Wow - and Cal told us at the press conference that it would take him 3 to 4 years to rebuild the program.

In one month he has brought in

***** Cousins
***** Bledsoe
**** Dodson

and retained the services of

***** Orton
**** Hood

and is looking like the frontrunner to land

***** Wall

If we get Wall, that would give us the #1,2,22,23,40 players in the freshman class and the top ranked JUCO in the country. All indications are that Meeks will be back, while Patterson is 50/50. A Final Four run next year with that nucleus is not out of the question.

Check that Patterson percentage, he's withdrawn from the draft. No reason to think Meeks won't do the same since he is projected mid 2nd round at best. I've got to try and temper expectations here, but its tough. I haven't been this excited about a UK team in the offseason since Pitino left.

Looks like KU v UK in the finals this year is a real possibility...

Wall commits to UK late last night.

This should vault UK into the top 3 preseason. If the talent gels they should be on the NC shortlist. If we get Meeks back they may be preseason #1. I have to thank Billy Gillispie for driving us so far into the ground that we had the sense to bring in a guy like Cal. Way to go BCG!

Boy, you guys had better win the whole thing next year or what a dissapointment that will be. Not to mention those guys are only staying around for a year...

Ah yes, the dreaded "crazy expectations" schtick. I still think there's alot of youth at play here, and the team is going to have to come together quickly. We'll have the best PG in the land, the best PF in the land, and with Meeks, the best SG in the land - although its looking like we may not get Meeks back now. Last year you guys had all the preseason pressure, but you also had an experienced group that had been through alot together already. I still think Kansas and MSU should be looked at as the favorites for next year depending on how our guys play together, pick up the Dribble Drive, etc.

We certainly have a rabid fan base and the excitement has reached a fever pitch this spring with Cal coming in and rounding up the best class in school history in a matter of weeks. For what its worth, from my standpoint, I'll be happy if we're competitive next year. All I ask is to be in the conversation for the Final Four, which hasnt happened with us since 2005 (far too long for a program like UK.) Will I be dissappointed and pissed off when we lose in the tourney? Of course I will, just like any fan of a power program. Winning a title takes alot of things to go right - avoiding a hot shooter, surviving an off night by your star, no injuries, etc. We really have something to look forward to next season - that's enough for me.

Question for Kentucky fans. Will you still be fired up about a final four run if the NCAA wipes it from the record in a few years? Mind you, as far as penalties go, that's about as toothless and lame as it gets. However, losing a 30 win season sort of matters to a team that currently holds a slim margin over UNC for most wins of all time.

Just sayin'

Det, I'll try to look at this logically and without any bias. I've read the charges in the NCAA Report and first and foremost, all of the national media outlets are running the headline "NCAA alleges MAJOR violations at Memphis." If these two violations weren't attached to 16 pages of the women's golf coach paying players, they wouldn't even be labeled major. For one, Rose (not named but easy to ascertain it was him) allegedly had someone take the SAT for him 2 full months before he committed to Memphis. Does anyone think Cal arranged this or had knowledge of it? Now, information has come out that Rose along with 3 of his teammates had their grades changed on their transcripts to help get them into school...I suppose Cal broke into Simeon High's network, changed the grades for Rose, then the 3 teammates as a favor to Derrick? If Rose had someone take the test for him, it was an inside job, period. Seems oddly similar to what happened with Darrel Arthur at Kansas the year they won the title (no repercussions for Kansas or Self in that case.)

The travel is less easily explained, although it seems the guy who received the benefit (Reggie Rose, Derrick's brother,) went on several trips with the team and paid all but once. Could have been an accounting error, maybe Rose forgot to pay once, who knows. RC Johnson has come out and said today that they allow anyone to travel with the team, anytime, if they buy the seat. I seriously doubt Calipari is standing at the door collecting money and updating the spreadsheet.

