OT - Chicago Sun-Times report on shady hoops recruiting
The Chicago Sun-TImes is reporting that the father of highly recruited Chicago area hoopster is seeking big bucks for a commitment. The reports from three sources surfaced after the kid reduced his list to Kentucky, Syracuse and Ohio State.
http://www.suntimes.com/sports/preps/2571594,CST-SPT-cruit06.article
The player's AAU coach is former Michigan football and basketball player, Tai Streets. Kentucky and the father have issued denials.
August 6th, 2010 at 11:32 AM ^
but if you click on the link, check out the unibrow on that kid. Holy Crap.
August 6th, 2010 at 11:37 AM ^
Holy crap on that brow! It's called wax, son.
Also, I will withhold judgement till the facts come out (could be a rumor started by a slighted fan somewhere), but, Kentucky cheating to get a player? Yeah, uh... not exactly shocking.
August 6th, 2010 at 11:37 AM ^
Holy crap. Does not compute.
August 6th, 2010 at 11:43 AM ^
I generally feel bad poking fun at a high school kid, but WOW... I think they need to do a follow-up article about his eyebrow.
August 6th, 2010 at 11:55 AM ^
sorry for the poor quality, its all I could find
August 6th, 2010 at 11:56 AM ^
When I was on one of my spring breaks back in college, one of my friends took charcoal and painted a fake unibrow on his face to be funny and freak random Jamaicans out. As awesome as his fake one was, it did not come anywhere NEAR that dude's real one...
August 6th, 2010 at 11:35 AM ^
Beware of Chicago Sun-Times reporting...
August 6th, 2010 at 11:36 AM ^
August 6th, 2010 at 11:50 AM ^
what has Cuse ever done wrong? Boeheim runs a clean program
August 6th, 2010 at 11:53 AM ^
is that they might have been in it, bidding against the other two schools.
August 6th, 2010 at 12:07 PM ^
I didn't get the impression from the article that Cuse was involved in a bidding war. All it said was that representitives from the 3 schools have confirmed to the Sun Times that the kid's dad asked for money. If Cuse is recruiting a kid who asks for money that's not their fault. All they can do is say no thanks and let the appropriate authorities know, which it seems like they did.
the three schools that served as the paper's sources were different from the three schools that are the finalists (DePaul now added as a 4th).
August 6th, 2010 at 12:58 PM ^
Cuse and Boeheim has run afoul of the NCAA before, in the late 80's. Either 88-89, there were a rash of illegal co-signed car loans, which lead to the dismissal of basketball players and the forfeiting of an NCAA lacrosse championship. Just saying
I was apparently talking without knowing any facts. I found this NYT article from 1992 about major violations within the Cuse basketball program:
http://www.nytimes.com/1992/10/02/sports/colleges-ncaa-calls-a-two-year…
Maybe it's because Boeheim gives off that grandfatherly vibe and is in the HOF that I assumed the program was always clean
What a great read, like a trip down memory lane. Funny that the article doesn't mentioning the vacating of the lacrosse title, which is what really pissed (and still does) people off around here.
Having met Boeheim and seen his players, I think he runs a class program. Unfortunately, basketball recruiting is as sleazy as it ever was, and AAU doesn't help. But I'm not gonna hold my breath for the NC$$ to do anything.
August 6th, 2010 at 12:00 PM ^
With extra dirt
August 6th, 2010 at 12:30 PM ^
Don't ignore OSU in this situation. While I can't imagine they would pay $200K for a player, they are known by other programs as being "dirty". It is a fairly regular practice for heavily recruited basketball players to demand bits of money along the recruiting trail. This isn't Escalade money, but it's usually an family member or friend requesting, say, $2K for the recruit to open a letter...$1K for a recruit to return a phone call...$3K for a recruit to accept an in-home visit. The demands drip during the entire process. OSU, from what I've heard, is not above fulfilling those demands.
August 6th, 2010 at 12:53 PM ^
Do you have any proof besides second or thirdhand info?
Yes. I do. I know it sucks to do so, but I have to keep my sources unnamed, so let's go with "coaching staff from a Big Ten program" requested to pay the same funds.
August 6th, 2010 at 12:58 PM ^
At the Freep, Mark Snyder is hard at work on a column where he'll blame RichRod's lack of Family Values for retroactively tainting Tai Streets *and* causing all the trouble with the Davises and Kentucky.
surprise that basketball recruiting is dirty? I know a couple of players(not playing for Michigan) who told me that they have been offerred money to commit to their schools. It's pretty prevalent in basketball recruiting.
I've always wondered who has enough spare cash lying around to pay 200K to a high schooler. There can only be two or three alumni from most schools with the combination of cash and "morals" required to payoff an 18 year old.
I have often wondered that too. And even if you have that money, how much of an unhealthy obsession is it that you would want to spend that money on paying some kid to play basketball or football at your favorite school? Seems kind of creepy to me, actually.
When I read about basketball recruiting, I feel like I need to take a shower immediately afterward. The worst part about it is hearing that these AAU coaches are often in on it and making money by acting as the kids' gatekeepers. And then there are the parents who use their kids to make money.
that most of these AAU "coaches" have no real qualifications to teach young men how to play basketball. High school coaches constantly complain that their kids develop bad habits over the summer.
I'm convinced that the entire AAU system is broken beyond repair. Just scrap it entirely. That alone would dramatically clean up basketball recruiting.