🏀 KuBuckets Archive

Lengthy article just out.

http://www.thepasadenapost.com/post/112768850743/former-william-wesley-acquaintance-calipari ↗

The Pasadena Post

5 Mar

Former William Wesley Acquaintance: Calipari, Kentucky, Cheated in 2014 NCAA Tournament

By Michael Miller

University of Kentucky head coach John Calipari allegedly cheated his way through the 2014 NCAA tournament – and is prepared to do it again this year, according to an individual who claims to be a former associate of power broker and super agent William Wesley.

Calipari and Wesley have been closely connected for many years. In 2012, The Oregonian’s John Canzano wrote about Wesley’s presence in New Orleans for the 2012 NCAA Championship game. After Kentucky claimed the title over Kansas, Canzano wrote, “Wildcats star Anthony Davis climbed into the stands and shared a celebratory hug with Wesley, who was sitting in the Kentucky family section inside the Superdome.”

The aforementioned whistleblower-acquaintance of Wesley, who presently wishes to remain anonymous for personal reasons, says he has in his possession a number of emails and texts that were exchanged between Kentucky assistant Kenny Payne, Calipari, Wesley, and numerous college basketball officials over the past several college basketball seasons. John Doe did not want to elaborate on how he came upon the emails and texts, or whether he was privy to the exchanged messages.

The Pasadena Post conducted a telephone interview with John Doe, whereupon he shared the following information, which John Doe says was not derived from the emails and texts in his possession, but gathered firsthand from his previous personal dealings and encounters with Wesley:

– “[Retired NBA player] Damon Stoudamire was on record a few years back stating [that] Wes is running the NBA. There’re journalists in-the-know who think he’s running all of basketball. That’s an understatement. He’s the most powerful man in sports.”

– Numerous college basketball officials are handsomely paid by Wesley to officiate Kentucky games. Calipari and Payne inform Wesley which games they requests referees for, and Wesley is the linchpin. “All of Kentucky’s NCAA tournament games last year, Wes had at least one of his guys there. Everyone of ’em. The Wichita State game was laughable. Cal was calling out plays to the officials from the sideline. It was blatant cheating down the stretch of that game, and Cal’s giving the go-ahead. His fist in the air. Holding up five fingers. Who was he calling plays to? His players weren’t even looking at him. He was signaling [referee] Mike Reed. Go back and watch it yourself.”

– John Doe says Calipari has two objectives as head basketball coach: to win games in the NCAA tournament with Kentucky, and to prevent Louisville head coach Rick Pitino from winning basketball games at Louisville. “Cal’s obsessed with Pitino. Always has been. The two had a falling out somewhere in the late 1990s or early 2000s, after they both had rough stints in the NBA and returned to college, and it’s been ugly ever since. Pitino’s indifferent. He doesn’t care about Cal one way or the other. But Cal, his stated mission when he took over at Kentucky was to run Pitino out of the state. That’s a fact. [WDRB.com and former Louisville Courier-Journal columnist] Rick Bozich even said as much in one of his columns a few years back. So what Cal and Wes do, they’ll have their refs at non-Kentucky games that Louisville is playing for three primary reasons: to hopefully cause a Louisville loss, to scout Louisville’s team for when Cal has to play them, to know which players to call fouls on, and to keep Wes’ crew working. The more games they work for Wes, the more they get paid. It happened tonight in the Notre Dame (versus Louisville) game. I haven’t watched many Louisville games this season, but I caught tonight’s game and one of Wes’ guys was there, [Michael Stephens]. Mike called phantom fouls on Louisville’s centers, took them out of the game. Louisville’s players got mugged, he didn’t call anything. It was blatant, and it usually is, if you know who’s working for Wes and Cal. And Kenny, he doesn’t like Pitino, either. He’s an old-school, [former Louisville coach] Denny Crum guy, and he’s never been OK with how Pitino took over the helm after his guy.

