1. Raleigh News & Observer: More scandal on Tobacco Road. Amid investigation of an ugly academic scandal in Chapel Hill and the recent potential trouble in Durham, North Carolina’s chief fundraiser resigned for apparently taking personal trips on the Tar Heels’ dime. But the story gets much weirder: another fundraiser implicated is Tyler Hansbrough‘s mother, Tami. Apparently the star’s mother has been earning $95,000 a year as a “major gifts officer” for the past few years, and as such, Hansbrough reportedly used UNC money to fly to see Tyler’s younger brother Ben Hansbrough play at Notre Dame.
2. Bylaw Blog: Speaking of the Duke situation, the NCAA has one big problem in making a case. No one has to talk. Unless the lawsuit goes to court and becomes a matter of public record (and soon), the NCAA will need to convince the NYC jeweler or Lance Thomas to talk about the suspicious $67,000 loan for custom jewelry his senior season. The clock is ticking though, as the NCAA needs to serve Duke its notice of allegations before the four-year statute of limitations runs out. The bad news for the NCAA is that only gives the organization a little over a year to make its case. The worse news is that the jeweler already refused to talk to the NCAA (which would make sense if he specializes in athletic jewelry and hands out impermissible loans).
3. ESPN.com: Dexter Strickland is officially back. The defensive-minded combo guard has officially moved past his torn ACL injury, playing pickup with his teammates last Monday. Strickland still doesn’t sound 100% confident in the knee, which is to be expected, but North Carolina and Marcus Paige will really need his presence in the backcourt next season. And if Strickland can’t trust the knee, it will hurt his defense and transition play (his two biggest strengths by far).
4. CBSSports.com: Touted Xavier transfer Dez Wells is headed to Maryland after he was expelled after a sexual assault allegation in August. Wells should join the Terrapins with Michigan transfer Evan Smotrycz in 2013-14. If Mark Turgeon can pull a coup and steal the Harrison twins from Kentucky, Maryland might be the most talented team in the ACC. Turgeon may be gaining on John Calipari as the highly rated brothers are headed to College Park for Maryland’s midnight madness. Kudos, Coach Turgeon.
5. Orlando Sentinel: Michael Snaer‘s latest comments are firing up his teammates. Florida State is a tough team to judge, as the Seminoles lost six players from last season. However, their most important piece returned and Leonard Hamilton also brought in a very good class. Snaer says the team is much more polished skill-wise than last year’s veteran group.

mpatton (576 Posts)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 12th, 2012 at 8:30 am by mpatton and is filed under acc, microsites, morning 5. Tagged: dexter strickland, Dez Wells, duke, florida state, lance thomas, mark turgeon, maryland, michael snaer, north carolina, tyler hansbrough. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.