Louisville Infractions Report Releasing TODAY

[GoldenWarrior11]

This scandal is indicative of where we currently stand as athletic institutions under the NCAA umbrella. Whether it is Penn State, Baylor, Miami, North Carolina (or whomever in recent years), it is clear that many (not all) universities value the athletic brand and reputation above the school's mission and ideology itself. The reason why all comes down to money. They don't want to lose wins, championships, coaches or players because they want to create the strongest brand possible with the best possible individuals competing and battling for the school's image. Ultimately, these programs fight tooth and nail against any infractions because they want to protect their cash cow and maintain their status as power programs.

Louisville's President first response should not have been we are fighting all of these charges to clear our name, it should have been that the individuals that oversaw and promoted prostitutes and strippers in order to recruit and reward men's basketball players have no place at an institution like Louisville. Instead, it is protecting their investment and sweeping as much under the rug. They have already won (as a member in the P5).

Out of curiosity, when was the last time a current Big East member had a men's basketball scandal (was it Marquette a few years ago)?

[Savannah Jay]

This scandal is indicative of where we currently stand as athletic institutions under the NCAA umbrella. Whether it is Penn State, Baylor, Miami, North Carolina (or whomever in recent years), it is clear that many (not all) universities value the athletic brand and reputation above the school's mission and ideology itself. The reason why all comes down to money. They don't want to lose wins, championships, coaches or players because they want to create the strongest brand possible with the best possible individuals competing and battling for the school's image. Ultimately, these programs fight tooth and nail against any infractions because they want to protect their cash cow and maintain their status as power programs.

Louisville's President first response should not have been we are fighting all of these charges to clear our name, it should have been that the individuals that oversaw and promoted prostitutes and strippers in order to recruit and reward men's basketball players have no place at an institution like Louisville. Instead, it is protecting their investment and sweeping as much under the rug. They have already won (as a member in the P5).

Out of curiosity, when was the last time a current Big East member had a men's basketball scandal (was it Marquette a few years ago)?

Agree with these sentiments. Publicly, Pitino is "furious" with the sanctions but, privately, you know he's high-fiving anyone within arms reach and laughing that the NCAA. What a joke.

The same guy that cheated on his wife in a restaurant, while his goons stood guard, is saying he had no idea that hookers were being provided to recruits. As GW11 said, Louisville appears to be fine with it all cause the dollars are flowing their way.

[sciencejay]

The latest on UL and UNC responses to NCAA allegations. This only gets more laughable: Neither school disputes the charges against them. They contend the NCAA doesn't have jurisdiction!

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basket ... power-ncaa

I have been concerned for a while that recent realignment activities portend a seismic shift in college athletics is coming--and sooner rather than later (Power 64/65 teams basically breaking off of the NCAA and forming their own union). If the NCAA comes out as weak and feckless in these two current cases against major institutions, then what's to stop the big football schools from simply forming their own collegiate athletics division? University presidents would sign on if they knew the money would be there. And media money would definitely follow the big boys, killing the BEast's current standing because without football, we'd be left out. Heck, it may even kill KU (if they don't get invited into the club).

IMHO.

[DudeAnon]

The latest on UL and UNC responses to NCAA allegations. This only gets more laughable: Neither school disputes the charges against them. They contend the NCAA doesn't have jurisdiction!

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basket ... power-ncaa

I have been concerned for a while that recent realignment activities portend a seismic shift in college athletics is coming--and sooner rather than later (Power 64/65 teams basically breaking off of the NCAA and forming their own union). If the NCAA comes out as weak and feckless in these two current cases against major institutions, then what's to stop the big football schools from simply forming their own collegiate athletics division? University presidents would sign on if they knew the money would be there. And media money would definitely follow the big boys, killing the BEast's current standing because without football, we'd be left out. Heck, it may even kill KU (if they don't get invited into the club).

IMHO.

If they break off we simply ask to join them. There is no alternative.

