College Basketball Random Chatter

• Prescott

  The ACC is in turmoil. UNC is under investigation and now duke has an issue the NCAA needs to deal with.Of course, if past history is an indicator nothing will happen to these two blue bloods.
• Laley23

  

  Prescott;1267812 wrote:The ACC is in turmoil. UNC is under investigation and now duke has an issue the NCAA needs to deal with.Of course, if past history is an indicator nothing will happen to these two blue bloods.

  I meant to move your thread to here, since it was already being discussed, but accidentally closed it. If you want to repost it here, feel free.
• ironman02

  Haha. The N & O is really digging, aren't they? I'm sure there will be more, but this Tami Hansbrough deal shouldn't really be a problem for Carolina basketball.
• Azubuike24

  

  AP - Thomas, a starter on Duke's 2010 national championship team purchased nearly $100,000 in custom jewelry that season from a New York firm that caters to professional athletes and is now suing him for failing to pay the balance of what he owes. Lance Thomas purchased five pieces of diamond jewelry at a cost of $97,800 on Dec. 21, 2009, in the middle of his senior season, according the lawsuit. Documents included with the suit indicate he made a $30,000 down payment and received $67,800 in credit from the firm, the balance that remains unpaid.
  
  Let's forget the $30,000 down payment for a second. I've already established that's...weird. The other problem here is that the NCAA will want to know -- or at least the NCAA should want to know -- how Thomas received nearly $70,000 in credit from a jewelry firm when he was merely a student-athlete, because NCAA rules prohibit student-athletes from receiving benefits not available to all students. In other words, could a normal Duke senior with no job get a New York firm to provide a nearly $70,000 line of credit? If not, Thomas received an improper benefit. Which could make him retroactively ineligible. Which could mean Duke played an ineligible player. Which could mean Duke will be stripped of its national title. But how in the world was Duke supposed to know about this, Parrish?
  
  
  In fairness, that's a reasonable question. But it's also beside the point because the NCAA set a precedent of "strict liability" when it stripped Memphis of its trip to the 2008 Final Four. The NCAA concluded after Derrick Rose's college career was complete that somebody took the SAT for him, that his qualifying score wasn't his qualifying score.So the NCAA ruled the subsequent NBA Most Valuable Player ineligible and stripped Memphis of its Final Four even though the NCAA never charged Memphis with any wrongdoing or suggested Memphis knew about Rose's fraudulent SAT or even should've known about Rose's fraudulent SAT. The NCAA said it didn't matter. Memphis played an ineligible player so Memphis paid the price. "Strict liability." That's the term the NCAA used.
  
  It's not the exact same violation, but the application is the same.
• GOONx19

  

  That would be crazy.
• Azubuike24

  

  What's crazy, the more you think about it, is "strict liability."
  
  If applied exactly how it was to Memphis and how the NCAA has defined it, the NCAA would be putting different programs/sports on probation daily. How many thousands of NCAA student-athletes enter and exit the system on a yearly basis. How many of them had something that could have ruled them retroactively ineligible?
  
  *Insert school* has a soccer player who receives free concert tickets from a teammate's uncle, who happened to be affiliated with a apparel company. This gets discovered 2 years after the fact after the kid had left the school. The NCAA says the school, due to "strict liability", should have known. They didn't, therefore, the guy is now retroactively ineligible and that sports program goes on CURRENT probation. It's kind of ridiculous how easily this could be applied literally.
• sportswizuhrd

  Harvard co-captains caught cheating on a test...
  
  http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/reports-harvard-basketball-captain-to-withdraw-from-school-others-linked-to-cheating-case/2012/09/11/2167e704-fc6f-11e1-98c6-ec0a0a93f8eb_story.html
• reclegend22

  

  sportswizuhrd;1268529 wrote:Harvard co-captains caught cheating on a test...

  That's it? I cheated on pretty much every single test in college that I ever took. My god, I would have been all over ESPN had I played collegiately.
  
