John Clay’s Sidelines

The Chicago Bulls held their media day today and guard Derrick Rose said he did take the SAT in question before going to Memphis. Rose dismissed suggestions that he did not take the test.

Of course, the NCAA went with the Education Testing Service, which invalidated Rose’s test score, bringing allegations that someone took the test for the Chicago prep star before he went to Memphis, which was forced to vacate its 2008 NCAA Tournament runner-up finish. The school is appealing the NCAA’s ruling.

Darrell Arthur dunking for Kansas.

Thanks to a loyal reader who passed along this Sunday column from Tim Cowlishaw of the Dallas Morning News, questioning just exactly what good it does for the NCAA to “vacate” any team’s tournament appearaces, etc.

Tim also gets into the NCAA Clearing House issue that I wrote about this morning, but even better he draws a good, if ridiculous on the NCAA’s part, comparison between what happened with Derrick Rose and Memphis and what happened with Darrell Arthur and Kansas.

An excerpt:

And what does the NCAA have to say about the Jayhawks?

The team that remains the champion of that season, now so stained by Memphis’ presence, had a starter named Darrell Arthur. Maybe you’ve heard of him. He won a state title at South Oak Cliff in 2006, only the championship was later vacated by the UIL because he and others had failing grades changed to passing grades as reported by WFAA-TV (Ch. 8).

So there you have that fine line as drawn by the NCAA.

Passing high school but cheating on your college entrance exam? Not OK.

Failing high school but cheating in order to pass, stay eligible and go on to college? No problem.

Even more John Calipari and Memphis links:

• Seth Davis of SI.com writes that the growing list of scandals has ruined college basketball’s off-season.
• Jay Marriotti, writing for AOL, says that John Calipari and Derrick Rose go down in permanent shame.
• Lynn Zinser of the New York Times writes that Calipari counts his millions, as Burress loses his.
• Tom Ziller of FanHouse asks, without NBA age rule, is Derrick Rose a cheater?
• Ken Tysiac of the Charlotte Observer writes that John Calipari is North Carolina State’s best non-hire.
• At Rivals.com, Eamonn Brennan asks if Kentucky fans are too supportive of Calipari?
• Matt Jones of Kentucky Sports Radio goes after Pat Forde.
• Jason King of Yahoo Sports calls it “powder-puff punishment.”
• Mike Lopresti of Gannett writes of Calipari’s Final Four teams, now you see them, now you don’t.
• Straitpinkie gives its thoughts on the Calipari situation.
• The humor site Sports Pickle says Calipari promises UK a vacated Final Four within five years.

Big Blue Links for Friday:

• Mark Story of the Herald-Leader writes that the reputations of both UK and John Calipari have taken a hit.
• Chip Cosby of the Herald-Leader talks to Randall Cobb, who says despite back problems he’ll be ready for opener.
• But Cosby reports that freshman linebacker Qua Huzzie is out for the season.
• Eric Crawford of the Courier-Journal writes that Calipari’s image has been tarnished.
• Geoff Calkins of the Memphis Commercial Appeal believes that Calipari knew about Derrick Rose’s test.
• Mike DeCourcy of Sporting News wonders that when the NCAA let Rose play, why does Memphis pay?
• Tom Leach writes that there’s been no slack for Calipari.
• At SI.com, Seth Davis writes that Memphis situation illuminates a college hoops problem.
• Larry Vaught of the Danville Advocate-Messenger says don’t throw stones at Calipari without proof.
• David Climer of the Tennessean writes that Calipari has slipped through the cracks again.

Continue reading ‘BBL: Calipari/Memphis fallout links’

Brandon Knight

Big Blue Links for Friday:

• John Jackson of the Chicago Sun-Times talks to Derrick Rose about the Memphis test controversy. (Hat tip to Spam’s Wildcat Page.)
• Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports that Brandon Knight’s top three are Miami, Kentucky and Connecticut, in no particular order. (Hat tip to Aaron’s UK Basketball Blog.)
• Tobias Harris tells Zagsblog that he met Lee Todd during his visit to UK.
• Chip Cosby of the Herald-Leader reports that the football Cats have left summer behind.
• Brett Dawson of the Courier-Journal reports that UK is ready to start camp.
• Dicky Lyons, Jr. writes for A Sea of Blue that he was cut before he even stepped on the field with the Falcons.

Continue reading ‘BBL: Rose addresses test; UK in Knight’s top 3′

Big Blue Links for Friday:

• Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader talks to Matt Pilgrim’s father, who says that both Matt and Kevin Galloway did not have their scholarships renewed.
• H-L reports that field has been set for Cancun Tournament.
• Mark Maloney of the H-L reports on UK baseball players taken in the MLB draft.
• Chip Cosby of the H-L blogs on next week’s Bear’s Boys Reunion.
• Larry Vaught of the Danville Advocate-Messenger also talks to Matt Pilgrim’s father.
• On his C-J blog, Rick Bozich writes on former UK commitment Dominique Ferguson.
• At A Sea of Blue, Dicky Lyons posts another entry to his NFL tryout journals.