The lesson to be learned in this case is that the NBA is hurting college basketball with the 1 year rule and age limit. Players that know they are NBA ready are spending essentially 6 months in college then leaving. They don't care about getting an education and, in the case of Arthur and allegedly Rose, will go so far as to cheat prior to even getting to college if it will help them.

I'd challenge any logical fan to deduce any differently here. The fact is, the NCAA has sent Cal a letter (a PDF was posted on the Louisville Courier Journal's website today) telling him he is not at risk of anything on this Memphis deal. And, the notion that Calipari constantly breaks the rules is farcical. In over 20 years of coaching in college he has a grand total of zero violations and, with these revelations, 2 instances where a player was doing something illegal without his knowledge (and in the latest case, that the player did something before he even committed to Cal's school.)

When a man who recruits in the stratosphere like Cal does is coupled with an historic, hated powerhouse like Kentucky, fans and the media are going to come to poor conclusions in the interest of tearing down both. Epic fail in this case though. Cal will be rightfully unscathed by all this (assuming there is any truth to the allegations.)

And Det, no, I wouldn't be satisfied to win a title or get to a final four and find out later it was tainted. One of the happiest days of my young life was watching Ben Johnson destroy Carl Lewis in the 1988 Olympics. Four days later the news broke about the roids and the nation mourned like it hadn't since Gretzky was traded to LA.

If anything, this incident will just make Sandy Bell (UK compliance director) work that much harder to be sure nothing is getting past her. And I can tell you that she's the best in the business. At the end of the day, while the media will have a field day with this due to the man and the program which he is now affiliated with, nothing will come of it for Cal. He'll continue to recruit top shelf players and Kentucky will put distance between themselves and UNC consistently for the next 8-10 years.

Marcus Camby was getting cash while at UMass and Calipari knows nothing about it? Derrick Rose is getting his grades changed and his SATs finagled with and Calipari knows nothing about it?

You think that a major college basketball coach has more important things going on in the off-season than the academic eligibility of his all-american recruits? Especially those who have failed the SAT's twice already?

I'm completely ambivalent towards Kentucky and I do think that Calipari is a heckuva basketball coach, and I'm nearly sure that all major programs have a shenanigan or two going on, but your self-righteous indignation is puke-worthy. You should probably surpass Xavier and Dayton in regional supremacy before flapping your lips about how the media wants your program to fail.

couldn't agree more - let me preface by saying that there are infractions and some form of cheating happening all over the country but good ole Cal is as dirty as anyone -

I think the time has come where the NCAA is going to nail Cal and all the coaches that move on leaving infractions in their rear-view mirror, and I do not think Calipari will come out of this unscathed........ you dance with the devil and

the honeymoon is already losing some of it's luster

Care to make a wager on what happens to Cal in this situation? I'll start the bidding at $1000.

I can't believe you guys are blaming Calipari for a kid cheating on the SAT TWO MONTHS before he committed to Memphis at a school where FOUR PLAYERS had their grades changed. This reeks so badly of an inside job that I can smell it 6 hours southeast of Chicago where I sit in Lexington.

And I'm sure the day Rose signed, he immediately admitted all of this to Cal? "Hey coach, I cheated on my SAT. Can I still play here?"

And the notion that the coach is the guy who checks into players grades and SATs is stupid. The NCAA Clearinghouse gave Rose the green light, and Memphis (and every other school in the country) employs someone to make sure of compliance. You guys are being blinded by hate. Logic has been thrown out the window on this deal.

UK is going to run roughshod over the rest of college basketball in the next 10 years. Deal with it.

okay - the fact is Kentucky is looking at their next head coach having 2 final Fours with UMass and Memphis VACATED by the NCAA

yet somehow in your twisted logic this is some kind of witch hunt against KU?? huh?

reminds me of the Indiana situation - they welcomed Kelvin Sampson with open arms with his past transgressions, mainly due to the fact that he was delivering Eric Gordon, we all know how that turned out.