    “No (laughs), I’m not a Louisville fan. I’m not a fan of any team in particular. I’m drawn to players. Patrick Ewing was one of the best collegiate players I ever saw. Anthony Davis was a once-in-a-lifetime-talent, he was a joy to watch. There’s been a lot of players over the years I’ve enjoyed watching. But with Louisville, I’m just telling you what I know. And Cal, he doesn’t give a (expletive) about Louisville – it’s Pitino. It’s personal. And it’s smart. He knows, as the coach of Kentucky, that Kentucky fans want three things: NCAA titles, Final Fours, and to beat Louisville. He’s no dummy. He’d want to beat Louisville if Pitino wasn’t there; but the fact that he is there, it takes it to another level. He’ll stop at nothing to make sure Louisville loses at every corner. And the fact of the matter is, pretty much every year Cal’s been at Kentucky – other than Cal’s first year at Kentucky – Cal’s biggest threat has been Louisville. You take Cal’s clandestine activities out of the equation since he’s been in Lexington, and Louisville easily has two NCAA titles. [Louisville] would have won it all last season, if Cal and Wes hadn’t intervened. [Louisville] swept [2014 NCAA title winners] UConn, beat ’em three times [in the 2013-14 basketball season], easily. [Calipari’s] very good at [preventing Louisville from winning]. [Calipari] had no business defeating Louisville last season. Both games were cheating on level I didn’t think he’d get to. But he got there.”

– “I told a friend about how I think Wes set up the Midwest region last year – and my friend, he laughed, because he doesn’t follow the sport that closely and doesn’t know Wes like I do – but I think Wes helped set up the Midwest region last year. I really do. I can’t prove it, but I’ve heard things. He was involved. Look, the other stuff is fact. The refs, the play-calling from the sideline. [Calipari] has been pulling that stuff for years. Is Wes capable of getting to the NCAA selection committee? I wouldn’t put it past him. He was a regular with the [Chicago] Bulls in the 1990s, probably the greatest dynasty in modern basketball, at any level. [Retired NBA and former Bulls player] Scottie Pippen says Wes knows everyone. When you’re joined at hip with Nike, anything’s possible. We’re talking about a multibillion-dollar business, college basketball. Money talks. Power talks. Wes has both.

    “My B.S. detector went off when I saw the seedings revealed last year. According to its RPI, Kentucky should’ve been no worse than a four [seed]. They were given an eight [seed]. How did that happen? Every other team was seeded in accordance to their RPIs. So Kentucky’s paired up with Kansas State. Remember that game? One of the refs gave a technical to K-State before the game even started. First time in NCAA tournament history, a team was on the scoreboard before tipoff.

    “It was a favorable draw. Cal got K-State and Wichita in St. Louis, two home games. He got Louisville in [Indianapolis] – another home game. How many eight seeds get to stay that close to home in the Big Dance? I think Cal knew the two biggest threats in last year’s tournaments were Louisville and Wichita [State]. He wanted to eliminate both. His regular season had been a disaster, and what better saving grace than to be able to take out the first undefeated team since 1976 Indiana? And then your in-state rival? Funny how that worked out. And he had two of his refs working both of those games – that part I can verify. I know those guys. They do well for themselves. The regional setup, that’s my own speculation…it’s just never added up.”

– Wesley is a “charming guy, a nice guy. I don’t want to elaborate on the details of our [association]. I don’t feel I need to. He’s elusive, enigmatic – so am I; I’m a private individual. We don’t speak anymore, I’ll say that much. It happens in life all the time. People go their separate ways.”

