that. The purity of Duke-UNC is a hallmark of our game -- for non-fans of the two schools included. I don't wish that tainted for anything in the world, no matter how much hate I have.

I would agree with Az on this. Until Cal is found guilty of something, or even seriously indicted, we shouldn't be talking about him.

Azubuike24 wrote: As I said. Hammer the guy when he's guilty. Hammer him when the situation even involves him.

This situation doesn't. His name being attached to the story is as relevant as attaching Billy Gillispie.

His name is being used to generate press and sell articles. And people are feeding off of it.

That's my point. It's wrong that it's happening. Even if it's Mr. John Calipari, who everyone outside of Lexington, KY, wants to see fall flat on his face.

That's where I'm coming from.

Could. Not. Agree. MORE.


Calipari, despite his past, has NOTHING to do with this.

In fact, I'd say that Calipari really didn't have anything to do with Derrick Rose either, and here's why:

It's very simple: nowadays coaches recruit stupid ass players with terrible backgrounds who have tremendous skill. Anyone who thinks otherwise is ignorant. Are there bright kids? Hell yes, but there's becoming less and less.

That being said, if a kid is known to be stupid, a coach is not going to take him on their team unless the pass the NCAA Clearinghouse.

Once that happens, why the hell WOULDN'T the coach take the kid? It's not up to the coach to determine eligibility, it's the NCAA Clearinghouse. If the Clearinghouse FUCKS UP, i.e. Derrick Rose, why the hell should the school have to be punished? They were told a kid was eligible, played him, end of story. The only way that a school should be in trouble is if it is known that they somehow played a role in that kid avoiding detection and passing the Clearinghouse.

As far as I know, Calipari had nothing to do wtih Rose or Bledsoe deceiving the Clearinghouse. Punish THOSE guys, not the program or the coach that took the kid in once he made it through the clearing process.

He's coached two teams that had to take down banners. He's a cheat, period. Any defense of him is based on nothing than placing winning over integrity.

lhslep134 wrote:
Could. Not. Agree. MORE.


Calipari, despite his past, has NOTHING to do with this.

In fact, I'd say that Calipari really didn't have anything to do with Derrick Rose either, and here's why:

It's very simple: nowadays coaches recruit stupid ass players with terrible backgrounds who have tremendous skill. Anyone who thinks otherwise is ignorant. Are there bright kids? Hell yes, but there's becoming less and less.

That being said, if a kid is known to be stupid, a coach is not going to take him on their team unless the pass the NCAA Clearinghouse.

Once that happens, why the hell WOULDN'T the coach take the kid? It's not up to the coach to determine eligibility, it's the NCAA Clearinghouse. If the Clearinghouse FUCKS UP, i.e. Derrick Rose, why the hell should the school have to be punished? They were told a kid was eligible, played him, end of story. The only way that a school should be in trouble is if it is known that they somehow played a role in that kid avoiding detection and passing the Clearinghouse.

As far as I know, Calipari had nothing to do wtih Rose or Bledsoe deceiving the Clearinghouse. Punish THOSE guys, not the program or the coach that took the kid in once he made it through the clearing process.

The Clearinghouse didnt really fuck up the Rose situation though. The guy cheated and had someone take his SAT for him. He WAS eligible based on scores. But I call BS on Cal not having to do with said cheating and having a player taking a test in Detroit where his good friend, the uber powerful William Wesley lives. Where Rose isnt recognized after not being able to pass in Chicago where everyone knew him.

I dont think its fair to necessarily hammer him for stuff before he is guilty of anything. But I also dont see anything wrong with being extremely skeptical and believing he IS cheating. The common denominator is Cal, and if mathematics taught me anything........

queencitybuckeye wrote: He's coached two teams that had to take down banners. He's a cheat, period. Any defense of him is based on nothing than placing winning over integrity.

That's great. That's not the issue. The issue is this current article being published, which has nothing to do with him. Blaming Calipari or even reporting wrongdoing by him in THIS case, isn't right. If you justify that it is, then say the same about these situations:

Bill Self & Kansas
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=3635128

Mike Krzyzewski & Duke
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2000/07/11/sports/main214287.shtml

Neither coach or school was punished, but both situations were more serious than Eric Bledsoe's. And to boot, Calipari wasn't even AT KENTUCKY when it occurred. To infer he had anything to do with the illegalities is ridiculous.

