College Basketball

[Ohwell]

RIP Rollie Massimino.  I still remember him running around on the court after Villanova beat Georgetown in '85.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/ncaabk/rollie-massimino-who-led-villanova-to-85-ncaa-title-dies/ar-AAr0iGa?li=BBnbfcL&OCID=msnHomepage

[MyAimIsTrue]

Oh how sad.  Rollie had a grandfatherly quality about him that I found endearing.

[mojoween]

Boeheim, Carnesecca, Thompson and Massimino were my introduction to hoops. Even though at the time I bled Orange there is no way I could ever hate Rollie!

[ketchuplover]

RIP young man

[xaxat]

U.S. Charges 10 in Crackdown on College Basketball Kickbacks

Quote

The charges include bribery, conspiracy and fraud. A key part of the case includes allegations that an executive at a global apparel company bribed students to attend universities where the company sponsored athletic programs.

This is going to get very interesting. Bribes to players? Who would have thought?

[MargeGunderson]

3 hours ago, xaxat said:

U.S. Charges 10 in Crackdown on College Basketball Kickbacks

This is going to get very interesting. Bribes to players? Who would have thought?

I'm shocked, shocked I tell you! I mean any other sport, sure, but not college basketball. 

[Minneapple]

Pitino is finished at Louisville. I mean they just had the stripper/hooker scandal, now this. I also wonder if this is the end for their AD, Tom Jurich.

You have to be smarter than giving $100K in cash to players and running a brothel in the dorm. Come on, man.

[xaxat]

9 minutes ago, Minneapple said:

Pitino is finished at Louisville. I mean they just had the stripper/hooker scandal, now this. I also wonder if this is the end for their AD, Tom Jurich.

You have to be smarter than giving $100K in cash to players and running a brothel in the dorm. Come on, man.

I can't wait to see his press conference denying any knowledge, like he did with Hookergate.

Who would have guessed that Bobby the husband of the woman I was sleeping with beat the crap out of me I had a bad motorcycle accident Pettrino would be the (relative) straight arrow.

[AimingforYoko]

10 hours ago, xaxat said:

U.S. Charges 10 in Crackdown on College Basketball Kickbacks

This is going to get very interesting. Bribes to players? Who would have thought?

Uh, everyone? Heh. Take note NCAA, this is how things get done, you toothless wonders.

Quote

Perhaps the most prominent defendant is Chuck Person, a former National Basketball Association star and now associate head coach at Auburn University. Auburn said that it was suspending Person without pay.

Auburn? At least if you're going to cheat, get your money's worth.

[mojoween]

Rick Pitino is the most unaware person on the planet.  Someone should check on him to see what he does all day, because he obviously doesn't pay any attention to what his program is doing.  If you believe him, heh.

[xaxat]

How is it that no AAU coaches got caught up in this mess?

[AimingforYoko]

2 hours ago, xaxat said:

How is it that no AAU coaches got caught up in this mess?

Yet.

[Minneapple]

It looks like Pitino and Jurich will be fired today.

This is death-penalty level stuff and Arizona and Louisville are already caught up in it. It looks like it's mostly about those one and done players who have potential to sell a lot of shoes, so keep your eye on those. 

[MyAimIsTrue]

I'm in Louisville this week for work and the scandal is all anyone is talking about.  According to my client the general consensus among U. of L fans was that Pitino was untouchable but this has made even the most die-hard fan wish for his ouster.

The other general consensus is sadness over the fact that a lot of good kids are going to be negatively impacted by this.

[DrSpaceman73]

Not surprised at all by Pitino or this happening

Will be interesting to see where this goes and who else gets caught up in it

[Ohwell]

I always think of him as the Joe Pesci-in-Goodfellas of college basketball.

[xaxat]

I bet a lot of burner phones were destroyed yesterday.

[Jediknight]

The Nike subpoena has been confirmed.

So, they're just going to have every game take place in Quantico, right?

[xaxat]

So Pitino's agent issued a statement claiming that any reports that his client called Adidas to help coordinate this scam were false.

Dude, this isn't the NCAA. It's the Feds. I'm guessing they have the receipts. Figuratively and literally. 

[Silver Raven]

In today's case of schadenfreude, LiAngelo Ball has been arrested in China for shoplifting.  I don't think Daddy will be able to run onto the court and yell at Chinese officials till they let him go

http://collegebasketball.nbcsports.com/2017/11/07/report-arrested-ucla-players-in-china-could-face-prison-time/

Edited November 11, 2017 by Silver Raven

[Silver Raven]

And now LaVar has pulled LeAngelo out of UCLA, whining that UCLA treated the poor little snowflake worse than China did.

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/21667748/lavar-ball-pulls-son-liangelo-ball-ucla

[xaxat]

Given the President's interest in LiAngelo's case, I have to believe that UCLA is breathing a huge sigh of relief. 

[twoods]

At least college basketball is rid of that idiot (LaVar, not his son). I wish the NBA can get rid of him like that. I feel bad for his sons to grow up around someone who seems to be more about the show than the well-being of his sons. If he wasn't going to play basketball, at least LiAngelo would have had a great education. Snowflake, indeed.

