...says Denzel Valentine of Big Ten Tourney favorite MSU, which is 5-7 in its last 12 games. Cumong, man.
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OT: Pahokee dismissed from 7 on 7 tourney
July 19th, 2009 at 12:37 AM
#1
OT: Pahokee dismissed from 7 on 7 tourney
I was reading an article about the Nike 7 on 7 camp and came across this interesting note about our favorite school in the muck:
"Northwestern and Pahokee (Fla.) stood atop of their respective pools after day one of the event. The Bulls and Blue Devils appeared to be on a path to meet in the finals. However, Pahokee was dismissed from the tournament for 'a variety of reasons' regarding a lack of respect for others, according to camp officials.
'Every team was briefed on our code of conduct policy on Wednesday. We had a conversation with every team about what the expected level of behavior would be on campus. Essentially, [Pahokee] violated that code of conduct, and they were dismissed from the tournament.'"
Now, I don't personally know the players who have come up to Michigan, however I have heard that they are good hardworking individuals. It just makes me wonder how/if a change of environment could affect these kids.
Edit:Link
July 19th, 2009 at 12:50 AM
#2
That's pretty strange.. it's
That's pretty strange.. it's behind a paywall so I can't comment any further.
July 19th, 2009 at 9:43 AM
#3
That's all it says about
That's all it says about Pahokee. Just ambiguous and strange..
July 19th, 2009 at 12:56 AM
#4
We'll just give Tosu any of
We'll just give Tosu any of the misfits who can't behave.
July 19th, 2009 at 1:19 AM
#5
without knowing what actually
without knowing what actually happened it's unfair to comment
July 19th, 2009 at 10:59 AM
#6
Agreed, cosigned, etc...
Agreed, cosigned, etc...
But, this can only be negative p.r. It's just not good for anyone; except our critics.
July 19th, 2009 at 10:52 AM
#7
Nike just released a statement...
Wow, apparently camp officials said, "They just weren't our kind of crowd."
July 19th, 2009 at 11:24 AM
#8
will campbell
if i recall correctly, will cambell said in an interview that there are some weird dudes from florida on the team. not sure if he is talkin about the same players as this though
July 19th, 2009 at 1:10 PM
#9
I recall that too. It's hard
I recall that too. It's hard to know when he's serious though. And it's not really clear what he meant if he was serious. I sure wish the season would start. Man, I just repeated Don's comment. Is there a delete button here?
July 19th, 2009 at 1:58 PM
#10
Nope, you're screwed. We all
Nope, you're screwed. We all think you're a complete moron now. Sorry. (hopefully your sarcasm detector is working properly)
July 19th, 2009 at 8:48 PM
#11
I would have to say...
that Will is just joking most of the time. He's the kind of guy that likes to joke around with the other guys on the team from what I've seen. I don't think you can take too much away from Will saying anything about them, and I would even take it the opposite way and say he said that because he got along with them. All of this is only my opinion though.
July 19th, 2009 at 9:30 AM
#12
that's really weird but
that's really weird but details are needed.
July 19th, 2009 at 9:51 AM
#13
Purely speculation
I lived in that South Florida area from 3rd grade all the way thru graduating high school, and based on my time down there, my guess is they were being incredibly disrespectful to other teams, like talking an immense amount of crap.
South Florida is like being in another country, I moved to ATL after there and it was like a whole nother planet because everyone was so much friendlier. You may be thinking that "Well, all kids are disrespectful and talk crap", however I would remind you this is the same area that Miami and FIU do almost all of their recruiting, and they had that huge brawl like no other before it. Maybe it's something in the water, ha.
I could be wrong, but that is what I expect to hear from my experiences down there.
July 20th, 2009 at 10:39 AM
#14
According to the South
According to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel today, last year's team got into a brawl at the same tournament. but were not booted out. So this year's team must have found something more offensive to do?
July 19th, 2009 at 10:09 AM
#15
From a pure PR standpoint, the only thing worse
for the program right at this time would be for RR recruits to get into trouble up in Ann Arbor. Sure, we can issue all the standard and reasonable caveats about "waiting for all the details to come out before we pass judgement" and "let's not paint everyone from there with a broad brush" etc etc etc, but you know that UM's recruiting opponents will do no such thing. Since there's no real news going on in college football, this will get the sort of attention it never would in the middle of the season. RR's critics and rival coaches will jump on this, and unfortunately they'll portray it as a vindication of Wermers's comment about the character of some of the kids RR has recruited. It doesn't matter if all of the Michigan kids from south Florida are choir-singing church-going-yes-ma'am upright youngsters, they'll be lumped in with the kids down in Pahokee right now who were so out of control they got bumped from the tournament.
