NCAA investigating Butler after Calipari complains

[Aargh]

INDIANAPOLIS--Butler's run in the NCAA Men's Basketball National Championship Game may be tarnished after reports surfaced today that all 13 players on the roster are being given good educations in an effort to help them find good jobs after they leave the school. "It's important to remember that right now these are only allegations -- allegations that we are looking into," said NCAA president James Isch. "But, obviously, if true, this would be very disappointing. The NCAA has certain expectations and standards. It's not fair for players at one school to be given good educations while athletes at other member schools receive basic, remedial instruction that is worth essentially nothing." According to documents seized from the school's registrar's office, Butler players have received an education worth $38,616 per year totaling more than $150,000 over a four-year career.

Compare that to player at a school like Kentucky , where tuition is set at $4,051 -- but with an actual value far below that. “We don't want to say too much until these reports are confirmed," said Kentucky head basketball coach John Calipari. "But we're talking about almost $140,000 difference in education per player -- and that's even if my players stayed four years or graduated, which most of them do not. Then these Butler players are reportedly stepping into good paying jobs after graduation while my kids, if they don't make the NBA, have absolutely no job prospects or life skills. It's far from a balanced playing field. They are buying the best players by giving them a high-priced education."

In addition to the allegations that they were given an expensive education, many Butler players have been spotted around campus holding books, studying and engaging in interesting conversations. Others have been seen with people who are known to not be tutors. Butler point guard and Kentucky native Ronald Nored, who is reportedly a secondary education major, denied allegations that the Bulldog program is cheating. "The discourse on this matter is fatuous and inane," he said, implicating the program further.

[ShockTalk]

Re: NCAA investigating Butler after Calipari complains

INDIANAPOLIS--Butler's run in the NCAA Men's Basketball National Championship Game may be tarnished after reports surfaced today that all 13 players on the roster are being given good educations in an effort to help them find good jobs after they leave the school. "It's important to remember that right now these are only allegations -- allegations that we are looking into," said NCAA president James Isch. "But, obviously, if true, this would be very disappointing. The NCAA has certain expectations and standards. It's not fair for players at one school to be given good educations while athletes at other member schools receive basic, remedial instruction that is worth essentially nothing." According to documents seized from the school's registrar's office, Butler players have received an education worth $38,616 per year totaling more than $150,000 over a four-year career.

Compare that to player at a school like Kentucky , where tuition is set at $4,051 -- but with an actual value far below that. “We don't want to say too much until these reports are confirmed," said Kentucky head basketball coach John Calipari. "But we're talking about almost $140,000 difference in education per player -- and that's even if my players stayed four years or graduated, which most of them do not. Then these Butler players are reportedly stepping into good paying jobs after graduation while my kids, if they don't make the NBA, have absolutely no job prospects or life skills. It's far from a balanced playing field. They are buying the best players by giving them a high-priced education."

In addition to the allegations that they were given an expensive education, many Butler players have been spotted around campus holding books, studying and engaging in interesting conversations. Others have been seen with people who are known to not be tutors. Butler point guard and Kentucky native Ronald Nored, who is reportedly a secondary education major, denied allegations that the Bulldog program is cheating. "The discourse on this matter is fatuous and inane," he said, implicating the program further.

[ShockTalk]

Aargh - You should ship that off to Butler's fan forum. No point in sending it to the UK board, they wouldn't understand it anyway.

[SpanglerFan316]

http://www.salukitalk.net/st/viewtopic.php?t=32765

[Kung Wu]

That's awesome!

I wonder who originated it?

[RoyalShock]

I think it's an Onion article and has been around since a few days after the championship game.

[SubGod22]

I received that in an email from my brother this morning. A good one to be sure

[SHOCKvalue]

The basic tone and thrust of the that spoof is not amusing whatsoever.

Am I the only one who recognizes it? Seriously?

Here's a hint: sub in your favorite MVC private school, and your favorite MVC public school, into the article and tell me what fan base it sounds like.

I don't mean to poo on the recent Butler PR party, but I'm willing to bet that in real life many of them are very similar to sCUm. If we were in the same conference, and interacting at the same tournaments and on the same internet forums, we'd have the same relational dynamics that we do with the trust fund babies up in Omaha.

[shockar25]

Good one man! It's the irony of that 'article' that makes me even more proud to be a fan of a 'mid-major' program after Butler's run than ever.

:goshocks:

[GarH]

AAA+++ for Aargh. That's hillarious!!!!!!

