College Basketball Stuff

College Basketball

Just read a piece written about the coaches involved in scandals. The writer obviously took the high road and took what was written in the news about certain coaches and re-stated accusations. If anyone thinks most of those guys listed are in the top 70 percent of coaches cheating, hurting kids, and involved in scandals they are very wrong. Now maybe 1 or 2 on that list could be included, but the rest are just there to fill the page.

Allow me to provide some real scandals.

Lets talk about the schools that provide jobs to parents paying 2 and 3 times the salary the parents made in their last positions. Oddly everyone knows the various schools who have done this and continue to do this.

Lets talk about the few schools who have provided female tour guides who just happened to be very attractive and easy to talk with. Not sure if this still happens but I sure remember the stories. Enough to make a kid go out and practice very hard lol!

Lets talk about the various schools that have provided new homes for families of players after the family's son signs a letter of intent. Easy to spot if someone really looked. I still remember a NYS kid signing and all of a sudden they moved into a new home in "The Good Section" of their town.

Lets talk about the schools that have given luxury automobiles to recruits and their families after recruits sign a letter of intent. Still remember a few kids in NYC getting new autos to drive around the projects in Queens and Brooklyn despite parents not working at the time. In fact I remember one kid picking up his new car at the old Kutshers All Star game in Montecello NY. Coach had it parked right there waiting for him! All you have to do is look and follow the paper trail if you are interested.

Lets look at the old timers from NY, NJ, and Pa. who made a living selling kids to Midwestern and Southwestern schools. We know the old names and what they were legendary for!

Lets look at the corrupt dealings of HS and AAU types especially in the Midwest and Southwest. It is legendary how certain coaches would ask college assistants for money to have a meeting with a player, more money for them to bring a kid on a visit, more money for that kid to take an official visit, and even more money for the kid to sign a national letter of intent. The negotiations are often very serious! Still remember a coaching buddy of mine saying when he went into a certain HS in a Midwestern city the legendary coach would say "I know you brought me some sneakers and warm-ups and did not come in here empty handed"

Lets look at the programs involved with ticket scalping at the final four. Big, big, business. I have heard that some AAU guys are often compensated through final 4 tickets that they can sell for alot of money. All the NCAA needs to do is take the tickets away from the coaches and create a coaching list with assigned seat numbers at the final 4 if they wanted to stop this.

What about the cheating programs that use to pay AAU programs to play pre season games using ex college players for a nice guarantee in the thousands as a way to compensate programs for past and future players.

How about the programs that just lie to kids and when the kid is not what they wanted, they intentially abuse the kids with lack of communication and harsh treatment forcing the kid to transfer. Alot of this happens!

How about the many guys we hero worship in college basketball despite the fact we know they were notorious cheaters who could care less about kids when 4 years were up? There are too many to mention including some still coaching or very visible
today.

How about the many coaches accepting kids knowing that kid is only there for 1 year to showcase his basketball ability for the NBA? How do College Presidents even allow coaches to get away with this practice? Or is it they too see the financial benefits?

How about the programs that have kids for 4 or 5 years and when the kid leaves he still has a hard time understanding how to write, read, and compute? He also goes home and takes a job he could have gotten out of HS. And in many cases those kids leave after 5 years without a degree.

I hope folks do not look at this as if I am saying college basketball is a bad thing. I am not saying this at all. In fact most programs do it the correct way, which unfortunately makes it difficult for them to be successful. Very hard to find a super talent who is only listening to his parents and HS coach. Most talented kids already have advisors who have advisors, who have advisors, who are connected to street agents, who are connected to agents, etc.

Kids on a certain level are not even recruited any longer. They have to be negotiated with and that includes visits, type of sneaker they wish to wear, transportation for parents to see games, hotel stays for AAU Coaches and advisors, etc.

Well how does programs like George Mason make it to the final four knowing they do not have the resources or backing to make the deals to get the players that can take them to the promised land? They did it with team chemistry, 4 year players, good coaching, and LUCK! Sorry, the chances of this happening with a mid major team again is very remote.

Yes there are alot of things going on in college basketball despite the fact March Madness is a great time. But I do think many people are getting turned off to this one time great month of games. I know I am and this past years tournament was nowhere as exciting to me as previous years events were. In fact I have gone back to watching some NBA games after not watching for many years.

More on Earl Pettis

Glad to read that people feel he transferred from Rutgers of the Big East. a school 1 hr and 20 minutes from his home at most, to Lasalle University, a lower A10 school 30 minutes from his home because he wanted to be closer to home. Nice story going back to Philly to finish school. I guess he just wanted a better cheese steak from Gino's or that place two blocks from the Lasalle campus. I think he will have a solid two years despite the fact he will not get that waiver they are stretching for with the closer to home story. At least not after mentioning all the things he did in that short piece about his transfer where he says some interesting things despite the article being so short.

Antonio Pena

What is happening to my man Antonio? Hope he gets back into the swing at Villanova next season because he really is talented and just needs to get his confidence back.

With 2 year of eligibility left his future is very bright and I do think Jay Wright will provide him with great opportunities to become successful.

Glenn Sturman Memorial Tournament

Ran across this on NYCNJ Hoops and felt I should share what should be a great event for a greater cause. Please try to attend and if possible put a team in this event.

Glenn Sturman Memorial Tournament
May 30th, and 31st, 2009
Benefiting "Fight Against Cancer"
17 and Under
Trenton Catholic HS
David Sturman@yahoo.com
609 433-0021
4 Games Guaranteed
$400