Continue reading ‘BBL: UK basketball moves and news’

Gary Parrish of CBS Sportsline says that not a single person he has talked to believes that Derrick Rose took the SAT in question. And Parrish covered Memphis basketball for four years for the Memphis Commercial Appeal. He has good sources in and around the program. He thinks that Memphis now thinks that Rose did not take the questioned SAT.

But, Parrish doesn’t believe that Memphis will, or should be penalized for that.

Excerpt:

When the NCAA told Memphis not to play Angel Garcia, Memphis didn’t play Angel Garcia. When the NCAA told Memphis not to play Matt Simpkins, Memphis didn’t play Matt Simpkins. But then the NCAA came back and told Memphis it could play Matt Simpkins, so Memphis played Matt Simpkins. And this is the way it works. Schools provide standardized test scores and transcripts and anything else the NCAA wants, then the NCAA rules on the eligibility of every player. If the NCAA rules a player ineligible, that player doesn’t play. But it seems to me that when the NCAA tells a school that a player is qualified academically and free to play, a school should not be at risk after the fact, even if the NCAA later learns that an SAT is fraudulent (provided the NCAA doesn’t tie the school to the allegation).

On this charge, the NCAA isn’t accusing Memphis of any wrongdoing.

It’s simply stating that it no longer believes Rose took the questionable SAT.

Again, I don’t doubt that the NCAA is correct in its allegation, but to penalize Memphis for only doing what it was told it could do — which is play Rose — seems like a bad precedent.

Parrish does think that Memphis will get slapped over Reggie Rose’s travel bill, but only to the extent that the school will have to set up a better way of keeping track of who travels with the team, and how to handle the billing process.

Colin Cowherd, right, and his producer, Amanda.

Big Blue Links for Friday:

• The H-L’s Chip Cosby reports that a tight end transferring from Colorado is interested in Kentucky.
• Mark Maloney of the Herald-Leader writes on UK’s softball All-American.
• UK Sports Info is a little ticked off at Colin Cowherd.
• Kentucky Sports Radio readers have found a new person to hate. (comments section)
• Mike Hutton of the Chicago Sun-Times is amazed Kentucky hired Calipari knowing that a storm was brewing.
• Larry Vaught of the Danville Advocate-Messenger writes that Jodie Meeks seems content to stay in the draft.
• Marlen Garcia of USA Today writes that the one-and-dones leave behind a mess.
• John Branston of the Memphis Flyer says Derrick Rose and Memphis ran out the clock.
• Tom Knott of the Washington Times writes that the Rose scandal will fade. (Hat tip to Spam’s Wildcat Page.)
• On his WKYT blog, Steve Moss writes that Landon Slone’s transfer to Morehead is a win for both.

Continue reading ‘BBL: Kentucky fans upset with Colin Cowherd’

Big Blue Links for Wednesday:

• In the Herald-Leader, Ryan Alessi and Jerry Tipton report from Memphis about school’s response to NCAA’s notice of allegations.
• Dan Wolken of the Memphis Commercial Appeal reports that Memphis says it found no proof that Derrick Rose cheated on his SAT.
• Here’s the 63-page Memphis report.
• In the Commercial Appeal, columnist Geoff Calkins asks if Memphis is finally paying the price for hiring John Calipari.
• Courier-Journal columnist Eric Crawford writes that the Calipari forecast is clear to partly cloudy.
• Larry Vaught of the Danville Advocate-Messenger reports that another top quarterback prospect is looking at Kentucky.
• Mike DeCourcy of the Sporting News writes that Memphis shouldn’t have trusted the NCAA to get it right.
• Dana O’Neil of espn.com reports that her source says the travel issue at Memphis may be more important than SAT.
• Gary Parrish of CBS Sportsline reports that Robert Dozier ended up at Memphis after disputed SAT score.

Continue reading ‘BBL: Memphis findings and response links’

Steve Rosenbloom, who writes the Rosenblog for the Chicago Tribune, is a little agitated over this whole Derrick Rose SAT/grade change/etc. affair. And Rosenbloom doesn’t mind blasting with both barrels.

Excerpt:

I’m in favor of anything that makes the point that college is the biggest cesspool in sports. Colleges themselves, the actual ivory towers, are the most overpriced, overhyped institutions in America, extortion with elbow patches, but that’s a whole other rant. If college sports isn’t the biggest cesspool we cover, it’s at least tied with the Olympics, and how fitting that one scandal is rooted in the corrupt city of Chicago and some people want to bring the other slimy event here.

Good luck finding ethics in any of it — college sports (and by extension the stench of us media types glorifying snot-nosed, booger-eating teenaged athletes before they even get to high school sometimes), the Olympics, Chicago, the state of Illinois. There’s too much money and power to stop.

Colleges make billions, but the athletes that have made March Madness can’t get a Big Mac. Not legally anyway. The Olympics, jeez, where do you start? Payoffs are rampant, as in college recruiting. Academic cheating, such as someone taking a test for Rose and someone else supposedly changing his grade, is to college what anabolic steroids are to the Olympics. Higher, faster, juicer.

It gets better after that, though the squeamish might want to avoid the final couple of graphs. Spoiler alert.