Placentasaurus

November 12th, 2010 at 11:49 AM ^

I don't see how this is that much different than RR taking a chance at signing Demar Dorsey. 5 Star kid, but other schools were backing off him because they knew there was little hope in signing the guy. The only difference is academics vs. amateur status. I don't think many of us blame RR for trying to sign Dorsey, but we seem pretty quick to pounce on Calipari trying to sign this guy. 

bryemye

November 11th, 2010 at 8:50 PM ^

If there's something to get on Calipari for I don't think taking a kid who played basketball in Turkey because that team may have provided too much for him is it. Am I missing something?

gebe659

November 11th, 2010 at 9:26 PM ^

Kanter made it well-known that he wanted to play college ball in the U.S. so that he could get exposure before the NBA draft.

Every school in the country except Kentucky and Washington passed on him because they knew about serious concerns with his eligibility (read: he wasn't eligible and everyone else knew it).

Calipari decided he didn't care and recruited a PROFESSIONAL basketball player.

Yes, Calipari is a dirtbag and this is yet another episode of him trying to bend the rules.

bryemye

November 11th, 2010 at 9:59 PM ^

I don't see anything ethically dubious about taking a kid who happened to get paid a bit of money to play basketball in Turkey. Sorry. Let's be clear here. You're saying John Calipari is a dirtbag for taking a kid (we're talking about an 18 year old here) who allegedly got paid  ~$30k in excess of his expenses to be a reserve on a Turkish basketball team and play in ~10 games. Now the kid is totally stuck in limbo for a year outside of the structure a college program could provide him and his draft status has almost certainly taken a hit. Awesome. Let's punish a kid who got bad advice when he was 16 and was probably assured this would be no big deal. Obviously he should have better understood the NCAA's eligibility rules at that time.

No, taking a chance on that kid's eligibility is not a dirtbag move. The NCAA is ridiculous and doesn't have the best interests of the kids they make such ridiculously obscene money off of at heart. They have denied Enes Kanter any realistic chance of an education. They have cost him a ton of money. I'm sure they showed those Europeans a lesson!

gebe659

November 11th, 2010 at 10:27 PM ^

He's no in any limbo. He could play professionally in Europe if he wants to. As for denying him a realistic chance of an education... come on... once again, he could go to a good school in Europe for very cheap (tuition isn't as overpriced as it is in the US), and it sounds like he made decent coin for an 18-year-old last year.

Fact is, there were some serious eligibility concerns with this kid and EVERY MAJOR PROGRAM PASSED ON HIM, except Kentucky and Washington. That should tell you something.

Roy, Izzo, Coach K, Self... they all passed on him. But Calipari?? Noooo... he just had to test the NCAA to see if he could get yet another one-and-done.

It's hilarious that you're even talking about the guy's education... he's NBA-bound and everyone knows it.

SanDiegoWolverine

November 12th, 2010 at 4:20 AM ^

Stop embarrassing yourself.  Beilein recruited Robin Benzing 3 years ago and he was ruled ineligible.  Are you saying that Beilein cheated too?  Every year Europeans come to the US to play basketball and most don't make it to the nba.  A lot of those players are suspended to start their freshman year or receiving extra money from Euro Clubs.  This is a situation where Kanter received a "stipend" but the NCAA said it was 33K in excess of what that is reasonable and the UK is saying that it was reasonable.

I think Calipari has done some pretty shady stuff in the past and his vacated wins from Umass and Memphis  back that up but this case isn' t one of them.  Calling Calipari a cheater for recruiting Kanter is like calling RR a cheater for recruiting Dorsey.  Both recruited those players with the intention/hope that they would be eligible and both coaches ended up with a pretty big hole when those players didn't work out.

MGoCards

November 12th, 2010 at 9:58 AM ^

Agreed. Saying this as a lifelong, strong Louisville fan and as a critic of Calipari: I saw nothing wrong with Calipari's recruitment of Kanter and for pushing for his eligibility. The NCAA probably made the correct decision here but I don't think it's "cheating" for Calipari to have tried to recruit the kid. 

MI Expat NY

November 11th, 2010 at 11:38 PM ^

realistic chance at an education?  oh, please.  The Europeans don't even believe in the pretense that their athletes are looking for an education.  Anyone with talent in a particular sport, whether it's soccer, basketball or whatever start playing professionally long before they receive any advanced schooling.  He was coming to the U.S. to advance his NBA prospects, not get an education.

inshallah

November 12th, 2010 at 3:19 AM ^

Completely disagree here. I study at the premier sporting university in the UK. There are over a 100 athletes studying here that have represented their country. Couple of months ago 80 students and alums competed in the commonwealth games. I think they would disagree with you on the 'value of an education'

Tater

November 11th, 2010 at 8:55 PM ^

I don't know how it is possible for someone to habitually cheat so often and not eventually get caught.  You would think that sooner or later he would suffer the consequences of his behavior. 

Artermis

November 11th, 2010 at 8:58 PM ^

....but not until after he has left the school and moved on.   So of course, the school and kids he left behind get the brunt of it and he moves on to bigger and better.

Evil Monkey

November 11th, 2010 at 8:59 PM ^

some schools supposed to compete with him cheating? He gets around 3 or 4 recruits a year that are 4 and 5 star. Most schools are lucky to get one 4 star. And it is not a matter of recruiting cause he i cheating to get these recruits.

hfhmilkman

November 11th, 2010 at 10:05 PM ^

Sorry.  I have to agree with the dirtbag crowd.  Maybe some posters think 30K is pocket change.  But I am not one of them.  The kid knew what he was doing.  He can go play in the developmental league.

bronxblue

November 11th, 2010 at 10:55 PM ^

I want to feel bad for the kids on Kentucky's team who didn't cheat or take money, but at some point you have to realize that playing for Calipari basically assures you of playing with guys who will one day be deemed ineligible.  What is funny is that for all the whining about Tubby Smith in Lexington, the guy was a class act who didn't disgrace the program's name.  It took Calipari about a year to turn what was one of the dominant programs in BBall into UNLV in my eyes.

Don

November 12th, 2010 at 1:03 AM ^

Calipari can use some good publicity right now, and Michael "I can't tell the difference between Rich Rodriguez and John Calipari" Rosenberg is just the journalistic toady to deliver another slobbering tribute to him, just like he did last March in SI.com.

I Blue Myself

November 12th, 2010 at 3:34 AM ^

The OSU kicker switched from soccer to football.  You can be a pro in one sport, but the NCAA still considers you an amateur for all other sports.

This usually comes up with baseball, where players will sign pro contracts while still playing NCAA football (or some other sport).  That's what Jake Locker did at Washington.  I think Chris Weinke also had a minor league career before playing football at FSU, which explains why he was in his late 20s at FSU.  It's all a bit strange.

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2010/09/scarbinsky_parker_can_sell_h…

LatinForLiar

November 12th, 2010 at 10:20 AM ^

I find parallels between the two situations. Calipari, like RR has been under intense media scrutiny. Because of this scrutiny, both are often lambasted on blogs, message boards etc. These commenters often just parrot back whatever headlines they hear. In both cases, the actual details of the infractions are must different than the received knowledge suggests. With Calipari, he was the one to report Camby, and no one has ever suggested that he knew Rose's SAT was bogus. Nonetheless, he gets the sort of attacks seen here. With RR, despite many personal attacks on his character and his concern for his players, the facts show that any violations were somewhere between minor and insignificant. In both cases, the general population doesn't care what the "facts" are, they only care what the headline says and what can be easily shouted across a sportsbar and/or message board. I expected more from the readers of this blog, who in general strike me as a cool-headed lot.