Azubuike24 wrote: The issue is this current article being published, which has nothing to do with him. Blaming Calipari or even reporting wrongdoing by him in THIS case, isn't right.

And to boot, Calipari wasn't even AT KENTUCKY when it occurred. To infer he had anything to do with the illegalities is ridiculous.

I didn't see anywhere in the linked article that implicated Calipari, anyway. All it said is that it would be another black eye, and it obviously would since Calipari coached Eric Bledsoe. The article only mentions that Calipari has been the coach at two other programs that had Final Four revoked due to using ineligible players. It doesn't blame him from what I read.

It doesn't blame him, but it mentions him and states "it could be another blow to Calipari", insinuating he's A) guilty of past violations and B) could actually be blamed for this situation. As I said, he is as connected to this as the dozens of other coaches who recruited Bledsoe, and he wasn't even the initial contact between Kentucky and Bledsoe, Gillispie was.

That was my point. His name is in there to generate news and site hits. If this article didn't contain names and mention Memphis/UMass and Calipari and was centered around only Eric Bledsoe's at 17-years old and his former HS coach/mother, it would be a local story that nobody would care about nationally. It might not make it out of the Birmingham area, just as many articles about high school athletes don't.

Instead, it's the talk of the town, it has overshadowed a much more serious, investigated and PUNISHED situation at Connecticut, in-which a more tenured, celebrated and by the way, more convicted coach, has yet again been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. But no, the only real mention of college basketball news that has made the headlines nationally in the last few days among the NBA Finals, Stanley Cup, MLB, French Open, upcoming World Cup and Indy 500 has been this. Imagine if Cal/Kentucky were found guilty of 8 violations, saw the entire staff get fired and possibly be put on probation by the NCAA. Would it be a back page story, overshadowed by a high school athlete, $1200 and a crooked high school coach and desperate mother? I doubt it. It would be the talk of every national sports show for at least a day.

To the dolts who only watch ESPN (much like the one who started this thread), you would think the world is collapsing on UK and Cal. That's my issue. It has nothing to do with defending Calipari or even debating the merits of his behavior.

Azubuike24;373887 wrote:That's great. That's not the issue. The issue is this current article being published, which has nothing to do with him. Blaming Calipari or even reporting wrongdoing by him in THIS case, isn't right. .

When you have the past issues that Cal does, he should be smart enough NOT to even go there with this situation. Maybe Billy G. is the one who recruited him, but Cal came in, and accepted the kid to HIS program knowing FULL well the situation. If he didn't know, the shame on him. This after just dealing with the Rose/Memphis situation. When does common sense kick in?
I'll tell you why, Cal has never been caught, and IMO, knows how to play the system. He will BS his way out of this just as he usually does.
Sorry, WAY TOO MANY issues with this guy to think for one second he isn't as shadey as they come. But UK fans don't care. All they care about is winning...at any cost. That I am convinced of.

http://www.lex18.com/news/eric-bledsoe-and-the-ncaa

Well well. Look at this article. It appears the NCAA isn't even investigating the matter! Looks like the NYT thought they had a home-run hitting story in-which they started last fall, put together in February and probably hoped to release if Kentucky would have won the national title or even made the Final Four. Instead, they waited until Friday night BEFORE Memorial Day Weekend to dump the story off. That explains why no inquiry was done with Kentucky and nobody from Eric Bledsoe's end has been heard from since February.

What a joke this whole thing was. It's a shame there was any bad press taken by Bledsoe, Kentucky or Calipari in this situation.

There are rumors of Eric Bledsoe and company filing a lawsuit, and I for one, hope he does and implicates some of the media members involved. We'll see what comes out of that.

I would absolutely love it if Bledsoe filed a lawsuit, and honestly, he should. I'm not a journalism major or am really that opinionated in the industry of journalism, but it really is getting bad. Any jerk off can just come up with some story and get it to print, which is a shame. I read message boards for opinions and for rumors. I like to read print for facts and reporting.