– John Doe felt compelled to share his story because he “didn’t want to see another program get shammed again this year” like in 2014. “Last year, it was hard to watch. I’ve never had a problem with Wes, Kenny or Cal having the best team that money can buy. That stuff goes on almost everywhere. It’s gone on for decades. If it’s not the coach, it’s a booster the coach may or may not know about. Sam Gilbert built the UCLA dynasty. That’s no secret. College basketball has always been a functioning underground economy. You don’t have to see ‘Blue Chips’ to know that much. It’s gotten worse in the past decade or so. Again, we’re talking about a multibillion-dollar industry. Name me one [multibillion-dollar industry] that’s above corruption. Cal just takes it to another level at Kentucky, because he has Wes. Kentucky never got close to putting together a team of eight or nine McDonald’s All-Americans in the past. Never. [Former Kentucky coach] Pitino signed less than a dozen – five, actually, if I recall – McDonald’s All-Americans in eight seasons at Kentucky, and that was a golden age of Kentucky basketball. Heck, [Pitino] only had two [McDonald’s All-Americans] that played significant minutes on his 1996 title team (Tony Delk, Antoine Walker). One of them didn’t even play, or barely played and was a freshman (Wayne Turner). The other was a freshman, too (Ron Mercer) and was a reserve. And Memphis never got that kind of talent until Wes showed up. Look at Cal’s record at Memphis from 2000 to 2005. It was average. Double-digit losses. His 2005 Memphis team was pretty bad. I think that’s when Cal said [screw] it: ‘They couldn’t touch me at UMass, if they want to try to get me here, I’ll get the hell out of dodge.’ Wes gets involved after the 2005 season and it’s 30 wins, 30 wins, Derrick Rose, more wins.

      “But hiring officials and calling out plays from the sidelines, that’s where I gotta draw the line. That’s Lance Armstrong-level-cheating. Kentucky was an average team last year. They weren’t a very good team. They didn’t deserve to win a game in that tournament, and they advanced to the title game because Cal was calling out plays and the refs were doing their thing.”

– John Doe says Wesley’s predetermined-officials primarily alter games for Calipari by using several tactics. “Well, last year, for example, and even in regular season games this year, Cal will get the ball in the hands of his best free-throw shooters, set the play up with the official, and that player will get fouled. It happened at [Texas] A&M this year. Wes’ guys won that one for Cal. It happened like clockwork in the tournament last year. Whenever Kentucky needed a bucket in the Wichita game, [Kentucky point guard] Andrew Harrison had the ball in his hands and Wichita got rung up for a phantom foul, and it sent one of his best free-throw shooters to the line for a couple easy ones. There’s a reason Cal loves those twins – they’re the perfect players for his ruse. Give them the ball, send them to the line, get easy points.”

     Another tactic Wesley’s officials will use, according to John Doe, is to call nonexistent or “phantom fouls” on Kentucky’s opponents. “The phantom foul is Cal’s best friend. He pretty much disqualified every big Louisville had on its team in the Sweet 16 last year. He got [former Louisville player] Luke Hancock on the bench for most of the first half in that one. [Former Kentucky player] James Young couldn’t check [Hancock]. He was a threat. Cal knew that. What do you do with a threat? You eliminate it. Get him out of the game. Go back and look at the tape. One foul on [Hancock], if I recall, was a clean block. Cleanest block I ever saw. Unfortunately, [referee] Joe [DeRosa] was on it. And he’s been working for Wes for the past several years.

  “Phantom fouls work on a number of levels. You can send a guy to the bench for an entire half, or you can call timely fouls, when your team really needs a bucket, or you can get a guy in foul trouble and make him unable to defend as he normally would. Or you can just foul him out of the game. Wes’ guys do all of the above. Whatever it takes. It’s their job, and they’re good at it.”

    John Doe says Wes’ referees often won’t call fouls on the teams they want to win when players on the opposing teams actually draw legitimate contact. “It’s smart. Everybody wants to complain about phantom fouls. But what about all of the times a player legitimately gets raked, and there’s no whistle? Fans aren’t so bullish about those, because fans like to see the refs let ’em play – but it’s a great way to hose a team.”

Editor’s note: I went back and viewed the play (involving Hancock) mentioned above, and included a photo of it below. “Had it been a foul,” John Doe said, “Young would have been able to continue his shooting motion, which he didn’t do. At worst, it should have been a jump ball, because Young was stuffed. But even a jump ball would have been a bad call, because it was a clean rejection by Hancock.”