Cal may escape penalties here, but he is taking some major hits nationally, and his reputation will be in the toilet if Memphis is indeed stripped of their Final Four

and to answer your question- yes, your damn right Calipari knew something was up with Rose's SAT scores, and academic eligibility - to what degree? who knows, but to think he is some innocent bystander bc this happened before he officially committed is ridiculous

have fun

as a UA guy, I couldn't be happier with straight-shooting Sean Miller - and would take him over any coach in the country

Although this thread is mostly speculation, I tend to lean towards Wildcats side. Calipari is not guilty of anything that most coaches haven't done but don't paint him to be some innocent lamb caught in the crossfire.

You are right about one thing though. If he was OK'd by the NCAA clearinghouse this issiue with Rose is a dead horse.

If there's some kid in Northern Alaska with a mean cross-over and deadly jump shot, I'm pretty sure Cal knows it. Thus, I have a hard time buying the logic that he's incapable of knowing whether or not his top recruit cheated on an SAT. And no, it is not Cal's job to personally look into this. It is, either Cal's job or the AD's job (but on some level both) to make sure that they hire a guy who's actually going to look into this. It's the old adage of "The buck stops here." It's why I think Kiffin's excuse that some assistant was the one who did the twitter thing is not even worth mentioning. Whether Kiffin is personally guilty of the violation or guilty of managing his house so poorly that violations occurred is a rather pointless distinction.

If one of my managers fails to act on, say a sexual harassment violation, guess who's fault it ultimately is? Mine, because I'm not taking care of my business and fostering an environment where this sort of thing is not important.

That the NCAA isn't going to punish Cal means nothing because the coach almost always skates. But the track record is not good. He's coached two schools, taken both the final four, and it looks like both final four runs are about to be negated. It takes an impressive case of myopia not to implicate the one common element to both those teams.

Lastly, why should we expect UK to do any better than Memphis? Which, in fairness, was pretty damned good but not "roughshod over the rest of college basketball". He had two guys go in the first round last year, one 1st overall. Is there some higher talent level that he can tap now? Additionally, Memphis was the absolute best case scenario for building a program because they had absolutely no academic standards. Even the SEC looks down on them in that regard.

And seriously, I could care less about UK. I don't recall ever specifically rooting against them except during their annual game v UNC. To be honest, there aren't many teams that I specifically root against and they're certainly not one of them.

The only person blind here is you. Get your panties all unbunched and deal with the reality that college basketball is full of sleazy characters. And I figured Dwayne Casey would have taught you that a generation ago.

Damn, you would think this forum was dominated by a bunch of Louisville fans considering the attitudes in here.

Its pretty clear that you guys have joined the "Cal is a cheater, crucify him and UK" mob, when the fact is that neither Cal nor UK are going to be touched at all by this. The only entity in any jeopardy is Memphis, and I have my doubts that anything will even happen to them.

Det, let me ask you this one - you're looking for a new chef. A guy responds to your job posting and shows up at the interview with a copy of his resume, his culinary school diploma, and transcript. He interviews well, so you call the school he attended, and they verify his information. You hire the guy - 8 months later the school calls you and says, hey, sorry to tell you this, but that guy's transcript was doctored - here are his real grades.

If I was a patron of you restaurant, I'd have to come to the logical conclusion that this was entirely your fault and you ran a "dirty restaurant." That's what you guys are saying here.

a comparison that is so off the mark it isn't even remotely close.

get off the UK high horse - no one here really cares about that piece of it, chit

this is all about Calipari having 2 final fours wiped off the books b/c he is a cheater

I personally hate the fact these coaches cheat and move on leaving a wake of sanctions behind them for the shcool to deal with.

Time to make these coaches held accountable moving forward

How much do you want to wager that the Memphis final four won't be vacated? I'll start at $1000 on that one too.

Your analogy doesn't really hold any water because there's not a governing body of restaurants in place to insure fair play in this regard. Restaurant patrons and college fans are the same in as much as all they care about is results. However, the restaurant patrons don't have to pretend there's any more to it than that.

