NBC News: "The FBI Has Arrested Several NCAA Assistant Basketball Coaches"

[1972Shocker]

But the issues are very, very tightly linked. Who draws the line? Where? The Top 50 budgets? Top 75 budgets?

I already don't watch College Football.

Alcorn State is competing the same division as Ohio State. They can win the same national championship. Is it likely? No. But they have a path. They can win their conference tourney, and then go 150/154 from 3 over 7 games to win the national championship.

The NCAA draws the line right now. And Alcorn State apparently satisfies the established criteria. I suppose no one forces you to play those teams although I guess you could argue that the Power 5 teams refusal to play teams like Wichita State has forced them to either schedule SWAC/MEAC team or just punt and play a D-II which seems to be the preferred option these days.

I must admit I have never gone into March Madness thinking a 16 seed was going to get hot enough to win the tournament. Win one game, maybe. Of course, we are still waiting for that to happen. That is a possibility.

The ultimate fate of these schools at the bottom of D-1 will no doubt be determined by their finances.

[im4wsu]

What's the pricetag for 3-5 years of your life?

Whatever my doctor charges to keep me alive.

[ShockCrazy]

And as employees can be hired and fired at will. College sports is already a cesspool of greed and self-interest as it is--if we introduce the players themselves as paid professionals with market based salaries and it gets even worse. College sports will be unwatchable at that point. The entire idea of college sports is that the emphasis is on the team, the institution, not the individual. It began as a way to provide students a means to afford their education, not be a job. If athletes become employees we will have turned upside down the entire point of having athletics in college.

Again, college athletes get scholarships. It is a form of compensation for their time and efforts in representing the University. Now they're getting cost of attendance stipends, which I do support. The very worst thing that could happen to the athletes themselves is for them to become paid professionals.

I have bad news for you. Student-athletes are also "fired at will" with scholarships being pulled, why do you really think transfers are so prevalent now, why is there so much over recruiting? I believe the only universities which currently guarantee 4 year athletic scholarships are Northwestern and the Ivy league. I think you are putting your head in the sand if you think that college athletics aren't currently operating like this, the only difference is the athletes aren't the ones getting the pay checks. Why is it about the institution first? That is so bizarre to me. That's not the purpose of college. That's not why I went there, it's not why you went there, it makes zero sense. I mean sure we can have a noble version of athletics that's just about the institution, but well we probably need to let Marshall go cause we should probably only pay a coach around 100K if we are being responsible and about the institution, we need to stop upping the ante in facilities, kinda unnecessary to the universities benefit. We also probably should reduce price of tickets/saso donations to exclusively cover program expenses for travel, scholarships, and upkeep of facilities. Guess we are all off the hook for the nice new athletics facilities! Go Shocks!

[Dan]

The FBI needs to come down hard on the cheaters so as to open some eyes and make coaches think twice about doing this going forward.
As for the paying of players, that's why we have professional basketball. They need to let kids go pro right out of high school, or stay amateur and go to college. That's it. Just like baseball. There may be a flood of kids trying to go pro at first, but it will settle down once kids realize their best chance to make the NBA is to spend 2-3 years in college getting developed and getting exposure to scouts.

[1972Shocker]

And as employees can be hired and fired at will. College sports is already a cesspool of greed and self-interest as it is--if we introduce the players themselves as paid professionals with market based salaries and it gets even worse. College sports will be unwatchable at that point. The entire idea of college sports is that the emphasis is on the team, the institution, not the individual. It began as a way to provide students a means to afford their education, not be a job. If athletes become employees we will have turned upside down the entire point of having athletics in college.

Again, college athletes get scholarships. It is a form of compensation for their time and efforts in representing the University. Now they're getting cost of attendance stipends, which I do support. The very worst thing that could happen to the athletes themselves is for them to become paid professionals.