July 19th, 2009 at 1:35 PM
#16
That response was very Dandy,
That response was very Dandy, Don.
July 20th, 2009 at 6:38 AM
#17
This story
will have no effect on the Michigan program. I'm not sure RR's rival coaches will jump on this story - those rival coaches in recruiting, who include Lane Kiffin (who really has no business criticizing anything within a 50-mile radius of Pahokee right now) Bobby Bowden and Urban Meyer, are regularly recruiting and signing kids from Pahokee.
Jesus, everyone is really grasping for straws.
July 19th, 2009 at 11:23 AM
#18
I don't think
M has any Pahokee recruits this year, so it wouldn't be players coming to Michigan.
July 19th, 2009 at 12:41 PM
#19
Vincent Smith and Brandin Hawthorne are freshman Pahokee guys
who are early enrollees. Soph Odoms is also from Pahokee. Weird comment by Will Campbell, though... was he being intentionally silly, or was he alluding to something more serious? Was he referring to the non-Pahokee guys from Florida?
The season cannot get here quickly enough.
July 19th, 2009 at 1:46 PM
#20
Vincent is a very nice guy
I was his RA this year, and his roomate was t-rob, both were very mild mannered, at least in the dorms. Tate was actually more boisterous.
Vince seemed like a nice, quiet guy. I've also seen Odoms on rounds in West Quad, and he never seemed to act a fool either.
As for Will Campbell, I think he just kinda likes to say provocative things for his amusement, he always hung out with guys on my floor (he lived on the floor above us). He's a character too. It's a funny thing to see a 300 lb mammoth walk around with one of those kiddie TMNT backpacks lol.
July 19th, 2009 at 8:53 PM
#21
I would think so...
That is basically what I expected out of Big Will. I would agree that he was just poking fun at some of his teammates. I see many more comments coming from him in the future. That's good to hear about the young guys too. I don't want Odoms to ever "act a fool" either, so that's good to hear.
July 20th, 2009 at 6:39 AM
#22
Right
so we don't have any 2010 recruits from Pahokee.
July 19th, 2009 at 2:32 PM
#23
Sorry, should have been clearer
what I meant was that Michigan does not have a verbal (and likely will not receive one) from any of the players currently playing in the 7-7 tourney. I know Michigan has current players from Pahokee, but nobody in the class that was booted from that tourney.
July 19th, 2009 at 12:38 PM
#24
Pahokee will rise.
Pahokee will rise.
July 19th, 2009 at 1:23 PM
#25
The Real story is one of the
The Real story is one of the kids from Pahokee dunked on Lebron James. The kids tried to smuggle the tape past the Fascist Nike Oppressors...Viva La Résistance
July 19th, 2009 at 1:36 PM
#26
The MucK
The Muck is a place that is hard to describe. Living in S FL for the past 15 years and hearing about this does not suprise me. It still makes me sad but doesn't suprise me. Most of you may not know but they were disqualified last year for fighting the Booker T Washington team after their matchup. Washington won the game and after the game ended the Pahokee players rushed the Washington bench and started throwing punches.
July 19th, 2009 at 1:34 PM
#27
huh?
how does this have anything to do with Michigan's image? I can think of 3809454594504859 other things that are worse than this for Michigans image.
That being said, how the fuck is grabing a pipe to attack someone even in the thought process of players. Thats fucked up.
July 19th, 2009 at 2:05 PM
#28
Pahokee isn't Michigan, nor
Pahokee isn't Michigan, nor is it affiliated with Michigan. We have three alumni of the school on our team, but none participated in this tournament. We aren't recruiting anyone who participated in whatever happened. This literally does not reflect on Michigan in the least.
July 19th, 2009 at 2:40 PM
#29
This literally does not reflect on Michigan in the least
You and I believe, with good reason, that it doesn't and shouldn't reflect on Michigan in the least, but my point was that our competitors will not hesitate to try to link RR's recruited players to this if they think they can get an advantage from it. It's not as though the concept of guilt by association needs a shred of validity or truthfulness for it to be effective with some people.
At the minimum, it appears as though the Pahokee football players may be in dire need of some positive leadership.
July 19th, 2009 at 2:54 PM
#30
What exactly would our
What exactly would our competitors do? Tell recruits, "Don't go to Michigan because some other kids who went to the same high school as some Michigan recruits got in trouble"?
July 19th, 2009 at 9:54 PM
#31
Parents.