Nobody is saying that either Cal or UK is going to get nailed on this particular charge. All we are saying is that he is 2 for 2 in terms of coaching programs that just happened to do something bad enough that the NCAA declared their entire season forfeit. So, it's not a massive stretch to think that he just might not run the cleanest program out there.

If you must relate it to me, go back the harassment charge issue I brought up. Say I was the head chef or GM of a number of restaurants. At every restaurant I ran, at some point right about the time I left, one of the managers who worked directly below me got called up on some very major sexual harassment charge. Shouldn't the next place I go to be concerned that I might foster an environment where this type of thing is inclined to happen? Sure, I wasn't personally implicated in it but at some point, you have to question how seriously I take doing the right thing.

Sure, the whole thing is sleazy and I completely agree that the one and done rule does more to undermine the integrity of the game than anything because these kids, quite simply do not want to be there and absolutely should not have to. It's damned un-American to make them whore themselves for a year before they can get paid to do what they're already qualified to do well.

And yes, Cal is not the only coach who bends the rules. Problem is, when this comes up, guys point to the number of secondary violations that K or Roy Williams or others gets like it's all the same thing. But they're called secondary violations for a reason. Playing this card is like a lawyer defending someone up on embezzlement charges asking the jury, "Let he who has never gotten a speeding ticket cast the first stone."

The simple fact is, you're not hearing about teams having entire seasons wiped out all the time, so there's obviously a big freaking difference.

Oh, and Roy Williams never officially recruited John Wall and got some major grief from his handler because Williams allegedly questioned his character, etc. All of a sudden, he's up on breaking and entering charges and there's been a number of question marks about his scholastic record. So, let's just see how this one pans out.

I'll offer this compromise;

Calipari (and plenty of other coaches, its not like the guys he's gotten have not been gone after hard by other schools) recruits kids with character and academic uncertainties which opens him to the possibility that something could go on behind his back. And its happened twice in over 20 years.

Maybe its semantics, but I don't automatically think that makes him a "cheater." Risky, yes. But not a cheater.

I should again add that you can't write, at least my opinion off as "anti-UK", nor can you pretend that the vast majority of those who follow the sport haven't somehow singled him out as particularly shady.

But who am I to judge you. I sat in Pac Bell park and cheered when Barry Bonds hit home runs. It's pretty easy to over look this sort of thing when they're on your team.

Yeah, Derrick Rose answered a posting on craigslist looking for basketball players at the University of Memphis and impressed John Calipari during the interview process so much, he gave him a scholarship.

The point of the analogy GTS is that an entity other than Calipari and even Memphis (The NCAA Clearinghouse) has all the responsibility to clear high school students before they step on campus. Once in college, if grades are being doctored, that falls on the school's compliance department.

Now the IHSA is investigating Simeon high school for academic fraud. According to the linked article, the transcripts of Rose and 3 other players were changed to get them eligible for college. But I suppose Cal orchestrated the whole deal, right?

Cal must be a cheater

Your analogy was completely irrelevant. Of course there are people who have more direct and dirty culpability on their hands with all of this than Calipari, but that's playing a heckuva lot of semantics with things. He's got the excuses and alibis to throw out there that he didn't change the grades, he didn't arrange a test, and he wasn't the compliance officer at Memphis that cleared things with the NCAA.

At the very least it indicates that Calipari's oversight of his programs are lax. It doesn't mean he's responsible for the actions of players like Rose and Camby, or by their crew, or the high school coaches, but I'll bet you $1000 they paid him a heckuva lot more per year to run his basketball program at Memphis than they paid the person to do NCAA compliance for the athletic department.

This is logical and I can agree with it.

OK, I'm just going to start talking crazy right now. I mean, really, really crazy right now. Do you think there's any chance at all, even the slightest, that Memphis saw the initial grades and explained that "something was going to need to be done because those grades won't get him qualified" and then, when they magically improved, they said, "thanks, that'll do."