Edited December 6, 2017 by twoods

[BitterApple]

From everything I've read, LiAngelo doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of making it to the NBA, so not only did his jackass father ruin his collegiate career, he robbed his son of the chance to get a four-year degree. Lonzo better pan out because he's going to be carrying his family on his back for the rest of his life.

[Jx223]

I definitely think that LaVar is making a mistake of pulling LiAngelo out of UCLA. He had a full ride and he isn't on NBA executives radars. I have heard reports that he isn't going to be drafted by anybody in this upcoming draft. He is supposed to be the least talented of the three sons.  Maybe if he had stayed at UCLA and got some experience, he eventually could get a shot at the NBA, or gone to the G-League. Now he may not even be able to go the G-league right away. 

Lonzo is also struggling in the NBA right now. He hasn't looked good in a lot of their games this year. I actually think that the youngest LaMelo might end up being the most talented of the three sons. But I don't think LaVar is really helping his future career either.

Edited December 6, 2017 by Jx223

[Silver Raven]

LiAngelo can always go and play in China.

[Jx223]

According to ESPN both LiAngelo and LaMelo have signed with Lonzo's agent and are being pitched to teams overseas. This has ended LaMelo's chance of getting into UCLA as this violates one of the NCAA's rules. LaVar has also said that LaMelo won't be playing college basketball.

Chris Broussard said earlier today they may not fare so well in Europe if LaVar continues with his antics over there. Chris said that European coaches are tougher than US ones.

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/21701171/lavar-ball-sons-liangelo-lamelo-sign-agent-harrison-gaines

Edited December 7, 2017 by Jx223

[xaxat]

That is messed up on so many levels. LiAngelo misses out on an education and LaMelo's draft value probably goes down. 

He would never admit it, but I wonder if this is a panic move by Lavar.

ETA I feel bad for LaMelo. He had nothing to do with LiAngelo's screwup and now he's headed to international ball where 30 year old dudes will be treating him like he's a grown man.

[Jx223]

4 hours ago, xaxat said:

That is messed up on so many levels. LiAngelo misses out on an education and LaMelo's draft value probably goes down. 

He would never admit it, but I wonder if this is a panic move by Lavar.

ETA I feel bad for LaMelo. He had nothing to do with LiAngelo's screwup and now he's headed to international ball where 30 year old dudes will be treating him like he's a grown man.

I was thinking the same thing about LaMelo. Not only does he not get to finish playing in high school, he won't get an opportunity to play in college and now as a 16 year old will have to face off against grown men. He also has to move to somewhere where he isn't familiar with the culture/country and will be away from his friends, etc...

I had read a report that one of the teams interested in the Ball kids was a Lithuanian team. But the head coach of that team came out and poked at LiAngelo's shoplifting (he has since deleted that tweet).

I believe that both kids would have been better of going to UCLA. I think it could have even possibly helped LiAngelo's basketball career. Maybe he could have stayed like 2 or 3 years, gotten better exposure, improved his game and increased his chances of getting drafted.

I think that Lavar keeps making decisions that are not in the best interest of his children's future. I could these decisions hindering his kids future.

Edited December 7, 2017 by Jx223

[Minneapple]

5 hours ago, xaxat said:

LiAngelo misses out on an education

Ha.

Anyway. Things in Europe are not just different on a coaching level. The team owners, leagues, etc., are often really fucked up. A former Wisconsin player did an online diary of playing overseas and talked about how his team owner was possibly involved with the Russian mafia, how their paychecks were very inconsistent, how they often don't take care of injuries. He had a messed up foot and the owner and coach were more worried about getting him back out to play rather than having his foot heal properly. For those who play in Europe, the money can be good, but you have to be careful to not walk into a dicey situation.

[Jx223]

LaVar Ball is now planning to start a league for high school graduates who don't want to go to college. He wants to also use this league to prepare them for the NBA. He is looking for 80 players to play on ten teams in NBA Arenas. He is offering to pay them anywhere from 3,000 to 10,000 per month.

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/21827823/lavar-ball-wants-start-league-high-school-graduates

I definitely wonder how this will work out. I don't really see this league attracting a lot of top talent.  I think the most talented players would choose to go to college for a year, and get the exposure and scholarship. But maybe some kids who aren't top prospects might join this league if they really don't want to go to college and aren't getting scholarship offers to good schools.

I also wonder if he will eventually have LaMelo/LiAngelo join this league. They have currently signed a contract with a Lithuanian team.

Edited December 20, 2017 by Jx223

[Silver Raven]

Who is going to fill these NBA arenas for nobody players who aren't good enough for college or the NBA?

[Jx223]

16 minutes ago, Silver Raven said:

Who is going to fill these NBA arenas for nobody players who aren't good enough for college or the NBA?