It’s worth noting that Hancock was having his way with Young, and after each time Hancock scored, he was quickly rung-up for a personal foul shortly thereafter. After Hancock splashed a 3-pointer, basketball analyst Doug Gottlieb tweeted the following:

– John Doe said he’d gladly speak to any major media outlet. “I emailed ESPN, I emailed some editors at Grantland. Didn’t hear back from them. No surprise. [Retired NBA player] Jalen Rose works for ESPN and Grantland. He gave Wes his name, Worldwide Wes. You think they’re going to blow the whistle on [Wesley] (laughs)? Maybe Yahoo! will speak to me. I thought when [sportswriter] Pat Forde left ESPN for Yahoo! he was going to pursue some more investigative journalism. He wrote some telling articles about Wesley when he was with ESPN. He’s seemingly backed off of him since he’s been at Yahoo!. Maybe Wes has gotten to [Forde] too (laughs). Nothing surprises me anymore.”

– In regard to Forde, John Doe also said, “I like [Forde]. I’ve never met him, but I think he’s a good writer and he knows his stuff. He knows college sports. But he wrote something last year, I couldn’t disagree more with it, and made me wonder what his agenda was. He said something along the lines, if you complain about officiating, you’re a loser. OK, I get it, [Forde’s] probably just trying to protect the game. I understand. He makes his living covering it. Thou shalt not criticize referees if you’re a college basketball beat writer. But why are referees off the table? No, seriously, why? You’re living in Fantasyland if you think the stripes don’t greatly or largely affect the outcome of a college basketball game. This much I know: referees can manipulate the game as much as any coach or player – even more so, I’d say. And all it takes is one. One referee can completely alter the outcome of a game. They can call anything they want, and no one can question it. It’s like, who’s policing the police? You’ve got your head in the sand if you think [college basketball officials] are all principled. [Tim] Donaghy spent almost a year in prison for doing it in the NBA. It happens. There’s about a dozen of them working for Wes. Try Googling some of these guys, college basketball refs. You won’t find much. They’re as mysterious as Wes. They’re not all malefactors, but it’s like anything things else. There’s corrupt policemen – you’re telling me a bunch of nomadic refs are all going to be holier than thou? Please. I can name you a dozen of them that aren’t.”

– When asked about rumors that have floated around the Internet for years about Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski’s ties to Wesley, John Doe wasn’t as unforthcoming. “[Krzyzewski] has been associated with Wes, that’s no secret. Wes actually tried getting into Lucas Oil [Stadium] a couple years ago when Duke was in the regional there, and security wouldn’t let him in. He had a flyer out with his photo on it. That was a first (laughs). I don’t know how they kept him out of Lucas Oil. Maybe Coach K didn’t want that association. He’s never been banned before or after that, from a college basketball event. But one of his [referees] was there for the regional – Tony Greene. Tony’s been working for Wes, Kenny, Cal for years. They love Tony.
“Like I said before, programs have been paying to get players for decades – coaches or boosters or friends of the program. It goes on at most of the big programs, and I don’t have a problem with it, because it is what it is. You can’t stop it. It’s always gone on. It’s like trying to stop the war on drugs. You’re never going to stop it, so don’t even try to, it’s a waste of time. With college hoops, there’s too much money to keep it from getting to the players.
“I don’t know the depth of Coach K and Wes’ relationship, because in the time I’ve known Wes, he’s spent most of his time, collegiately, dealing with Cal. I’ve seen Wes’ officials show up at Duke games, but it’s probably more of a coincidence. [Krzyzewski] isn’t calling out plays from the sideline like Cal, I can tell you that. I’m OK with Krzyzewski. I don’t think he’s doing what Cal does, with the refs. Maybe he looks the other way when it comes to landing recruits like [John] Wooden did with Sam Gilbert, who knows. I don’t know. Doesn’t matter. Coach K’s humble. He’s a humble winner and a gracious loser. He’s a class act – at least when it comes to how he reacts before and after the game…the way he treats opposing teams. That’s what he’s classy about. I respect how he handles losing and how he handles winning. Cal’s different, to me. It’s one thing to cheat. It’s another thing to cheat and come across as arrogant. That’s how Cal comes across, to me anyway.”

