Marcus Pollard story, NCAA lawsuit, and more cheating topics...

Here's a great new story all about our Marcus Pollard!!
...his life, his NFL experience, his faith, great read!!!
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/yb/151543219



Looks like ISU is planning a Red-White intra-squad scrimmage. This is something they have not always done..and details are pending...
http://www.pantagraph.com/app/blogs/main/?p=5575#more-5575



Here's an interesting article that appears to be seeking to get some or all college scholarships as four-year deals rather than one year at a time.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=5727755

Some may argue it is unfair, maybe, but this desire to force schools to guarantee a scholarship as much as 4 years into the future is kind of insane in my mind...

In fact, in the first place - getting a scholarship is a tremendous opportunity and blessing!!!
No kid, athlete, or student is ever forced either by gunpoint or otherwise to sign a financial aid agreement or to accept a scholarship...
it is obviously all of their own choosing or free will...and all the terms are made clear and plain up front.
Same goes for coaches...and if or when a coach chooses to leave early, he does violate his terms and is NOT due any of the rest of his contract or pay...

Any time a kid lands a scholarship offer and chooses to sign on the dotted line, he receives a TREMENDOUS benefit...something worth perhaps as much as $30,000, $40,000, $50,000 or more for each year...and maybe $200,000 or more in value if he stays on scholarship for four years...so what's really the issue here, since the vast, vast majority of kids do have the chance to stay on scholarship for 4 years...
Of all D-I scholarship athletes, far less than 10% -- and maybe more in the range of less than 5% ever get their scholarships pulled out from under them..
Basically it never happens at most schools, and only rarely at others...
The far more common scenario is that the kids don't like what they are getting and choose on their own voluntarily to leave and go elsewhere.
How many of these Alex Legion/Seth Curry/Joah Tucker/Danny Granger type of players are there -- kids who are still welcomed to stay and play where they are getting their scholarship, but have some issues and want to try to shop their talents and do better?

So I contend that the biggest part of the benefits on the scholarships is already on the side of the kids & athletes....now they want ever MORE....
you don't think for a second that this legal action is just a step in trying to get scholarships to all be four-year deals??
It's basically a greedy, entitlement money-grab is all it is........
some special interest people just wanna go after the deep pockets...



Here's some Tennessee news that's only marginally about Bruce Pearl!!
Tennessee's women's coaching legend Pat Summit slams UConn and maybe Bruce Pearl all in one statement..

Here's a quote from the SEC Media event...and it's no secret that Tennessee's Pat Summitt does NOT like UConn's Geno Aurilemma...

"Mr. Auriemma's presumed cheating is the reason, she admitted last week, why three years ago she canceled the annual games between the two women's basketball powerhouses.

..Last week, she dragged Connecticut's name through the mud again in a discussion about recruiting at a Southeastern Conference media day event. "I've never compromised at all, and I wouldn't. And if I did, they should fire me," Ms. Summitt said. She was asked if she was talking about Bruce Pearl, Tennessee's men's basketball coach, who is currently under investigation for recruiting infractions.

"I didn't have Bruce Pearl on my mind. I probably had Connecticut on my mind. There's a reason we don't play them," she said."
Hmmm...so kind of a slam at BOTH Bruce and UConn!!
http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/editorials/hc-ed-pat-summitt-geno-auriemma-feud-20101026,0,2960311.story



Now the Knicks cheating scandal -- holding secret workouts for years involving college players who then went back and played further in college...
but what went on at these secret workouts is actually pretty important in maybe qualifying whther those players cheated, received impermissible benefits, or whether they may have even LOST their amateur status and have thus been ineligible when they went back to college...
Anyone recall the Randolph Morris issue
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/mensbasketball/sec/2005-07-11-kentucky-morris_x.htm
And more recently there have been other players who wanted to return to college after having these workouts and the NCAA penalized them significantly!

Anyway -- note the players who were known to be involved, but this is probably just the tip of the iceberg!!
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-knicksdraft102610

These "secret workouts" are not only violations of NBA rules, but may also be violations of NCAA rules for players who return to college after "testing the waters" prior to the NBA draft.

One such player who was involved in the secret workouts was Kansas' Brandon Rush --
and during his secret workout he suffered a devastating knee injury that required surgery and ACL reconstruction...but it made Rush return to college...

Other players who no longer fear any action by NCAA since they are already in the pros have come forward...