I don't think @ShockCrazy is necessarily arguing for any of that although he can address that. This all started when someone made the claim that College Athletics in its current form establishes the Fair Market Value of a college basketball player. @ShockCrazy did not agree with that and I think he is correct on that abstract question. Clearly the current system estalishes what the NCAA and its members deem the value of a college basketball palyers is but it is hardly a Fair Market Value. It is essentially the equivalent of a government imposed wage and price control. This is what the value is and it's not negotiable.

What college basketball looks like once the smoke all clears on this remains to be seen. I would anticipate some changes but collegiate sports are already going through major changes over the past decade with all the realignment and huge TV contracts. While there really is no market in the official system to determine an individual players worth there is a market that determines which programs and conferences are considered more valuable to media outlets and there is little doubt that there has been some major separation in the finances of the haves and the have nots and the gap seems to be widening moving forward. At what point will their be a total separation of the haves and have nots? Maybe there will be separation and maybe not. But no denying that there is a huge pile of money at stake and those that have it aren't too interested in sharing it.

[Dan]

another think about paying players is that big time football and men's basketball are really the only 2 sports that make significant money. If they start paying these players, you can throw all the Title IX stuff out the window unless you're proposing having these players subsidize paychecks for every other student athlete.

[RoyalShock]

I'm calling it now . . . Barry Hinson to Louisville.


There won't be any expectations to make the NCAA tournament for awhile!

[Kung Wu]

College sports is already a cesspool of greed and self-interest as it is--if we introduce the players themselves as paid professionals with market based salaries and it gets even worse.

So let's throw an absurd and just crazy hypothetical into the mix. Let's say now that the college kids are paid and you have a recruit -- I dunno, just to be insane -- let's say he decides to go to an all vegan diet right before he signs his contract. So they negotiate in their contract that they have to be allowed to have an all vegan meal. But it turns out that's a really tough obligation to meet when the team is traveling, because nobody knows where you can actually acquire a meal that meets the kid's expectation. Now the employer doesn't care if he keeps his diet, but the kid has to show up to practice when he is told to do so -- I mean that just makes sense right? But now, I guess the university could have an employee quit or otherwise get fired mid-season, because cheese keeps ending up on his salad and he's not capable of finding a suitable alternative restaurant in the other 21 hours of his time off.

And just to be clear, I am not sure what my point is.

[RoyalShock]

So let's throw an absurd and just crazy hypothetical into the mix. Let's say now that the college kids are paid and you have a recruit -- I dunno, just to be insane -- let's say he decides to go to an all vegan diet right before he signs his contract. So they negotiate in their contract that they have to be allowed to have an all vegan meal. But it turns out that's a really tough obligation to meet when the team is traveling, because nobody knows where you can actually acquire a meal that meets the kid's expectation. Now the employer doesn't care if he keeps his diet, but the kid has to show up to practice when he is told to do so -- I mean that just makes sense right? But now, I guess the university could have an employee quit or otherwise get fired mid-season, because cheese keeps ending up on his salad and he's not capable of finding a suitable alternative restaurant in the other 21 hours of his time off.

And just to be clear, I am not sure what my point is.

Cleanthony, is that you?

[rjl]

Anyone hungry for a KU angle in this can start by looking at the KU guys who signed Adidas contracts days after declaring for the draft.

[Stickboy46]

Anyone hungry for a KU angle in this can start by looking at the KU guys who signed Adidas contracts days after declaring for the draft.

No one has any doubt that KU paid to land a few recruits (or at least got them guaranteed money after leaving) ... I don't know if anyone has any proof though.

[Kochaddict]

This is one of the best threads ever.

[Sam Axe]

Now that we know Pitino is "Coach 2" in spite of his eloquent denial, there should be no doubt that Slick Rick was also involved in the hooker scandal at Lville. Afterall, the complaint revealed "no one swings a bigger dick than Coach 2..."

[wheathead]

This is one of best threads ever.

I can't keep up with everyone's takes. I just scan for the hyperlinks.

[Shoxthemonkey]

A reporter on ESPN OTL just told Bob Ley that the interim president at Louisville told Jurich to fire Pitino on several prior occasions and was told no every time. Pretty easy to see that they thought they were bigger than the school.