I think he's hoping that he can get at least a couple of top prospects to join the league and make it interesting. But I'm not really sure if that's going to happen. Maybe there might be a couple of kids that are strong prospects that would consider his league. Or maybe he will eventually get LaMelo to join and help generate interest.

I also wonder how the NBA feels about this. LaVar saying that he's going to use their arenas make its seems like they are okay with him doing that. 

Ice Cube's The Big 3 League played in NBA arenas like the Staples Center and Barclays center. The NBA seemed fine with that. I think largely because the Big 3 featured retired NBA players. Maybe they will be fine with Lavar's idea because it's trying to prepare players for the NBA.

Edited December 20, 2017 by Jx223

[Silver Raven]

The NBA is already planning on sponsoring a Little League World Series-type tournament in Orlando in the summer for boys and girls from all over the world.  Of course, they're in the 12-13 age bracket, not the bracket for what Ball is planning on.

[xaxat]

What he needs to do is go to Lithuania to keep an eye on his kids.

I don't think anything will come of this. He's going to finance it with Big Baller revenues? Yeah, sure.

What I think is far more possible are Adam Silver's hints that he wants the NBA to play a larger role in non-NCAA player development. He wants to reevaluate one and done, increase the profile of the G League and one interview I heard it sounded like he wanted to create an alternative to AAU. College coaches should be running to his office to make that happen.

[Ohwell]

47 minutes ago, xaxat said:

What he needs to do is go to Lithuania to keep an eye on his kids.

And where is the mom?  Wouldn't you think she'd be concerned about her kids in friggin' Lithuania? 

[shoregirl]

4 hours ago, Jx223 said:

I think he's hoping that he can get at least a couple of top prospects to join the league and make it interesting. But I'm not really sure if that's going to happen. Maybe there might be a couple of kids that are strong prospects that would consider his league. Or maybe he will eventually get LaMelo to join and help generate interest.

I also wonder how the NBA feels about this. LaVar saying that he's going to use their arenas make its seems like they are okay with him doing that. 

Ice Cube's The Big 3 League played in NBA arenas like the Staples Center and Barclays center. The NBA seemed fine with that. I think largely because the Big 3 featured retired NBA players. Maybe they will be fine with Lavar's idea because it's trying to prepare players for the NBA.

Do most teams own the arena or do they lease them.  They may not really have a say in who plays in them when they are not 

[Jx223]

1 hour ago, shoregirl said:

Do most teams own the arena or do they lease them.  They may not really have a say in who plays in them when they are not 

I'm not sure. But I know that some of them host concerts and have multiple teams and leagues playing in them. (Like the Staples Center has concerts, and is home to Lakers/Clippers games and NHL team LA Kings games. Barclay Center also has concerts and Capital One Arena is home to multiple leagues.) 

Maybe some of them don't really have a say in who plays in them as long as they aren't changing when the NBA teams play.

Edited December 21, 2017 by Jx223

[ganesh]

Even if they owned the arena, it's not like they're going to let them use it just to be nice. If there's not money to be made, forget it. 

But I'm not sensing there's any business model here either. 

[xaxat]

Oops, wrong sport. 

[Silver Raven]

Police were called to the Kansas team dorm because some guy kept coming to the dorm to show them how to shoot freethrows.

[AimingforYoko]

Stat of the day: First time Duke and UNC lost at home on the same day since 1973.

[mojoween]

That stat sucks. 

Also sucks?  UNC.

[xaxat]

On 1/24/2018 at 11:42 PM, Silver Raven said:

Police were called to the Kansas team dorm because some guy kept coming to the dorm to show them how to shoot freethrows.

I thought you were joking.

I just found out it was real.

[xaxat]

It's not going to make up for last year, but the UConn women a smashing SC.

Looks like we might be at the start of a new streak for them.

[mojoween]

I love ESPN’s Crossover because then we get Hubie Brown calling a game.  Can’t we have him all of the time?

[mojoween]

This is deeply, deeply concerning.

And of course Bomani Jones runs a poll like this:

Grrrrr.

[Minneapple]

Well, come on. Over the past few years Duke has out-Kentucky-ed Kentucky. K is just as sleazy as Calipari. K just pretends to care about stuff like being a leader of young men while Calipari makes no bones about what he does.

[xaxat]

More info is leaking about the federal investigation into college basketball.

Quote

The documents tie some of the biggest names and programs in the sport to activity that appears to violate the NCAA’s amateurism rules. This could end up casting a pall over the NCAA tournament because of eligibility issues. There’s potential impermissible benefits and preferential treatment for players and families of players at Duke, North Carolina, Texas, Kentucky, Michigan State, USC, Alabama and a host of other schools. The documents link some of the sport’s biggest current stars – Michigan State’s Miles Bridges, Alabama’s Collin Sexton and Duke’s Wendell Carter – to specific potential extra benefits for either the athletes or their family members. The amounts tied to players in the case range from basic meals to tens of thousands of dollars.

[mojoween]

I am praying to all that is holy that the only Duke infraction on that list is a $106.36 dinner at Longhorn for Wendell Carter Jr. that might not even have been paid for by that shady ass agent.