NCAA Violation

[MI Sooner]

I don't know what you want, but I want to be able to have fun irrationally rooting for a bunch of people I don't know who, for the most part, only nominally attend the school I attended a long time ago. I want to talk **** in the office after OU wins. I don't want them to get caught cheating.

To heap moral opprobrium on people for circumventing a cartel seems a bit ridiculous.

 

[usedtobe1]

I'm very surprised by the number of people condoning the cheating. I wish players could get paid for playing their sport (e.g. $250/month and even hold a part-time job in the off season), but they can't. They have to play within the rules..... tough as it is. Just because other schools don't do it, it doesn't make it right.

 

[IndySooner]

I'm not condoning cheating. They need to clean up college basketball. Until they do, though, I have trouble faulting anyone for trying to win basketball games. That's what they get paid to do. If they don't, they don't get paid anymore. The field is not level if you're not allowing boosters access. Boosters give $100 handshakes. It's the way it has always worked - everywhere.

 

[thebigabd]

I'm very surprised by the number of people condoning the cheating. I wish players could get paid for playing their sport (e.g. $250/month and even hold a part-time job in the off season), but they can't. They have to play within the rules..... tough as it is. Just because other schools don't do it, it doesn't make it right.

Handing a bunch of dirt-poor kids $100 to buy some stuff in the Bahamas isn't cheating. If that $100 was given to a potential recruit as a means to sway his commitment, I'd buy that...

OU basketball does not gain a competitive advantage for what transpired here.

 

[IndySooner]

By the way, it's also why the SI article about OSU didn't give me that much pleasure. I knew if you looked under the covers at ANY major institution you find the same things. Everyone wants to act like their alma mater is above it. None are.

 

[skyvue]

OU basketball does not gain a competitive advantage for what transpired here.

It does if word gets out to recruits that there's money to be had at OU.

 

[usedtobe1]

SoonerScoop (RJ Young) has posted a brief interview with Szendrei. He admitted he made a mistake and got fired, and owned up to it. Said he fully cooperated with Compliance and the NCAA. The disturbing part to me is he said the NCAA investigation is not closed.

I wonder how this is affecting the team morale? Has the walk-on who reported it been ostracized?

 

[thebigabd]

It does if word gets out to recruits that there's money to be had at OU.

The only reason people know this happened is because it was against the rules and the media got the story. Otherwise, word wouldn't get out that on a trip to a foreign country someone was given $100.

Regardless, to use the word cheating in this case is ridiculous.

 

[usedtobe1]

Handing a bunch of dirt-poor kids $100 to buy some stuff in the Bahamas isn't cheating. If that $100 was given to a potential recruit as a means to sway his commitment, I'd buy that...

OU basketball does not gain a competitive advantage for what transpired here.

Who said it was only $100?

 

[SKSooner]

The walk-on, whoever it was, clearly did the right thing. Can you imagine if this stuff was allowed to continue and then became a bigger issue? The person who reported this incident has the university's best interests in mind. Our program has been through enough stupid compliance issues with the NCAA. We don't need anymore. I don't care how stupid we feel the rules are, becuase many of them are stupid. But I don't think the NCAA is going to care how stupid we think their rules are.

 

[DenverSooner]

Handing a bunch of dirt-poor kids $100 to buy some stuff in the Bahamas isn't cheating. If that $100 was given to a potential recruit as a means to sway his commitment, I'd buy that...

OU basketball does not gain a competitive advantage for what transpired here.

Who is dirt poor?

I don't know that anyone on OU's basketball team is dirt poor. I do know that most come from solid middle class families and at least one comes from a wealthy family.

 

[sdcloud9]

The walk-on, whoever it was, clearly did the right thing. Can you imagine if this stuff was allowed to continue and then became a bigger issue? The person who reported this incident has the university's best interests in mind. Our program has been through enough stupid compliance issues with the NCAA. We don't need anymore. I don't care how stupid we feel the rules are, becuase many of them are stupid. But I don't think the NCAA is going to care how stupid we think their rules are.

I agree that rules are rules.....I'm just thinking that it would take guts for a walk-on that has financial means to rat on kids that have nothing (if that is the case) and took a few bucks

The system is broken and needs fixed, big time.

 

[thebigabd]

Who is dirt poor?

I don't know that anyone on OU's basketball team is dirt poor. I do know that most come from solid middle class families and at least one comes from a wealthy family.

Do you know anyone other than Fraschilla on the team?

 

[DenverSooner]

And just think how asinine it is for the coaches to be dressed in $3,000 suits and making millions and the players aren't allowed to be given a Benjamin for walking around money.

There is cheating going on. The players are being cheated.

Is it equally ridiculous for you to live in a fancy neighborhood while someone working in the same organization makes $30K a year? Perhaps this won't apply to your situation but the point is certainly applicable to many. Not everyone is compensated the same.

You may disagree with the compensation but the kids are compensated. They get something worth more than $30K a year. Lots of people work for less.

 

[thebigabd]

Is it equally ridiculous for you to live in a fancy neighborhood while someone working in the same organization makes $30K a year? Perhaps this won't apply to your situation but the point is certainly applicable to many. Not everyone is compensated the same.

You may disagree with the compensation but the kids are compensated. They get something worth more than $30K a year. Lots of people work for less.

The players are the product, though. People are buying their jerseys, kids are pretending to be them in the driveways, people pay money to come see them play.

Nobody shows up to watch Lon Kruger pace around in a suit... They come to watch Buddy and Spangs put a ball through a basket.

Considering the millions they bring in, they are not fairly compensated. It's exploitation in every sense of the word.

 

[AdaSooner]

The argument for giving players a stipend is a good one. I don't like the fact that some of these kids, especially those from dirt poor environments, don't have enough money to enjoy their campus experience more, or to go home for a long weekend or a holiday. I'm all for changing the rules to correct the injustice.

But the fact remains that extra benefits beyond what is allowed by the NCAA right now is against the rules. And, for the record, I'm not a fan of that organization, not by a long shot. I think the NCAA is more about preserving their power than doing what's right for student athletes.

On the side of that coin, this ol' "it's okay because everyone else is doing it" doesn't wash with me. I have no doubt that what Yo Yo did and a lot more is a common practice with the majority of basketball programs in this country. That still doesn't make it right. Like it or not, our coaches and the admins at OU have a duty to see that those rules are followed. Anything less and they deserve whatever comes their way.

 

[BoulderSooner]

The players are the product, though. People are buying their jerseys, kids are pretending to be them in the driveways, people pay money to come see them play.

Nobody shows up to watch Lon Kruger pace around in a suit... They come to watch Buddy and Spangs put a ball through a basket.

Considering the millions they bring in, they are not fairly compensated. It's exploitation in every sense of the word.

ou basketball doesnt make "millions"

2010 6,753,149 5,409,808 1,343,341 19.9%

 

[thebigabd]

ou basketball doesnt make "millions"

2010 6,753,149 5,409,808 1,343,341 19.9%

Lon Kruger makes $3 million per year.

Think about that.

 

[WTSooner]

Lon Kruger makes $3 million per year.

Think about that.

And if all of the good coaches stop coaching in college, and go coach in the NBA, or overseas, the college product isn't nearly as good, and fans don't go to as many games, buy as many jerseys, and so on and so forth.

Think about that.

 

[thebigabd]

And if all of the good coaches stop coaching in college, and go coach in the NBA, or overseas, the college product isn't nearly as good, and fans don't go to as many games, buy as many jerseys, and so on and so forth.

Think about that.

Everyone gets paid except the players. That is the point here. That is the problem.