A year ago, there was virtually no semblance of a college basketball offseason.
It began just a few weeks after the Final Four when Louisville coach Rick Pitino went to the federal authorities to report an extortion attempt from a woman, Karen Sypher, with whom he later admitted to having sexual relations.
Then, came the resignation of USC coach Tim Floyd amidst allegations that he paid $1,000 to O.J. Mayo’s guy, Rodney Guillory.
There was the fraudulent test score of former Memphis star Derrick Rose that wound up vacating the Tigers’ national championship game appearance in 2008.
It was one saga after the other.
I was hoping, even praying, this year might be different.
Mellow.
However, it’s not going to happen.
We’re just into the month of June, and already we’ve got plenty of off-court turmoil.
The Kansas ticket scandal likely won’t have any impact on Bill Self and his basketball program, but the father of Jayhawks guard Brady Morningstar, Roger, is a central figure in the story, which also involved the Pump Brothers (Dana and David), out of California.
Now, we’ve got The New York Times reporting that there are questions about another former John Calipari player, Kentucky freshman Eric Bledsoe, and his background.
The newspaper reported that the NCAA is investigating Bledsoe’s academic history and also whether his former high school coach in Birmingham, Ala., paid for his rent and also demanded money from schools that were recruiting him.
Calipari has already been the center of much of the chatter since there’s speculation that his buddy, William (aka Worldwide Wes) Wesley, a soon-to-be agent, is trying to package Calipari and LeBron James to an NBA team.
Calipari was also in the mix with Terrence Jones, one of the elite incoming freshmen in college basketball and a kid who did an about-face and signed with Kentucky after announcing he’d play for Lorenzo Romar and Washington at a news conference.
But it’s not all Calipari.
At least three assistant coaches are out of jobs.
Oklahoma assistant Oronde Taliaferro resigned as the NCAA began investigating his potential role in a situation in which Keith “Tiny” Gallon, a freshman on last year’s team, reportedly was wired $3,000 from a financial adviser.
UConn assistant coaches Pat Sellars and Beau Archibald resigned last week on the same day the notice of allegations was released stemming from the Yahoo! Sports report from a year ago regarding the recruitment of Nate Miles.
College basketball has become a year-round sport these days with all the off-court turmoil.
The perception has grown that it’s dirty.
It’s bad when even Michigan’s John Beilein — regarded about as ethical as they come in the sport and even tabbed to head a new coaches ethics committee — self-reported four secondary violations since taking over in 2007.
Beilein inadvertently made two telephone calls in one month to a recruit in 2007. A year later, a player was deemed to have inadvertently been given an extra benefit when he was given a voucher after returning his teammate's sneakers to a shoe manufacturer.
Beilein also sent a text message to a recruit last year — and a recruit and his family were given “impermissible meal expenses” during an unofficial visit.
If Beilein is committing violations, my guess is that everyone is doing something invalid of the mammoth NCAA rule book.
Beilein is the same guy who I’ve seen chastise college coaches for standing in front of the doorway in Las Vegas at AAU tournaments because they are supposed to sit on the bleachers.
Certainly, Beilein’s transgressions don’t compare with some others on this list.
But everyone is breaking the rules at some level because it’s become a win-at-all-costs society, and most are looking to gain an advantage.
That’s why there won’t be any true offseason anytime soon.