If shockernet had a Hall of Fame for posts, that would be a winner.

[ISASO]

The basic tone and thrust of the that spoof is not amusing whatsoever.

Am I the only one who recognizes it? Seriously?

Here's a hint: sub in your favorite MVC private school, and your favorite MVC public school, into the article and tell me what fan base it sounds like.

I don't mean to poo on the recent Butler PR party, but I'm willing to bet that in real life many of them are very similar to sCUm. If we were in the same conference, and interacting at the same tournaments and on the same internet forums, we'd have the same relational dynamics that we do with the trust fund babies up in Omaha.

At least Butler has some Tourney success to back up their alleged uppity-ness. And their coach's name isn't Diana.

[mproviz]

Re: NCAA investigating Butler after Calipari complains

INDIANAPOLIS--Butler's run in the NCAA Men's Basketball Butler point guard and Kentucky native Ronald Nored, who is reportedly a secondary education major, denied allegations that the Bulldog program is cheating. "The discourse on this matter is fatuous and inane," he said, implicating the program further.

[jocoshock]

Of course if it were a real article, it would even be more hilarious after Calipari realized that he had just done in Georgetown, Notre Dame, Boston College, and Stanford - not to mention Duke....

Oops!!!! 8)

[SpanglerFan316]

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/03/15/ncaa

Interesting
Posted by Steve on March 16, 2010 at 4:15pm EDT

Of course, this does not account for whether or not the students actually deserved to stay in good academic standing.
Kansas' athletic department was hit with probation within the last two years for lack of institutional control and academic fraud for a reason.



More Than Interesting
Posted by Frank G. Splitt , Member at The Drake Group on April 12, 2010 at 11:00am EDT

With reference to Steve's March 16, 2010, comment, "Interesting," where he said "Of course, this does not account for whether or not the students actually deserved to stay in good academic standing."

March Madness 2010 title-game schools Butler and Duke have reported graduation rates that equal or exceed 90-percent of their men's basketball players. However, this by no means indicates that they and other school's play by the rules, that is, that they and other schools selected for the March Madness tournament can field championship-caliber teams with athletes who are not only academically outstanding, but also are integral parts of the student body and the school's accredited educational programs, as well as not exploited for professional or commercial purposes.

Without transparency, accountability, and independent oversight, there is no way of knowing what's going on re: the real as opposed to the reported academic life of the athletes at Butler, Duke, and the other teams that the NCAA declared eligible for their 2010 March Madness basketball tournament. Tangible evidence of institutional academic integrity is exceedingly difficult to ascertain.

On the contrary, what has become apparent is that many of the eligible schools have become masters of deceit and deception. These schools have literally made an art form of conjuring up education-lite, degree programs for their athletes so they can sustain the student-athlete myth and report high graduation rates.

The schools employ combinations of athletics-beholden and/or intimidated faculty, clustering of athletes in customized easy courses and special-study programs, as well as other innovative cheating and scamming mechanisms to maintain the eligibility of their athletes as well as rationalize the granting of diploma-mill-like degrees for far less than a real college education.

Indy Star investigative reporter Mark Alesia’s breakthrough research on and analysis of graduation rates for Final-Four players should prove to be a valuable resource for the U. S. Department of Education and the Senate Finance Committee. The related database shows evidence of clustering and easy majors. See "They got game, but do NCAA players graduate?"; Indianapolis Star, April 2, 2010,

http://www.indystar.com/article/20100402/SPORTS0609/4020331/In-NCAA-they-can-play-but-how-many-graduate

Hopefully, Education Secretary Arne Duncan and others won't be fooled by reported graduation rates. For more, see "Factoring Academics into March Madness Tournament Eligibility, http://thedrakegroup.org/Splitt_NCAA_Tournament.pdf.

[Aargh]

From the Drake Report:

Nonetheless, simply
weighing graduation rates and/or academic progress rates (APRs) as part of tournament eligibility
would shine a light on the NCAA cartel's operations and pressure the NCAA to not only comply
with its basic purpose and its principle of amateurism,3 but also comply with the tax-exempt
requirement that its athletes be legitimate degree-seeking students that are maintained as an
integral part of their school’s student bodies—or else risk loosing its tax exempt status.

These are supposed to be intelligent people and they've apparently set out to prove that it is impossible to spell the any form of the word "lose" correctly on the Internet.
I don't mind stuff like that on messaage boards or informal conversations, but not from a group that should know how to use a freaking spell checker.