Comments on: USC Sticks It To Itself

By: rtmsf

rtmsf — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 20:10:25 +0000

In reply to jstevrtc.

As to cooperation between the NCAA and NBA, I doubt it’s even on the NBA’s radar b/c the function of the two entities is so completely different.

Do the Milwaukee Bucks really care if Kelvin Sampson made a bunch of phone calls to prospects during a quiet period? Of course not. They only want to know if he can help coach young players to make their team better. Do the Grizzlies care that their superstar draft pick and future all-star was really a pro while he was in college at USC? No way. They just want him to improve to reach his potential and make their team better. I doubt there is a single Bucks exec or fan who is troubled by what Sampson did at IU or Grizzlies exec/fan who is bothered by Mayo’s dealings at USC. Ethics? Pffssshaww… So there’s no incentive whatsoever on the NBA side to help the NCAA “regulate” castaways any more than if they went to work at CBS or Real Madrid. Those companies and teams are only going to care about what that person can bring to the table for their interests, and the rest of it be damned.

I’m not saying this is right in a perfect world, but I think it’s the reality and it’s not going to change b/c there’s no will for it (admittedly, there are only a few of these situations).

You have to punish the school in some way for violations that happened, and real-time isn’t an option. Erasing wins is a little hollow b/c nobody respects that anyway (imo, Memphis still won 38 games in 2008). I like John’s idea about hitting them in the pocketbook, though. Taking away future postseasons goes toward that end, but why not make the penalty for cheating more punitive looking backwards? Legislate it so that it really, really hurts an athletic department in the budget to allow rampant cheating to go on. If you make the number big enough, stuff like this would be all but eliminated (or hidden so well nobody could ever find it anyway, haha).

By: jstevrtc

jstevrtc — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 18:22:16 +0000

In reply to Glenn Logan.

Hey, Glenn. It looks like we’re of the same mind on just about all of this. I also don’t get the lack of cooperation between the NCAA and NBA when it comes to going after players and coaches who have screwed over member institutions, unless as you say there’s some provision in the CBA mandating that the NBA protects the players. Wouldn’t surprise me. I’m not sure if that exists, but I’ll do some searching. If any reader knows for sure, let us know.

And you bring up another important point in that what these players are doing is (usually) not “illegal.” As you mention, it just violates NCAA rules and state/federal law doesn’t even enter into it. It just seems to me that any school who imposes post-season bans like the one USC laid on its players yesterday is doing so because that’s what they would expect the NCAA to do…and the only reason the NCAA does it is because that’s just the way they’ve always done it, even though everyone knows it’s idiotic to suggest that punishing current-day players/coaches for something that long-gone players/coaches did a few years ago is a fair punishment. To my eyes it seems almost arbitrary and shows a lack of real forward-thinking. I wouldn’t expect any of the punishments I came up with to really be used; they were just examples of how some guy off the street can come up with options that are just as good as the one they have now, and it’s not even my job to do so. Surely someone at the NCAA can think up other ways to sanction programs or, better yet, go after the actual guilty parties.

Top-notch work on ASOB. Thanks for checking in on us!

John Stevens
RTC

By: Glenn Logan

Glenn Logan — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 13:02:52 +0000

Hi Guys:

Well, the NCAA cannot exercise too much power here or it will open them up to more lawsuits by players for all sorts of wrongs, real and imagined.

The best way for this to be addressed would be for the NBA, without any prodding from the NCAA, to decide that if an athlete or now-NBA coach or assistant was substantially involved in an NCAA violation prior to entry into the NBA, there would be some kind of league sanction under ethics rules. For the life of me, I can’t fathom why the NBA doesn’t do that already. Perhaps the players prevent that by their collective bargaining agreement, who knows? If so, I suspect that idea is screwed as well.

Obviously, if a player commits a legal offense (i.e. fraud or point-shaving), they can be sanctioned by state AG’s and even federal prosecutors. Unfortunately, most of the hanky-panky these days falls well short of that.

There are reasons besides precedent that the NCAA does this. It definitely sucks, but I think the reasons that the NCAA doesn’t do some of the things you suggest are mostly for self-protection from lawsuits and such. That’s my guess, anyway.