NCAA alleges violations at Memphis under Calipari

[Blame Rasho]

The University of Memphis is in the process of responding to an NCAA notice of allegations charging the men’s basketball program with major violations during the 2007-08 season under John Calipari.

The allegations include “knowing fraudulence or misconduct” on an SAT exam by a player on the 2007-08 team.

The wording of the report seems to indicate the player in question only competed during the 2007-08 season and specifically the 2008 NCAA tournament. The player’s name was redacted in the report, obtained by The Commercial Appeal through the Freedom of Information Act, due to privacy laws.

The player has subsequently denied the charge, according to university personnel.

The only player on the roster who competed only during that season was Derrick Rose, who subsequently was the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft last June.

If proven to be true, the Tigers could be forced to forfeit their NCAA-record 38 victories and Final Four appearance.

The report does not include allegations of lack of institutional control, meaning Memphis would likely avoid serious penalties that would have an impact on the program going forward. The report includes no allegations that would have occurred during the tenure of Josh Pastner, either as an assistant or head coach

[SportsWorld]

http://yourseason.suntimes.com/1595888, ... on.article

Luther Topps, who coached Rose’s club basketball team with Derrick’s brother Reggie, has been aware of the NCAA investigation for three weeks. According to Topps, the NCAA threatened to revoke former Simeon player Tim Flowers college eligibility if Flowers didn’t agree to an interview.

‘‘Tim told me the NCAA kept bothering him,’’ Topps said. ‘‘That if he didn’t talk they were going to take away his eligibility. [The NCAA] thinks that [former Simeon player Kevin Johnson] took [the SAT test] for him.’’

Simeon coach Robert Smith declined to comment on the situation.

‘‘[Smith and I] didn’t know anything about his test,’’ Topps said. ‘‘Reggie moved me and him out of the way long before that, as soon as the money got involved.’’

Neither Reggie nor Derrick Rose responded to calls from the Sun-Times.

[Slacktard]

what a shock... with the not so much shock.

I'm sure Callipari has positioned and isolated himself well away from anything so nothing will stick to him, but he always comes across sleazy. You get all these top recruits and then look at when he got Dajuan Wagner he hired Wagner's Dad to work for him... C'mon.

[Atlanta Hawk Fan]

It will be interesting to see how this shakes out. The NCAA has never been all that consistent on these eligibility issues and whether they translate into forfeited wins.

Chris Webber - Ineligible player violated the NCAA's standards of amateurism and thus made his team ineligible for competition - No fault of school or coach according to NCAA findings - Wins forfeited because Webber was ineligible despite the fact that the school didn't know about it

Marcus Camby - Ineligible player violated the NCAA's standards of amateurism and thus made his team ineligible for competition - No fault of school or coach according to NCAA findings - Wins forfeited because Camby was ineligible despite the fact that the school didn't know about it

Jevon Crudup - Ineligible player violated the NCAA's standards of amateurism and thus made his team ineligible for competition - No fault of school or coach according to NCAA findings - Wins forfeited because Crudup was ineligible

Jaron Rush - Ineligible player Ineligible player violated the NCAA's standards of amateurism and thus made his team ineligible for competition - No fault of school or coach according to NCAA findings - No wins forfeited but 45% of earnings forfeited because Rush was ineligible

Corey Maggette - Ineligible player but no violation - No fault of school or coach according to NCAA findings - No penalty at all because the NCAA found Maggette should not have known that accepting $$ would make him ineligible and the school didn't know about it

Derrick Rose - Ineligible player (if NCAA allegations are true) - No fault of school or coach according to NCAA and NCAA actually cleared his SAT score during recruiting. Penalty??

Arguably, the Maggette case could cut either way here. The NCAA could find that nothing happened while Rose was at Memphis or under the supervision of the coach or administration and that therefore there should be no forfeiting of games. Conversely, the NCAA could find that Rose should have been aware that cheating on an SAT would make him ineligible and that this warrants punishment against Memphis unlike the Maggette case where the NCAA found that accepting cash wasn't enough to make Maggette aware he might be forfeiting his eligibility.

Personally, I think the Maggette case is an irrational anomaly in light of other NCAA precedent and expect that Memphis will get at least tagged for lost revenue ala UCLA. More likely since Memphis is a school without any political pull and with a history of recruiting irregularities, the NCAA will make an example of them despite the fact that the NCAA cleared Rose, Rose's conduct occurred before he stepped on campus, and there was no finding of institutional issues or individual fault among any of the coaches or administrators.

[MalReyn]

Of course now it's coming out that Robert Dozier's SAT scores are in question.

I think everyone has known for ages that Calipari tends to bend the rules. It'll be interesting to see if he bent them too far. The article sounds pretty damning. It'll probably be awhile before there's a hearing on this, but it certainly isn't helping in light of the Rose fiasco.