– John Doe said he “admires Calipari’s abilities.” John Doe said, “He’s good at what he does. He’s good at cheating. I admire that, in an objective sort of way. I don’t condone it, but I stand back and tip my hat to the guy. He knows how to beat the system. He knows how to win. I recently watched a documentary about Lance Armstrong on Showtime. I didn’t follow that story as it happened, and the documentary just blew me away. He fooled so many people. I felt awful for the lives that he ruined, the careers that he ruined, but there was a moment when I stopped and said, ‘Wow, he was exceptional at what he did – cheating.’ Cal’s the Lance Armstrong of college basketball. He keeps getting away with it. Will he ever get caught? I’m not sure. The [game tapes] aren’t slam dunks, at least to an outsider. Although I think any unbiased person can walk away from the games I mention, the plays I mention, and feel it’s pretty conclusive that [Calipari] called out plays, that he signaled Wes’ [officials]. And look at the same refs that repeatedly show up for the same big, important Kentucky games. It’s not a coincidence. No other school gets that treatment. No other school has Cal and Wes.”

– Asked if he feared for his safety, John Doe laughed. “Wes is harmless. He’s not running organized crime, he’s not Tony Soprano. He’s a fixer. That’s Wes. Cal’s harmless, at least outside the line (laughs). I wouldn’t want to face him on the court, though. You’re playing five-on-six or five-on-seven or eight.”
John Doe said he wished to remain anonymous because of fans. “There’s a reason they’re called fans. There’s a portion of them that are a little cuckoo. I don’t need anyone harassing me. I’m doing this for the schools that do it right. These other programs, they work too hard, practice too much to get bamboozled in a college basketball game. I used to play, so it hits close to home. It’s an ethical thing. I can draw lines here and there, there’s always shades of gray in life and business, but when it comes to basketball, it stops at cheating in the game; during the game. You don’t cheat the game. It’s like if we’re playing a round of golf, and you whip out the foot wedge behind my back, and later your caddy tells me about it, well, there’s going to be a problem. I’m going to call you out on it.”

– John Doe said he would never disclose the emails and texts in his possession that include exchanges between Calipari, Payne, Wesley and numerous officials. “I’d never want that to happen to me, to have my personal emails or texts shared without my consent, so I wouldn’t do it to anyone else. All of the other information I’ve shared, it’s a result of what I’ve heard firsthand as a result of knowing Wes for years. It’s stuff plenty of others have heard about, too, I’m sure.”

– John Doe said the only reason he’s sharing the information about Wesley and Calipari is “’cause I’m a fan of the game. It was almost heartbreaking to see the uneven playing field last year in the tournament, and I didn’t want to see it again this season. You seemed like a genuine reporter when we met, so I don’t mind sharing this with you. I don’t need the money, and I don’t need the notoriety. Like I said, I’m doing this for the kids and coaches of the other programs out there. Hopefully the message will get across. That’s all I care about.”

– John Doe is impressed with this year’s Kentucky team. “They’re really good. They’re long, they’re tall. Do I think they can be beat? Sure, if Wes’ [referees] aren’t there. They’ve nearly been beaten a few times this season with Wes’ [referees] pulling all the stops. They should’ve lost a couple this year, just from the ones I watched. At Georgia, at LSU, I think it was, at A&M for sure – I watched that one, shaking my head. Wes’ guys bailed them out. Maybe my interview or your article can at least serve as a warning to opposing coaches, to let them know what they’re up against. But if a couple of unranked teams from the SEC can take them to the wire with Wes’ crew there, sure, they can be beat [in the NCAA tournament]. I’ve seen some great college basketball teams in my day, and they’ve all been beatable, and they’ve all taken a loss here or there, at least since the [NCAA] tournament field expanded. Of course, they weren’t playing eight-on-five (laughs).
“I like Kentucky. I don’t have any problem with Kentucky. Again, I don’t have a horse in the race. I’m usually drawn to teams if they have a player I like to watch. I like Kentucky’s kids. And despite what some of their detractors say, they’ve got the best fans in college basketball, hands down. Now, there’s a portion of them that might come across as annoying or obnoxious our what have you, but that’s true for any fanbase, especially in this age of social media. Fans never want to admit it, but they’re all the same. They all want to win, they all hate to lose, it’s always what have you done for me lately? But Kentucky, no one travels like Kentucky fans. You put together a good team at Kentucky, you’re going to have unmatched fan support in the NCAA tournament, no matter who’s coaching its team, no matter how good that team is, and that helps. But when you mix in the hookwinking referees, it’s very tough to beat.
“It bothered me last year, because I thought that team was so-so, it struggled all season, and then it got the perfect draw, and it was cheating at its best in the tournament. It was criminal what happened in the tournament last year, especially to Wichita and Louisville. This year, if Wes’ guys are there, it’s good night, Irene. I shouldn’t say that, but let’s just say it will take a creative effort from an opposing team to overcome [Kentucky’s] size and the [officiating]. They’re probably almost good enough to do it on their own, but Cal will have his [officiating] crew there, and there’s definitely some teams out there that can beat them, but [those teams] will have to get incredibly lucky, ’cause Cal and Kenny and Wes, they’ll have their crew there.”