  Harvard hoops has arrived, I guess? (To be clear, however, the issue at Harvard appears to have absolutely nothing at all to do with the basketball program nor head coach Tommy Amaker.)
• Prescott

  The attorney for a New York jeweler suing a former Duke basketball player over a debt incurred while the player was in school says a settlement has been reached in the case. Mike Bowers says the terms of the settlement between Rafaello & Co. and former Duke forward Lance Thomas are confidential. The lawsuit, filed in Austin, Texas, in January, said Thomas owed $67,800 for jewelry he purchased at a cost of $97,800 in the middle of the 2009-2010 season.
  Duke won the NCAA title that season, and the purchase raised questions of whether Thomas, then a senior, violated amateurism rules.
  Bowers says the settlement doesn't change his client's unwillingness to discuss the lawsuit with the NCAA.
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  Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/basketball/ncaa/09/18/duke-lance-thomas.ap/index.html#ixzz26q61kLVj
  
  As expected.
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• vball10set

  http://espn.go.com/college-sports/basketball/recruiting/player/_/id/137800/kameron-williams
• ironman02

  http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/8398677/north-carolina-tar-heels-roy-williams-surgery-remove-kidney-tumor
• wildcats20

  

  ironman02;1275448 wrote:http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/8398677/north-carolina-tar-heels-roy-williams-surgery-remove-kidney-tumor

  
  Everything I've read has said he is doing fine and will be ready to start practice in October. But that another surgery will probably be needed.
• swamisez

  

  Feel bad for Ol' Roy, I hope he doesn't have a series of health issues as a result. Anything with the kidneys is difficult. Prayer for a speedy recovery.
• ironman02

  wildcats20;1275761 wrote:Everything I've read has said he is doing fine and will be ready to start practice in October. But that another surgery will probably be needed.

  Yep, out of the hospital today. The second procedure may be in October sometime on the other kidney. The doctors are saying it will only cause him to miss a few practices.
• reclegend22

  

  Prescott;1274144 wrote:The attorney for a New York jeweler suing a former Duke basketball player over a debt incurred while the player was in school says a settlement has been reached in the case. Mike Bowers says the terms of the settlement between Rafaello & Co. and former Duke forward Lance Thomas are confidential. The lawsuit, filed in Austin, Texas, in January, said Thomas owed $67,800 for jewelry he purchased at a cost of $97,800 in the middle of the 2009-2010 season.
  Duke won the NCAA title that season, and the purchase raised questions of whether Thomas, then a senior, violated amateurism rules.
  Bowers says the settlement doesn't change his client's unwillingness to discuss the lawsuit with the NCAA.
  [LEFT]
  Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/basketball/ncaa/09/18/duke-lance-thomas.ap/index.html#ixzz26q61kLVj
  
  As expected.
  [/LEFT]
  
  
  

  Maybe that's because there is nothing to see. That's just one possible notion. While it's certainly a ridiculous amount of money to be spending on bling, it's not at all unreasonable to think that Thomas could have come up with the $30,000 down payment on his own -- whether a portion of it was given to him by his mother, a six-figure-a-year plant manager for the Ford Motor Company; money he'd saved on his own since childhood; funds garnered from multiple credit cards with long lines of available spending; or some form of combination of all of the above. As for the specifics behind the extended loan and lawsuit that followed, who knows what really happened and we probably never will. The jeweler involved in this case does have a pattern of hitting athletes with litigation, though, so I wouldn't at all be shocked if that was the firm's plan from the get-go.
  
  I do find it interesting that it took a former Duke player who played a career average of 12 minutes per game buying a shit ton of gems to bring you out of your dormant state. Living in a transient culture that is far too willing to move on to the next new thing, I find it refreshing to know that there are still things in life that never change.
• reclegend22

  

  swamisez;1275996 wrote:Feel bad for Ol' Roy, I hope he doesn't have a series of health issues as a result. Anything with the kidneys is difficult. Prayer for a speedy recovery.