You need to understand something. We all realize that this went down in HS. That link is not new news to any of us. From the moment the story about how SAT scores were fact and that HS grades were changed, we all pretty much figured out that all this happened before he went to Memphis. I mean, it's rather obvious, no?

My guess is that, once a player is on the radar, a school is tracking his grades to make sure he'll make the cut. Now, I'm just spit-balling again here. But any chance some schools. Schools that do a better job of pretending that they care about academics will notice that a kid's GPA jumps surprisingly or he gets a 900 the second time he takes the SAT when he got a 450 the first time?

Yes, I think there's a chance of that. I also think there's the same chance that dozens of other colleges are doing the same thing right now.

And I think many others still are avoiding that kind of player because they don't want this sort of thing cropping up.

So my statement from above is accurate then:

Calipari (and plenty of other coaches, its not like the guys he's gotten have not been gone after hard by other schools) recruits kids with character and academic uncertainties which opens him to the possibility that something could go on behind his back.

People who live in glass houses.........gotta love the quote from Simon's father at the end of this piece.

Arizona, bastion of Integrity

Lute also had his 1999 tournament appearance vactated.

By the standards everyone has held Calipari to in this thread, Lute Olsen is a cheater. There's no other possible conclusion.

Has Lute Olsen had two appearances to the Final 4 voided out? Has he had any wins taken off his official record? Then he has a ways to go to match Calipari's stature.

Did you read the Simon article?

He's a cheater.

You're right, other teammates of Rose had suspect records...

So, it appears Memphis was happy to take players that the bastion of higher education, Georgia, wouldn't touch. As I was saying, even by SEC standards, Memphis was shady.

Has Calipari had 2 Final Four appearances vacated? I think I must have missed something.

And cheating is cheating. The fact that Cal made it farther in the tourney in 1996 than Lute did in 1999 is meaningless.

And Det, I admitted earlier in the thread that Cal goes after guys that could lead to problems. I'm just pointing out the fact that Wildcats has been in here crowing and his own program engages in the same kind of questionable tactics - even to the point that their 1999 tournament appearance was vacated.

If anything, this is just going to tighten up UK's stance on recruiting. Sandy Bell won't let anything like this slide. It may mean that Cal doesn't reel in the type of players he has in the past (though no Memphis team he ever coached even SNIFFED the level of talent that UK will have next year - assuming everyone qualifies.)

So why do you have your face so far up Calipari's a$$ defending him?

I haven't called him a cheater - I've admitted that he rercruits questionable guys.

Everyone else in the thread has though. And so according to everyone else, that makes Lute Olsen a cheater too. And, I'm not saying Lute's a cheater. Jim Harrick, yes. Jimmy V, yes. Kelvin Sampson, yes.

dood- I am not that naive - trust me THEY ALL cheat or have cheated in one form or another - that is just the way the game is played........

I saw it with my own eyes at UA, doods driving sick rides from dealers, and on and on - I mean coach K at Dook? he didn't elevate that program by playing by the rules....

that being said - there are different levels of cheating, and I for one thinks Cal will not be looking to good if he has 2 final fours vacated.............

we shall see - and please stop with the UK chit - you guys haven't been relevant in ten years and until things turn around no one outside hillbillytucky gives a chit about UK, KU whatever.........

In the last 10 years we've reached 3 Elite Eights, been the overall #1 seed in the NCAA Tourney twice, won 4 SEC Tournaments. That's hardly irrelevant.

And again, the fact that a Cal coached team had a Final Four vacated doesn't make the level of cheating any worse than what happened to a Lute Olsen coached team in 1999. It just so happens that Cal's team made it farther. If UMass had lost in the 2nd round that year, the same thing would have happened (appearance vacated.) Would this make it any better? No way.

It hurts me bad to give a Dookie any credit, but Bilas gets it.

Thanks for the sanity Jay

You need to sign up to read that.

Excerpt below. Its a long article, I pulled out his take on what Calipari is getting hit with right now.

