Scandals don’t apply to just Memphis, USC
Reports of grade tampering from Beverley at Arkansas worth noticing
 Chris Graythen / Getty Images Former Arkansas player Patrick Beverley is at the center of a burgeoning scandal at the school. |
Ask the college hoops expert: Ken Davis |
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1. What do you suspect the NCAA will do to Memphis for the Derrick Rose fiasco?
Memphis contends it should not be forced to forfeit games from its 2007-08 season and have its Final Four trip vacated because, if indeed Rose's qualifying SAT score was invalid, there was no way for the university to know at the time he competed. Memphis investigated an original charge regarding his ACT--and later his qualifying SAT score--and found insufficient evidence to indicate a fraudulent test. The NCAA's own eligibility clearinghouse certified him as eligible. So it was only logical for the team to play him.
That certainly seems a reasonable position, but the infractions committee does not inevitably deal out justice.
I suspect when this is finished Memphis will have its 2008 Final Four appearance vacated and be placed on one of those don't-mess-up-again probations. I do not expect sanctions any more severe than that.
2. Have there been any recent draft announcements--either players declaring they will stay or withdraw--that have surprised you?
What has surprised me most is how the many "I'm in the draft to stay" stories have been embraced.
If you ask any player on the early entry list if he's planning to head back to school at this point, his answer is going to be that he's committed to the draft.
Marquette's Dominic James told a group of us that in Orlando in 2006. He played two more years in college afterward. I remember Arizona's Jason Gardner saying after a workout at the Chicago camp in 2001 that if somebody told him he was the worst player there, he'd go back to school. He was the worst player that week, so I wrote that. He went back and finished his career at Arizona, although I don't think my column was the reason.
A player has to be fully committed to the draft right up until he's finished his final workout and is facing the deadline to withdraw. If not, he is wasting his time and the NBA's money.
3. Not a good week for Arkansas: Former Hog Patrick Beverley says schoolwork was done for him there and current Hog Marcus Britt was suspended after an arrest on charges of DWI. Why isn't more being made of Arkansas' troubles right now?
Perhaps because the media are too busy beating up John Calipari?
The Beverley matter is a strange deal. He admitted to having a paper written for him in an interview with DraftExpress.com and also said other players benefited from that sort of assistance. Then he backed off that comment in talking with The Morning News of Northwest Arkansas, saying he only knew what he'd done.
The university suspended Beverley for a year last August, leading him to turn professional and head overseas--which indicates the university believed the issue not to be institutional, but specific to Beverley. Arkansas had gone through a pretty extensive NCAA investigation in the mid-1990s largely related to academic issues, so it would seem the university would be highly sensitive to anything that smells of a systemic problem.
Remember, anyone who thinks athletes are the only students who might be prone to cheat in class is being naive. Type "term papers for sale" into a Google Search. You get millions of hits. One site offers custom-made term papers for as little as $8.99 per page.
4. Name a player most of us don't know now, but will by the end of 2009
Washington guard Venoy Overton didn't get much attention last season but was a huge reason the Huskies made it back to the NCAA Tournament. As freshman point Abdul Gaddy comes into the program and scoring prodigy Isaiah Thomas continues to mature, their collaboration with Overton should become the nation's best backcourt.
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He will be, if the coaches are paying attention to more than blocked shots, a candidate for national defensive player of the year. There's nobody better in college at defending against the ball. He is a one-man shot-clock violation.
5. What player are you most excited to watch during the summer AAU circuit?
Wing Harrison Barnes of Ames, Iowa, is the best guy out there, but I already have a good idea what we'll see from him. He is so polished and consistent he no longer owns the capacity to surprise.
Whatever he delivers will be what I expected.
I'm curious to see point guard Kyrie Irving from St. Patrick's High in Elizabeth, N.J. At the start of last season, Scout.com listed him as the No. 8 point guard in the class of 2010. Now, he's the No. 8 player. Irving has scholarship offers from at least eight schools and recently declared Indiana to be his leader in an interview with Adam Zagoria of Zagsblog.com.
"It's them and Notre Dame and Duke and Virginia. They're at the top of my list right now."
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