Unfortunately, it has turned into a situation where many of these "media members", even some tenured, well-respected ones surf forums, blogs and chat sites to get information. They may not come up with a story based solely on this source, but they certainly use them to add fluff and substance to their piece when the information is vague or unavailable. It's really a shame.

http://www.lex18.com/news/eric-bledsoe-and-the-ncaa


Ya, this seems like a real legit story as well...."sources this, sources that". Seems as though the pot is calling the kettle black here. Not sure whats going on, but this article doesn't state anything other then "sources". Means nothing to me. The NY Times is at least a credible newspaper that cited specific people in their article. Not just "sources". Who knows what to believe but the above article is more of a joke to me.

What really intrigues me about this, is his high school GPA. If he had a 1.9 after his junior year, then a 2.5 cum at the end of his senior year...that is almost statistically impossible to do. There is no way a student can raise their cum GPA that much during the last year of high school. Interesting.....

centralbucksfan;376756 wrote:http://www.lex18.com/news/eric-bledsoe-and-the-ncaa


Ya, this seems like a real legit story as well...."sources this, sources that". Seems as though the pot is calling the kettle black here. Not sure whats going on, but this article doesn't state anything other then "sources". Means nothing to me. The NY Times is at least a credible newspaper that cited specific people in their article. Not just "sources". Who knows what to believe but the above article is more of a joke to me.

What really intrigues me about this, is his high school GPA. If he had a 1.9 after his junior year, then a 2.5 cum at the end of his senior year...that is almost statistically impossible to do. There is no way a student can raise their cum GPA that much during the last year of high school. Interesting.....

You should work for the Clearinghouse because this is obviously stuff they don't look at.

In all seriousness, you raise an interesting point about the "diploma factories" or whatever they are called. They seem to be able to get away with it, but I'm not really sure how. Bledsoe isn't the first to have something like this happen, and certainly won't be the last unless the NCAA wants to step up and stop clearing guys with these type of question marks.

centralbucksfan;376756 wrote:http://www.lex18.com/news/eric-bledsoe-and-the-ncaa


Ya, this seems like a real legit story as well...."sources this, sources that". Seems as though the pot is calling the kettle black here. Not sure whats going on, but this article doesn't state anything other then "sources". Means nothing to me. The NY Times is at least a credible newspaper that cited specific people in their article. Not just "sources". Who knows what to believe but the above article is more of a joke to me.

What really intrigues me about this, is his high school GPA. If he had a 1.9 after his junior year, then a 2.5 cum at the end of his senior year...that is almost statistically impossible to do. There is no way a student can raise their cum GPA that much during the last year of high school. Interesting.....

Lots and lots and lots of AP classes.

I purposely posted that article because it's EXACTLY what the NYT and everyone else did. They wrote something and then hid behind "sources" and vague information. Nothing was confirmed. The NCAA didn't confirm anything. Kentucky and Bledsoe said they hadn't heard anything. They didn't mention any specifics where they stood regarding the situation right now.

So, does that mean any of us can make up some "sources" and create articles? Can we pick a controversial, or in this case, a intensely disliked subject to write about and have it turn into a national news story that major networks start reporting as fact? If so CBF, where do I sign up? I'd love to start selling the stuff I post on forums and hear from second and third hand sources.

So yes, whether we know anything conclusively in this case is unanswered, but until then, the information should NOT have come out, and nobody involved, Calipari, Kentucky or Bledsoe should have gotten any negative press for that. In that regard, they were wronged. As my last post stated, I'm really starting to believe this was the NYT gearing up for a potentially MAJOR news story they could break if A) there was actually substances to it and B) they had reason to believe it would only get worse, and it would be magnified had Kentucky had major success this year like you could have projected in February. Instead, it looks like they ended up dumping a non-story on a Friday night before a long holiday weekend. That alone questions the validity, not to mention just about every other piece of information (or lack thereof) associated with it.

And with the GPA thing, you may be wrong.

You don't necessarily take extra classes, you re-take classes. In that state, you can take classes online or at another location and you can replace the bad grade you got in the past.

So yes, if you take two or three D's that are factored into a 1.9 GPA and you replace them with A's or B's, it can easily change the GPA from a 1.9 to a 2.5. There was a recent article written on how this wasn't even that drastic of a change compared to other cases where athletes who were literally failing, ended up qualifying with this help.