John Calipari: So far, the biggest target in this saga has been Calipari. Because we have this ridiculous notion that the head coach is responsible for everything that goes on in his program, Calipari is taking the blame even though his name is not even mentioned in the Notice of Allegations. Remember, the Notice mentioned the name of a representative of Memphis' athletic interests over a single phone call. If the NCAA had anything on Calipari, it would have unloaded it in the Notice. It does not.

And it has become acceptable now to blame Calipari for Marcus Camby's acceptance of money from two different agents in 1996, even though the coach was cleared of any wrongdoing in that case. The fact that Camby took money is being blamed on Calipari, and the situations at UMass and Memphis are being linked in an attempt to imply that Calipari is dirty in this matter as well. It is a cheap smear, and one without evidence to back it up.

Call me old-fashioned, but I require established facts and evidence before I call someone a cheater. I am not naïve about the way things work in basketball, because I see it every day. But there is a difference between the problems with the culture in the game and making specific allegations of academic fraud against an individual. We all share the blame collectively for what is going on in the game, but we should require more evidence and hard facts before we indict any individual.


Fair or not, Calipari still gets linked to Marcus Camby's involvement with agents while at UMass.
So far, the only "evidence" against Calipari is that he was the head coach, and the head coach is responsible for everything that happens on his watch, that he was the head coach at UMass when Marcus Camby accepted money from an agent and the head coach is responsible for everything that happens on his watch, and he's at Memphis and he lets Worldwide Wes and the FedEx CEO hang around his program.

I don't buy that the head coach is fully responsible for everything that happens on his watch. The head coach and the institution are responsible for what they know or reasonably should have known. The key word there is "reasonably." No head coach can or should be responsible for the actions of players well before they reach campus, and no coach can reasonably be expected to police the entire college basketball landscape for agents, runners and boosters.

Tarring Calipari with Camby's acceptance of money from an agent 13 years ago is similarly unpersuasive to me. If we were in court, such "evidence" would not be admissible, because even though Calipari was cleared of any improper action, it would be considered a "prior bad act" that is more prejudicial than probative. The fact that Camby took money from agents in 1996 proves nothing about Rose and his academic issues.

And to continue to discredit Calipari with references to wrongdoing he played no part in is simply wrong. If there is evidence that Calipari knew about or participated in the alleged academic fraud, then bring it forward. Just mentioning Camby and a vacated Final Four appearance does not tell us anything about the current situation.

Maybe Calipari and Memphis had a part in this alleged wrongdoing. But maybe, just maybe, they did not. As reasonable people, we should establish the facts first. Just because the NCAA alleges something doesn't make it true.

We can always hang the head coach and take down the banners later, after we have proved the matters that are alleged.

Until then, a deep breath and some perspective wouldn't hurt.

Here's the thing though, the head coach always skates, it's the school that takes the hit. So the real options are, give the guy the benefit of the doubt up until there's truly damning evidence at which point you slap the guy on the wrist, allow him to move on to another program and leave the last one in ruins. Now, before you go freaking out, Cyclones, I'm not saying that Calipari is doing this right now.

Maybe someone, not me, mentioned that Calipari should or will be be punished for what happened at Memphis, but I don't think so. All that is really being alleged is that he seems to push the envelope further than most when it comes to the types of players he takes. You've said as much yourself. I get it, dude just wants to coach ball. Honestly, I think the real farce is that these kids, most of whom have no interest in being in school, have to pretend for either a year or two that they're students. It's a total sham. None the less, if all he's guilty of is taking players with questionable records (pretty much your words), isn't that enough? Kind of brings up the old adage about playing with fire. You keep recruiting a certain type of player, eventually you're going to get in trouble. See Tark.

The thing is, other coaches seem to be doing a better job of avoiding the mess (and before you bring up the twice in 20 years point again, remember that 5 of those years were in the pros and 8 of those years were before his first violation, so it's really twice in about 10 years.). That could mean one of a number of things.