[billyjack]

I'm certain that the Big East will always be fine no matter what the football dimwits do, because we own New York, Phila, DC... eventually Chicago... not to mention other major league cities, and these cities have millions of people, and they have wealth, and they have ego, and get us exposure.

Always remember, no matter what ESPN or Orangemen fans try to claim, that St John's is the team of NY City. And it always will be. In the 5+ hours it takes to drive from Syracuse to NYC, i can go back and forth from Providence. So just enjoy the ride in the Big East brothers. It's only going to get better.

[GumbyDamnit!]

Imagine if the FB5 conferences do break away. Will their be zero oversight? I find it hard to believe that schools will agree to let each member institution individually just make and enforce their own rules. At what point does it cease being an institution of higher learning and just becomes a for-profit athletic association?

The Penn State scandal, all the nonsense Baylor went through, L'vile and hookers, UNC and fake classes, etc., etc. One thing that big money hates is scandals. Advertisers don't like when they are perceived to be on the wrong side of a heated public issue. It's almost better to have an organization like the NCAA (with all of their inherent faults) as the overseer, so schools like UNC and L'ville can apply pressure and more times than not, get the result they seek without getting their hands as dirty. It's easier for them to say: "The NCAA looked into it and THEY decided all was good." Without the ability to do that, you wonder if the heat and light applied from the court of public opinion would be brighter and hotter than anything they'd get from this jellyfish body that is now in place.

[EMT]

Football is not part of the NCAA from a cash perspective. The NCAA makes no money on football. The Bball TV contracts are with the NCAA so these scenarios are interesting. They would probably need to wait until the current NCAA contracts are completed and even then, if the networks offer more $$$ to include Cinderellas in March Madness than the Non-P5 teams stay in for BBall and other non-Football sports.

[GoldenWarrior11]

The P5 cannot break away in basketball because the March Madness TV contract is set for a while (where as the CFP is up sooner). They will have a hard time convincing networks that there is more money without the rest of the conferences (and cinderellas) than with. Football is just different. In basketball, you can play multiple postseason games over a 4-day stretch, whereas in football you can only, if that, play once per week. Basketball will not get affected. Football most certainly will (as it should).

With regards to how to properly oversight athletics, I think that it will (eventually) fall upon the conferences. The NCAA simply is not big enough or vast enough to be policing all the sports of all the schools under the Division 1 umbrella. The only time they begin investigations is when a scandal breaks from Yahoo!, ESPN, Fox, CNN, etc. They don't do any investigating, they simply respond to what is already out there, and then - with likelihood - try and get the bigger schools lesser consequence in order to protect the big cash cow. At least with oversight to conferences, the schools become accountable to peer institutions inside the same room that Presidents meet instead of a committee that you have no connection to.

With regards to our conference, we are not at threat of having a rogue school attempt to illegally recruit or cheat to win. We are above that. We care very much about our academics, our religious missions and our pursuit of winning in college athletics the right way. Without football, we don't have to worry about a Miami, Penn State, Baylor, USC, North Carolina or Louisville.

[DudeAnon]

Imagine if the FB5 conferences do break away. Will their be zero oversight? I find it hard to believe that schools will agree to let each member institution individually just make and enforce their own rules. At what point does it cease being an institution of higher learning and just becomes a for-profit athletic association?

The Penn State scandal, all the nonsense Baylor went through, L'vile and hookers, UNC and fake classes, etc., etc. One thing that big money hates is scandals. Advertisers don't like when they are perceived to be on the wrong side of a heated public issue. It's almost better to have an organization like the NCAA (with all of their inherent faults) as the overseer, so schools like UNC and L'ville can apply pressure and more times than not, get the result they seek without getting their hands as dirty. It's easier for them to say: "The NCAA looked into it and THEY decided all was good." Without the ability to do that, you wonder if the heat and light applied from the court of public opinion would be brighter and hotter than anything they'd get from this jellyfish body that is now in place.

Maybe the heat should be brighter. Could you imagine uf the Patriots or Bengals had a scandal like some of these schools do.