He switched from a public to a private school, re-took some of his classes and those grades were REPLACED, they were not averaged or added into the old accum. That stuff is public record, and if any wrongdoing happened there, I'd say that would be fairly easy to prove and would've led to him not even qualifying.

I'll post more later when I get off work.

Most schools only let you retake a certain number of courses. Its HIGHLY unlikely they would let you a student take more then a few. And, the student still needs to graduate...if a student would be allowed to retake a number of courses in one year, then they wouldn't have enough room on their schedule to take what is needed to graduate as you cannot get credit twice for the same course.
To do all of that in ONE year, retake that many courses AND take what is needed for graduation...is almost impossble. And if it is possible...then that school needs to be looked at closely as that would be about as shadey as they come. Not only that, all of those courses would need be to cleared by the NCAA clearinghouse as well. Which is pretty picky when it comes to courses. These courses in high school, are put into a review by the NCAA clearinghouse and have to be approved when the school starts to offer them. The clearinghouse will not, does not approve correspondence courses. This I know as fact.
No matter how you spin it, based on what I have read about this, there is A LOT of questions, and legit ones at that.
If you want to point the finger at the NYTIMES...so be it. But based on the specifics of that article....Bledsoe and UK deserve to be questioned.
Again, when you choose to recruit players with these questions, and hire a guy with a very questionable background....then be prepared to deal with the baggage that comes with it.

It appears that he moved to a new school, he took some classes again (as I said, night or online courses, that would NOT interfere with his class load), replaced those grades and then graduated with a .6 raise in his GPA. Replace 2 or 3 D's or F's with A's and that's the difference. As I said, this is stuff that is easily confirmed. If you want to debate how tough those classes he re-took were, if they are legit, who taught them, if he got help with them, whose computer he logged onto, what classrooms they were in, blah, blah, blah, that's another issue, and it's NOT one that UK should have to defend themselves against. Every person involved had this information, his HS, the state of Alabama, UK, every other school who recruited him, the NCAA, etc. If the issue was whether he did what was necessary to graduate or not or how his GPA was raised, again, that is NOT an issue with Kentucky.

This, if anything, is something the NCAA should look at and maybe re-examine how their clearinghouse works. I'd guess this issue goes on hundreds and even thousands of times with OTHER ATHLETES at OTHER SCHOOLS. Where are the NYT articles about those kids? I don't see any. If you want to link them to me CBF, I'll gladly read them and back off if the situation is different.

Just admit it. The ONLY reason we are even aware of this is because someone wanted to nail Calipari. It's as simple as that. You don't think it's a coincidence that they had this story, possibly as early as late 2008 or early 2009, waited until February of 2010 to contact the parties involved (conveniently, AFTER Bledsoe had played for UK, completed a semester and along with the team, had a TON of media attention) and are only NOW releasing it? Where was the NYT's questions about his eligibility before the kid even graduated? Before he signed with UK? If it was the kid's eligibility that was the issue, clearly someone would have looked out for him and made sure it was brought to light before someone else got dragged into the mess right? Almost all other situations like this, except for those involving very high-profile athletes would never even appear in the news. They simply wouldn't be newsworthy. Hell, I bet all of us who attended college had similar routine checks about eligibility to attend school.

Azubuike24;377040 wrote:It appears that he moved to a new school, he took some classes again (as I said, night or online courses, that would NOT interfere with his class load), replaced those grades and then graduated with a .6 raise in his GPA. Replace 2 or 3 D's or F's with A's and that's the difference. As I said, this is stuff that is easily confirmed. If you want to debate how tough those classes he re-took were, if they are legit, who taught them, if he got help with them, whose computer he logged onto, what classrooms they were in, blah, blah, blah, that's another issue, and it's NOT one that UK should have to defend themselves against. Every person involved had this information, his HS, the state of Alabama, UK, every other school who recruited him, the NCAA, etc. If the issue was whether he did what was necessary to graduate or not or how his GPA was raised, again, that is NOT an issue with Kentucky.

This, if anything, is something the NCAA should look at and maybe re-examine how their clearinghouse works. I'd guess this issue goes on hundreds and even thousands of times with OTHER ATHLETES at OTHER SCHOOLS. Where are the NYT articles about those kids? I don't see any. If you want to link them to me CBF, I'll gladly read them and back off if the situation is different.