1) They avoid players rumored to have cheated on tests. The rumor starts. One (or most guys) will say, "Where there's smoke there's fire" and recruit someone else. Maybe Cal says, "Hell, maybe this kid who hasn't lifted a book in 4 years studied his ass off and that's why his SAT is 500 pts higher the second time he took it."

2) They actually don't employ a don't ask don't tell approach with their staff. When the guy hired to look into these things starts walking down the hall, they don't cover their ears and run.

3) Maybe Cal is just a d!ck and nobody likes him, which means he's going to catch more scrutiny than others. I mean, this isn't detlef, wildcat, and gottom v Cal. This is pretty much everyone outside of Lexington v Cal. When he was being discussed regarding the NC State position, there wasn't much nice being said about him on the local radio. The only people who seemed to think he'd gotten a bum rap were NC State fans. Well, right up until he said no.

Regardless, it's not like he's the only coach who wins, so it can't be jealousy. But, for whatever reason, his name was just magically picked out of a hat to be the poster boy for sleaze in college hoops. Why is that? Hell, I'm a UNC fan, why the hell would my motivation to dog any coach at all be jealousy? Who should I be jealous of? We just won 2 championships in 5 years and are completely re-loaded after losing 4 starters to the draft. I hate Duke and think K looks like a rat and has fallen behind the times. However, I don't think he's a snake. I don't even hate Cal or UK or even Memphis for that matter. It's just that, because it is not my job to officially rule on NCAA misconduct, I'm afforded the luxury of employing the "quacks like a duck" argument. And I think dude quacks. That's really it.

So, the question remains, is Cal a better coach than most or just less concerned with non-basketball issues than most? In the pros, he didn't fare so well, maybe because nobody has to worry about grades and compliance there, so simply ignoring non-basketball issues wasn't an advantage.

All great points Det.

I think that I would have my head buried in the sand if I couldnt see that Cal pushes the envelope as far as it will go and has been willing to take shots with kids that other schools wouldn't sniff (although I think, like Bilas says, the Camby incident was totally out of his control.) It wouldn't surprise me at all to hear that alot of other kids are taking money or benefits from agents before they leave school and are getting away with it either. Like wildcat said in an earlier post, most star player are driving Hummers, Lexuses, and Escalades around while making $6.25 an hour at the local Taco Bell. That doesn't add up.

If anything, this whole story will only force UK to really tighten the reigns on the recruiting and double and triple check anyone before they set foot on the court. I'm not the least bit worried that anything bad will happen and I scoff at those who say its only a matter of time before UK will be on probation or taking down a banner. I just seriously doubt the administration will let it happen.

The thing with Cal tough, has been that he could always move on to greener pastures. Situation going sour at UMass? No problem, try out Memphis. What's that? Memphis up for possible sanctions? Hellooo Kentucky!

But there's nowhere to go but down from Kentucky. There are no greener pastures, nowhere where the money will be better, or better facilities, or bigger athletic endowment. It's a might long way to fall. Look what happened to Harrick after he left UCLA. I mean, the Rhode Islands and UGA's of the world just ain't the same once you've been coaching at one of the big boys.

On Kansas radio today Xavier Henry's dad said that X wanted to follow Cal to UK all along but his mom wasn't down with. Said her protests have eased off and now X could decommit from Kansas and end up at UK. They are talking about it tonight as a family.

If UK added Henry to their current class, it would leave the Fab Five class a ways back in the rear view mirror. Would be Five 5 star guys, one 4 star, and a 4 star JUCO transfer.

UK can have 'em.

That family is nuts.

Looks like they're staying at KU. Should be great for team chemistry, a kid who doesn't want to be there with two whacko parents.

Funny that much of this thread has been about violations and sanctions and then you go and bring up the Fab Five.

Indeed! I didn't appreciate the irony in it until you brought it up.

I hope you're looking forward to an ass kicking in Rupp this year billay. It's coming

I think UNC is going to waayyyy better than most think. They're in better shape this year than they were the year after they lost all those guys from the '05 Natl Champ and that '06 team didn't end up so shabby.