If you’re on campus this semester, there is no way you haven’t seen Fab Melo, C.J. Fair, Baye Mousse Keita or Dion Waiters yet. These guys are larger than life. Consider the Fizz Tweet archives:
“Fab is at Schine. He dwarfs CJ Fair who’s right next to him. Defense anyone?”
We’ve seen plenty from the incoming class already around school, and Midnight Madness is sure to impress next month.
However, as an avid reader of The Fizz, you know it could have been more. The Orange was finalists for two other high-profile players. Recent events suggest, though, it may not have been a fair fight based on recent transgressions with both coaches.
The two players in question: Tobias Harris and Brandon Knight.
In everyone’s mind, Harris fit with the star-studded SU class of 2010. The Fizz monitored his Twitter Feed as he visited campus and all signs pointed to the Hill.
That was until the last minute trip to Knoxville for a chat with Bruce Pearl, a dead giveaway to Couzens at the time.
‚ÄúMaybe the least surprising thing I‚Äôve heard all day. After the extra visit to UT on the way back from Georgia Tech, it was pretty much a giveaway. If anything, give the kid credit. He kept us captivated all along and jacked up his Twitter following.”
Now headlines for Tennessee’s vaunted recruiting class have been replaced with these: “Facing uncertain future with Vols, contrite Pearl hopes for the best.” Bruce Pearl is more worried about keeping his job after having made impermissible phone calls to recruits and pictures of them in his house surfaced.
Meantime, Brandon Knight’s trip to Kentucky seemed a little more run-of-the mill. Star point guard + John Calipari + One year rule = Big Money for UK and the expected number-one overall pick.
Cal expectedly pulled in the top recruit in the country and seemed to dance around the rules with other commits.
Eric Bledsoe became a genius before his freshman year.¬†Enes Kanter’s probably not getting cleared to play.
In fact, there’s a good chance Calipari doesn’t have a validated season until 2013!
Knight is an exception to this academic problem that has existed in the Cal-pliance Department because of his 4.0 GPA. However, Cal’s reputation for shadiness has followed him to Lexington.
Did SU get a fair shake at two of the top players in the class of 2010? Good chance it didn’t. But not because of anything the Orange staff has done. It’s what they haven’t done – which is getting the whistle blown on them.
Posted: Ted Conroy
7 responses to “Pearl’s Apology Leaves SU Feeling Cheated”
Amen to that, my man! Now let’s hope the NCAA doesn’t hand out a ‘Paris Hilton tap on the wrist’ sentence, but instead imposes significant penalties for those programs that are found to be in violation of the rules. In Tennessee’s case, the fact that the Head Coach admits to wrong-doing eliminates any speculation.
As usual, bring up Coach Calipari, at least when you check his NCAA record there is NO violations, but when you check Pearl’s you find where he has violations for not being truthful to the NCAA and now he has done it again, sounds like a broken record ? UT fans are just jealous that Cal kicks Pearl’s butt in recruiting year after tear. Cal’s Cats-SEC Conf. & Tour. Champs 2009
LA Orange,
The fact that Pearl lied, then admitted it makes things so scary for his tenure. The NCAA destroyed Sampson for the exact same thing (Winn mentions it in the SI article I linked.)
Bledsoe and UK’s case is a little more murky, because Pete Thamel, who originally reported, was disputed, and it comes down to teachers changing grades. However, it doesn’t help for Blue that the precedent on this is set by Derrick Rose’s SAT adventure.
Katbluefan-
I am just going to lay it out for you straight. Coach Cal is not actually a good basketball coach. He is a very talented recruiter, but that doesn’t make him a good coach. He just stockpiles talent in hopes that it will eventually proves sufficient enough to mask his lack of knowledge as a coach, and the fact that he hasn’t committed a violation by the NCAA’s standards doesn’t mean he hasn’t facilitated the breaking of rules by playing ineligible players in the first place. The reason players like to play for him is because he runs a loose ship. Class is realistically optional and UK basketball players run that campus and kids like that freedom.
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