Just admit it. The ONLY reason we are even aware of this is because someone wanted to nail Calipari. It's as simple as that. You don't think it's a coincidence that they had this story, possibly as early as late 2008 or early 2009, waited until February of 2010 to contact the parties involved (conveniently, AFTER Bledsoe had played for UK, completed a semester and along with the team, had a TON of media attention) and are only NOW releasing it? Where was the NYT's questions about his eligibility before the kid even graduated? Before he signed with UK? If it was the kid's eligibility that was the issue, clearly someone would have looked out for him and made sure it was brought to light before someone else got dragged into the mess right? Almost all other situations like this, except for those involving very high-profile athletes would never even appear in the news. They simply wouldn't be newsworthy. Hell, I bet all of us who attended college had similar routine checks about eligibility to attend school.

.6 doesn't look like much. But in the big picture of a student accumulating all the points (A=4, B=3, etc, etc) through 3yrs of HS, it still would take A LOT to overcome that much of a difference. Its the law of averages. Once you acccumulate all those points, its very difficult to raise it THAT much. Then to take THAT many courses in one year, its NOT common at all. Still quite a bit of questions surrounding this situation, no matter how you want to spin it.

Admit that its a Witch Hunt because of CAL? BULLSHIT. Its not like this only happens at UK. This is NOT uncommon at all with all the crap that goes on. Now your starting to sound like some defensive ND or Duke fan. Get over it. It happens, and happens everywhere. Again, when you choose to recruit players like this, then you made a choice to subject yourself to be looked at under a microscope. So NO, I completely disagree its because of Cal. Certainly doesn't help with his background. And based on that, he should be watched closely IMO.

He is watched closely. Closer than probably any coach in the country. As I said, it's completely fine to ask questions about the educational system. We all know it's far from perfect and has many flaws. It's also legit to check into about Bledsoe's eligibility, which was done. Here is an interested article that was posted on TCP, which touches on a similar situation with a Louisville football recruit. In this case, there were questions before his eligibility.

http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/crawford/2009/07/u-of-l-football-prospect-facing-grade.html

centralbucksfan;377785 wrote:Again, when you choose to recruit players like this, then you made a choice to subject yourself to be looked at under a microscope. So NO, I completely disagree its because of Cal. Certainly doesn't help with his background. And based on that, he should be watched closely IMO.

The bottom line STILL remains...Cal or UK should not have been implicated in any way. Not in this situation. That's my issue. That's the point you are missing with the above quote. Investigate all you want, make all the calls you want, contact all parties involved, fine...but don't write the article. Write the article when there is actually something to report, don't just use the Calipari/Kentucky name to generate hits on something that as we both agree, is ROUTINE in college athletics.

Just saw this article today on TCP. Not all of the information is worthless over there

http://www.sbnation.com/2010/6/1/1496089/john-calipari-kentucky-allegations-eric-bledsoe

I'd say it sums up exactly what I've been saying. The key statement being:

""As far as journalism's concerned, it's okay work. Got some good, anonymous quotes to rile up readers, as well as some anecdotal evidence to allow people to connect the dots. But... Why? What's the point? Why now? Why Eric Bledsoe, who's in the midst of living out his NBA dream? Why Kentucky, when there are about 100 different schools with kids from a similar background, that enjoyed similar perks? Let's take these one-at-a-time.

Why now? Because there's never a bad time to throw rocks at the throne.

The New York Times, rumored to have been investigating Kentucky for months, had to write something after all this groundwork. The NCAA visited Alabama in February to look closer at Bledsoe's eligibility, and the Times has tirelessly tracked the backstory for a while now. For their efforts, they had a landlord willing to go on record saying she received rent payments from someone other than the Bledsoe family, and they had a transcript to prove that Eric Bledsoe wasn't a great student in high school. All things considered, it's not much; but again, after all that work, it'd be so boring to just say, "Something might have happened, but then again, maybe not."

This isn't a call to indict the TImes, but a reminder that we should all remember what's going on here before we indict the Bledsoe family and, by association, John Calipari and Kentucky.

If you were to conduct a months-long investigation into star players from colleges all across the country, chances are you'd find a lot more egregious violations than a few months' rent and a spike in academic performance their senior year. Let's not kid ourselves."