image

Editor’s note: My next article will be a running diary of the
2014 NCAA Sweet 16 game, featuring John Doe’s comments – Calipari’s Wildcats defeated Pitino’s Cardinals by five in that one, and John Doe said it was the greatest gyp in the history of NCAA college basketball.
The following article will take an in-depth look at Kentucky’s first two NCAA tournament games from 2014 – its wins over Kansas State and Wichita State. John Doe’s revelations and the accompanying videos and text in the upcoming article will be quite revealing, to say the least. Stay tuned.
– Michael Miller

thepasadenapost posted this

Archive / Random post / RSS
Powered by Tumblr - Quite Big theme by George Dunkley

WOW!!!

@JayhawkRock78 did you see the sanctions against Syracuse? Really bad!

@Crimsonorblue22
Yes I just read it. They REALLY got hammered. And coach B- out NINE games next year.

You're right, Syracuse looks like it got the Death Penalty.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/jim-boeheim-suspended-as-part-of-ncaa-s-punishment-of-syracuse-173156929.html ↗

Time to get Norm back to the New York area to get these recruits.

Other than post season ban. There's a long list of violations obviously. To have to vacate that many seasons. The only post season ban is this year and self imposed in a sub par year

Although this is an interesting read, the source seems incredibly dubious. There is no such newspaper as the Pasadena Post. And I can't find Michael Miller connected with the AP or any other legit org. I'm no fan of Calipari and he has been caught cheating in the past, but this doesn't pass the smell test to me.

@konkeyDong I took from a legitimate twitter post but should have done the due diligence you did. Can't believe that it would get as far as it did if it wasn't legit. Did you use the link I provided at the top and go to it?

@RockChalkinTexas I did use your link and I'm not saying that it can't be true, but just take it with a grain of salt unless someone else from an established journal corroborates it.

@konkeyDong I am quite cautious about the validity of this also. Wes & Cal have been in cahoots for years now, but you're correct there is no such newspaper. I aslo searched for WWW in all of the available links to actual paper existing at present in Pasadena & came up empty. Since SU got hammered, maybe just an opportune time for some troll to heap trash on Cal & Wes. True or not, & I searched on Snopes.com also, to no avail. IMO Cal & Wes are as dirty as they can be & is just a matter of time before one gets his teat totally in the ringer.

@RockChalkinTexas The only recent article I could come up with on a gaggle (LOL) search was this one from uoflcardgame.com

http://uoflcardgame.com/calipari-whining-wesley-ties-pitino-recruiting/46984/ ↗

It might be a hit piece. Here's this:

https://kentucky.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=1383&tid=210957495&mid=210957495&sid=888&style=2 ↗

Several times during the article, and it was very long, were the statements "and that's a fact".
I"m no journalistic expert, but when someone writes something like that, you probably can say it's not a fact, it's either a possible fact, or it's a lie.

The more a story is repeated the more likely it is to become fact, so if we keep repeating this....!

Here is a fact. We've all seen phantom fouls, players getting hammered with no calls, walks that aren't called etc, and yes ku gets them called both ways.

Sometimes these refs determine the outcome at the end of a game.

I'm not saying this story has legs- I just know I see calls in games that are so bad it makes you wonder if the refs want a team to win/lose.

