Bledsoe, Kentucky, And The NCAA’s “Strict Liability”

Posted by jstevrtc on September 14th, 2010

The online arm of the Birmingham News, AL.com, reported earlier today that former Kentucky guard Eric Bledsoe’s official high school transcript and the “grade reports” from two of his Algebra III courses showed differing final grades. Specifically, the transcript states that he earned a grade of A in both sections of two nine-week long Algebra III courses, but the grade reports from those sections of the course show that Bledsoe was credited with a C in the first section and a B in the second. The reason this is a problem is, as the AL.com article explains, if you calculate Bledsoe’s GPA using the grades on his official transcript (the A’s), you get a 2.5, which makes him NCAA-eligible. If you calculate it with the C and B from the grade reports, Bledsoe’s GPA comes out to a 2.4375 — just short of the minimum score required for qualification.

If this grade discrepancy is true, the NCAA will want to know who knew about it, and when.

This allegation evidently comes ahead of a report that’s supposed to surface soon from an independent law firm hired by the Birmingham school system to investigate Bledsoe’s eligibility, and specifically the documentation of his academic performance at two high schools in the area. We’ll obviously have a lot to say about that when it appears. For now, though, we feel this new information brings up a few interesting questions:

  1. What is a “grade report?”
  2. How and when could there be a discrepancy?
  3. Is Kentucky (or any other school) expected to go beyond looking at official school transcripts of players when assessing their eligibility, and should the school be punished if information later emerges that implicates the player?

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NCAA Preview: Temple Owls

Posted by nvr1983 on March 18th, 2009

Temple (#11, South, Miami pod)
Vs. Arizona State (#6)
Fri., 3/20 at 2:45 PM
Vegas Line:
Temple, +5

General Profile
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Conference: Atlantic-10, Automatic bid
Coach: Fran Dunphy, 55-42
08-09 Record: 22-11, 11-5 in the Atlantic-10
Last 12 Games: 10-2 including 5 straight wins
Best Win: Defeated Xavier 55-53 in the Atlantic 10 tournament on March 13th
Worst Loss: At Long Beach State 76-71 on December 22nd
Off. Efficiency Rating: 108.6, 68th
Def. Efficiency Rating: 92.6, 40th

Nuts ‘n Bolts
Star Player(s):
Dionte Christmas (19.2 PPG and 5.8 RPG) and Lavoy Allen (10.9 PPG and 8.9 RPG)
Unsung Hero: Ryan Brooks (10.7 PPG and 3.8 RPG)
Potential NBA Draft Pick(s): Christmas (34th in 2009)
Key Injuries: None
Depth:
24.7% (306th nationally); percentage of minutes played by reserves
Achilles Heel: The Owls have no depth (or Dunphy chooses not to utilize it).
Will Make a Deep Run if…: Christmas can outplay Arizona State’s star James Harden.
Will Make an Early Exit if…: If Christmas is having an off-night.

NCAA History
Last Year Invited:
2008; lost to Michigan State in the 1st round
Streak: 2nd straight year
Best NCAA Finish: Third place (1944, 1956, and 1958)
Historical Performance vs. Seed (1985-present): +0.24. On average the Owls win 0.24 more games per year than they would be expected to based on the historical performance of teams with a similar seed.

Other
Six Degrees to Detroit:
Mike Jarmoluk, who played football at Temple, was drafted by the Detroit Lions and ended up making a Pro Bowl. Unfortunately for Lions, he never played for them as he ended up playing the Eagles and made the Pro Bowl in 1951.
Distance to First Round Site: 1,195 miles
School’s Claim to Fame: Hall of Fame coach John Chaney, who was just as legendary for his ability to win as his fiery demeanor.
School Wishes It Could Forget: Chaney ordering a “hit” on St. Joseph’s John Bryant.
Prediction: The Owls will hang around for the first half against the Sun Devils before Harden and Jeff Pendergraph pull away for a double-digit victory.
Major RTC stories: N/A

Preview written by Rush the Court

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