I don't think some random Pahokee players talking trash or even fighting is going to automatically scare any serious Michigan recruit away; however, Pahokee developing a "troublemaker" reputation can hurt recruiting.
Parents and coaches have enormous influence in the lives and decisions of lots kids during the recruiting process. All it takes is some half remembered news about "troublesome Pahokee kids" and the fact that Michigan has heavily recruited there (and may again), to sour some parents and coaches and for them to steer their kids elsewhere.
Jim Tressel: Oh yeah Mr. & Mrs. Recruit, Michigan's a fine school too if you don't mind all those "Pahokee kids", you of course remember all those incidents. No no I'm sure your little Johnny wouldn't pick up any of their bad habits.
July 19th, 2009 at 11:04 PM
#32
Okies from Pahokee
Its very hard to concentrate on Jabberwock's comments.
I just crack up each time I see that Photo show up.
Perhaps we should recruit Okies from Pahokee?
July 20th, 2009 at 6:42 AM
#33
Our competitors?
In recruiting, like who, Urban Meyer? Lane Kiffin? Bobby Bowden? Or dozens of other schools who offer Pahokee players? What benefit would they get from disparaging Rich Rod for taking Pahokee players if they wanted those same players to sign for their program?
July 21st, 2009 at 3:12 AM
#34
i couldnt agree more with
i couldnt agree more with you. Also Pahokee is one of the hottest recruiting breeding grounds in the country, probably in the top ten year in, year out. I would bet most schools that can get their paws on the studs down in Pahokee will be willing to take the risk of a sketchy kid because they have so much talent. Im not saying that the kids from Pahokee are sketchy but clearly its difficult to grow up in that area. Heck, if this scares school away from recruiting that area then more studs for us.
July 19th, 2009 at 7:58 PM
#35
This abuse of the word "literally"
literally made my head explode.
July 20th, 2009 at 3:50 AM
#36
It may not literally reflect on Michigan
But it will figuratively destroy the university.
July 19th, 2009 at 2:40 PM
#37
Torrian Wilson...
TW is a Northwestern kid. I doubt this would sour his outlook of Pahokee past the 7on7, but you wonder to the extent he might question the character of the guys we already have at Michigan.
To answer my own question: likely not at all. Just a weird turn of events I think we all agree was unfortunate.
July 19th, 2009 at 3:50 PM
#38
do we know for sure
that our brahs were in this fight, or is it very likely that they were. i missed this detail and i cant read the entire article
July 19th, 2009 at 8:32 PM
#39
So why don't you read the
So why don't you read the comments above?
July 19th, 2009 at 4:08 PM
#40
pahokee is full of violence,
pahokee is full of violence, and thats what you learn growing up living there. thats all you know and having that 'gang' mentallity when you are with the whole team doesnt really help. im sure once the certain individuals are brought to places that teach respect they can change.
July 20th, 2009 at 6:43 AM
#41
Have you lived there?
This is an interesting conclusion to jump to, as if people living in Pahokee have no concept of "respect" until they arrive at the glistening beacon on the hill that is Ann Arbor.
July 19th, 2009 at 9:09 PM
#42
It is startling the degree to
It is startling the degree to which we will speculate about a report like this and how little we actually know about what transpired. It is wise in these instances to reserve judgment, let the proper authorities handle it and let the Pahokee players whom we will come to "know" have the chance to demonstrate who they are. It is all to easy to take a story like this, dip it in the paint can and start painting everyone the same colour. This is how prejudice is born.
July 20th, 2009 at 9:22 AM
#43
I don't know who
would possibly give you a negative for this post as there doesn't seem to be anything terrible in it IME. Therefore, though I wouldn't ordinarily give a post like this a point, I give you a +1 to even the score.
On another note, I agree that the boys down South won't be able to use this as ammunition but I would think that Tressel and our other competitors could find it easy to spin. Reality very rarely matters, it is perception that seems to override it more often than not. I can see our competitors ATTEMPTING to change peoples perception based on a story like this. Would they succeed? I hope the hell not.
August 10th, 2009 at 3:04 AM
#44
beyond speculation
Having spoken to a source at Nike, the head coach is ultimately to blame for having little control over his players. The players were reflective of the head coach.
A response by Pahokee's head coach confirms their misbehavior (http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/sports/highschool/palm/blog/2009/07/paho...)
How is this relevant to UM? Well, in light of the reason for Feagin's dismissal, RR should be carefully considering what type of program his recruits are coming from. This is not to say every kid from Pahokee is a thug. A more careful look is needed when a recruit is coming from a program led by a head coach who does not place importance on character.