He mentions big companies/organizations have corrupt individuals in them. What makes us think we can't have a few bad apples.

As much as we would all like this to be true, and for this to reach the US Justice Department for scrutinizing....

This is a bogus website. It was started just a couple of days ago and there are no other media stories besides this one.

There is no "Pasadena Post" except a post office in Pasadena.

Total rubbish.

@JayhawkRock78 I have no doubt that there are refs that play favorites a bit for the coaches they like, refs who put their own egos above calling the game fairly, refs that swallow their whistles at the ends of game just to up the ante, and refs that aren't wearing clean underwear when they come out of the locker room. Refs are human beings, and none of them are totally above the fray, whether they try to be or not. But suggesting Calipari has a crew of refs on the take that he uses to both advance his own team and thwart Rick Pitino at every turn? That's a lot to take without hard proof, especially on a website that popped up out of nowhere. Woodward and Bernstein this Miller guy ain't.

The Calipari "story," whether it's true or not, comes at the same time as the NCAA sanctions on Boeheim, and adds to the increasing national impression that college basketball is reverting to the bad old days of point-shaving and other evils.

I always thought Boeheim had charmed too many of the national media (a fair number of which came out of the Syracuse journalism school) into believing he was an all-around good guy. You'd never hear otherwise on ESPN, especially not from his buddies Vitale, Wilbon and Kornheiser.

The whole mess makes me think of that joke that Milton Berle told during the early '50s. "Hey, how do you like my new nose? Yeah, it's my basketball nose...I just had it fixed."

@RockChalkinTexas I F*%^&$#% knew it! I knew it as the day is long. I knew Calipari was a cheater. I could feel it in my gut.
This is an extremely extensive article. If there is even one ounce of truth to this, the NCAA absolutely has to investigate it. Calipari should be thrown out of the sport and put in jail for the rest of his miserable crap eating life.
Well apparently the article isnt legit but seriously if even one bit of it is true, which rumors are often found to be true, Calipari must be forced to hang from his toes from a tree in the middle of the Amazon covered in honey.

I believe there may be some half-truths in this story, but it is swimming in a river full of speculative "wishful thinking.'

A story like this can take off like wild fire. And the fact that it can is where the real story is.

Truth is... Calipari is the most-hated head coach ever to be a part of college basketball. The fact that a story like this can ablaze the entire nation is proof of that. People want to believe it. That is enough for it to be accepted as truth and continue to spread.

If this takes off to the point of making mainstream, Kentucky administration should start weighing the worth of one John Calipari. Is it worth being hated in 49 states just so you can claim a few more National Championships? Really?

Most of their fan base will probably answer that with a resounding "yes!" And that is where the rub lies.

I am thankful we have a coach that is respected and admired in all 50 states. I wouldn't trade him for Calipari and a slew of National Championships.

Imagine most of America hating KU? We may have picked up a few haters in Memphis in '08... but just a few... not a nation full!

That's okay. We have more than enough haters in Kansas and Missouri to make up for the rest of the country.

@Lulufulu
While I share your sentiments on Cali, let's avoid character assassination based on gossip or rumor. As much as I'd like to see his FFs/NC vacated, let's not rush to condemn the man - albeit he is a cheater. Let's us, KU fans, be above this, and hope that Cali is a better man than what the article implies. That said, where there's smoke, let's watch for the fire. One thing I got out of this article for sure is Jaybate's theory on shoe cos - man, they DO rule college bb!

@RockChalkinTexas Pasadena Post--funny. Legitimate twitter post--funny.

Mark Twain--A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on his shoes.

That stuff is way over the top.
We know that everything you read on twitter and the internet is true, right?

Oh....and I'm a French model......bon jour!

@HawksWin Yeah, I mean Im just so ready for Calipari to get burned doing something wrong that any hint of it coming is like a knee jerk reaction for me

The allegations here are pretty crazy. I can't see any way this is true. WWW is pretty influential, but I can't see him basically fixing games, especially college games. He would be banned from the NBA forever if he was involved in something like this. The NBA ties are more valuable to WWW than any college could ever be. No way he would risk that on college games.