Rush, who returned to college, went on to help Kansas win the NCAA Championship...
Since these workouts were secret -- we may never know, but if any special benefits were extended to Rush -- money, favors, benefits, promises, even just free transportation or food...
then in all likelihood, Rush may have violated rules that would have made him ineligible to return to college...thus the entire Championship season for Kansas may have been tainted with an ineligible player!

http://www2.kusports.com/news/2010/oct/27/brandon-rush-hid-truth-specifics-knee-injury-2007/

Bill Self is upset that he was lied to regarding the circumstances of the knee injury..

So -- in the end -- even though Memphis was penalized and had to forfeit all their games in 2007-2008 due to Derrick Rose's eligibility -- we now see evidence that Kansas won that NCAA Championship game using TWO players who likely had eligibility concerns or who were ineligible -- recall Darrell Arthur also had grade changes and academic fraud like Rose did but since ti was Kansas -- ahem -- the NCAA looked the other way -- just as they'll do on this case with Rush!



Here's a new story on Jamar Snith headed to the NBDL (NBA Development League)
http://illinihq.com/blogs/basketblog/2010/10/26/former_illini_jamar_smith_signs_pro



Here's more on foreign players who lie and falsify their age. Aliong with this type of lying, they usually also try to hide their prior overseas professional playing history...

Here's a kid ( and I use that term lightly)...named Josue Mulamba
http://rivals.yahoo.com/jucojunction/basketball/recruiting/player-Josue-Mulamba-119629

http://jucojunction.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1144124

The guy comes, like Shang Ping did, without a shread of documents or evidence that he's ever been to high school - so his only way to get eligible is going the juco route...

Here's a picture -- I think the guy looks at 30 years old or MORE!!

http://vmedia.rivals.com/uploads/1090/1011060.jpg

They claim he's 23 already -- but does this guy look like an 23 year old? No way. I am guessing he's probably in his 30's or older. They admit he's 23, because to try to suggest he is younger would be ridiculed.
BUT --- here are several sites that list Josue's birthdate as being June 1986 -- thus he's already AT LEAST 24 1/2 years old...even if that date can be believed...
and I suspect even that is probably a lie

But interestingly it also points out that he's played professional ball!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josue_Mulamba
http://www.bbl.net/index.php/b19sYW5nPWVuJm9fc2Vhcz0yMSZvX2xlYWc9OCZmdXNlYWN0aW9uPXBsYXllcnMubWFpbiZwPTExNTg=

Some of the links on this guy are under different names (helloooo-- any surprise here..?)

Try this name...
Dzozue Mulamba
http://www.google.com/search?q=basketball&hl=en&ned=us&tab=nw#sclient=psy&hl=en&safe=off&q=%22D%C5%BEozu%C4%97+Mulamba%22&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&pbx=1&fp=17600492eafeca3b

and Dsozua Mulamba
http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy&hl=en&safe=off&q=%22D%C5%BEo%C5%A1ua+mulamba%22&aq=f&aqi=g-c4g-o1&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&pbx=1&fp=17600492eafeca3b

and just about every variant you can imagine..
Dzosua Malumba
http://sportacentrs.com/basketbols/bbl/01032009-grafs_liels_prieks_par_uzvaru

and Josue Mulumba
http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy&hl=en&safe=off&q=%22josue+mulumba%22&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=%22josue+mulumba%22&gs_rfai=&pbx=1&fp=17600492eafeca3b

...plus Malumbo and many other spellings......

BUT--- there's even more suspicions -- there's a kid who has gone by the name Christian Malumba that played prep school ball in the past and he looks amazingly similar to Josue Malumba...and is also 6-10..
So -- are we seeing a deceptive pattern here -- haven't we heard this many times before? Especially with the kids from Decatur Christian and Boys to Men??

Speaking of this topic...also in the news -- Gorgui Dieng...
http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/17191/dieng-gets-eligible-for-louisville

So we have yet another example of a foreign kid with virtually no academic records and a blank background...he was barely recruited because many schools feared he'd never get NCAA clearance -- he had virtually nothing to document his academic records before getting to the US -- but Louisville took a chance...and of course the NCAA cleared him!!
He wasn't even cleared to play initially at the historic diploma mill prep school, Huntington Prep and couldn't even play high school ball for a while!!!
..and initially the NCAA ruled him INELIGIBLE -- but Rick Pitino personally appealed to the NCAA and they cleared him!
Had this kid gone to BU or a mid-major he'd have been denied for sure..
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=ap-louisville-dieng

Watch on the Malumba kid -- if he goes to a big school -- he'll get cleared even with the shady background, but woe to any mid-major that might recruit him!



I have been told by somewhat of an authority that players who are not eligible are also NOT eligible to travel with teams for intra-squad scrimmages...thus all the transfer players that Iowa State has won't be playing in the closed scrimmage this Sunday at Bradley.