  Echoed. I want to beat Carolina at their best, and over the past decade-and-a-half, that's been with Roy at the helm.
• vball10set

  Not a big fan of the Illini, but I thought this was pretty cool
  
  
  [video=youtube;YiFh9DJJpPM][/video]
• Prescott

  Lance Thomas doesn't think he broke any NCAA regulations, but he won't speak with the NCAA right now. What is he waiting for? The facts aren't going to change. C'mon Lance, man up.
  
  Thomas spoke about the situation for the first time Monday. When asked if he was involved in an NCAA violation, Thomas told The Herald-Sun, "No. I don't think so."
  
  Thomas told the newspaper he will eventually clear the air about the extravagant purchase.
  "There's more to it but I'm not going to comment on it right now," Thomas said. "Everything will unfold once everything is taken care of the right way."
• reclegend22

  

  Here, I will save you the trouble of future posts and just provide everyone with a brief general overview of your agenda, Ahdonis.
  
  
  This is a picture of bling that is blinking.
  
  
  Here is a picture of different thug hats that you can wear to buy bling.
  
  
  This is a picture of a thug who just got done doing hoodrat stuff.
  
  
  This is a version of the Duke logo.
• Prescott

  I have no agenda. I'm just a bit skeptical about forthrightness.I hope he watched the most recent 30 for 30(BROKE) because those Duke boosters won't be around to bail him out.
• reclegend22

  

  Prescott;1286855 wrote:I have no agenda. I'm just a bit skeptical about forthrightness.I hope he watched the most recent 30 for 30(BROKE) because those Duke boosters won't be around to bail him out.

  First, I believe that is the first time you have ever directly answered to Ahdonis. So it is confirmed. I just knew it! /sarcasm
  
  As for your plea for forthrightness, I actually agree with you completely. As a fan of Coach K and a program that has always prided itself in leaving no corners cut and doing things the right way, I am deeply hopeful that, after the situation is finally settled in court with the jeweler and there is no longer any reason for any silence on the matter, Lance Thomas provides insight into everything he knows. Even if that means something unethical occurred. I want it to be out in the open either way.
  
  There are some Duke fans that just want the cloak of a confidentially agreement to make everything go away and the real story to never come out. This is obviously the most efficient way to ensure that the 2010 NCAA championship banner stays floating above Coach K Court. I don't want that. I want Duke's detractors to know that they have no real ammunition and that Duke really is what it says it is. And I believe it is. Lance Thomas, in my opinion, is just way too random a character to have been the source of a scandal that would potentially bring down Duke.
• Prescott

  duke is what it is. No different than most other college basketball programs. Allowances are made for athletes to get them admitted and curriculum is devised to keep them eligible. We will see if the Thomas' case gets the same treatment from the NCAA that the Magette case got.Then we will know what duke really is.
• reclegend22

  

  I'm glad you already have the case cracked, Encyclopedia Brown. Who'd you get your information from, The Hardy Boys?
  
  At least you never disappoint.
• Prescott

  Sorry, Watson, it is difficult to crack the case when the persons involved claim the 5th.
• reclegend22

  

  DURHAM -- When Lance Thomas met with the media Monday as NBA training camps opened, he made two statements that were initially met with surprise.
  
  He hadn’t spoken to anyone at Duke about his recent lawsuit. And he was planning on speaking to the NCAA.
  
  “The thing that struck me as weirder was that he planned to talk to the NCAA when he didn’t have to,” said John Infante, a former assistant director of compliance at Colorado State who now writes a blog on compliance issues. “If he does, it makes it easier for them to get to the bottom. If he’s going to do that, then you would think he’s pretty confident he didn’t commit a violation.”
  
  http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/10/02/2386145/thomas-reportedly-will-talk-to.html#storylink=cpy
  
  Thomas has already said that he will speak to clear the air. The NCAA, however, is currently in the process of seeking details on the transaction. I am sure that Lance's attorneys have advised him as to how unwise it could be for him make declarative statements publicly while the investigation ensues, even if his participation in the transaction was 100% innocuous. These things take time and Lance just wants to make sure it is all handled properly. I think he's smart.
  
  
  
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  Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/10/02/2386145/thomas-reportedly-will-talk-to.html#storylink=cpy#storylink=cpy[/LEFT]