http://chicago.suntimes.com/colleges/7/71/628714/cliff-alexander-comes-clean-improper-benefits ↗
We all more or less had this pegged correctly. Just a shame for what it did to this young man whom I'm sure we all would have loved to see back for a couple more years.
Damn shame, Cliff was just starting to figure it out when he was benched and would've been a huge help next season.
@Texas-Hawk-10 You're right. With all of the high praise coming for our team next year, with Cliff it'd be even more so.
His mom was "tricked" and they "needed the money." Right. Lots of people in prison who claimed they needed the money and were tricked. Come on. Your kid is in college. You can't take benefits. And you were tricked.
It goes back to a point I tried to make. These families have been poor and without means the whole time these top talents have been growing up. Yet now that they are knocking on the door of a free solid education, and future potential millions playing in the league. These young kids with the burden of their families have no choice but to go. Makes me sick.
How many kids wanted to stay in college for another year or two? How many? Yet they were forced to go, because hey can't pass up on the money. Well money comes and goes a proven fact, but an education, a fraternity, a brotherhood something the college experience gives can never be taken away.
So sad these kids are forced to chase the money so old uncle Joe can wear a gold chain.
I've stated this before.
If a lawyer does this he should be disbarred, fined, exposed.
If an agent does this he should be kicked out of the sport, Yada, Yada, Yada. Etc. etc.
SCUMBAGS are killing young people's future who are just a step away from a real lifetime opportunity for the best- so the scumbag. can get money off them a few months early.
They are. Parasites. PLEASE FRY THESE SCUMBAGS!!!
@JayhawkRock78 I've never heard you state this before, but I agree. Agents are ruinous to a lot of lives. Cliff is actually fortunate in that he probably will make money playing basketball. How many agents have convinced a kid to go pro after one year whom none of us have ever heard of? It was even worse when a kid could go pro out of HS. You'd hear about kids declaring for the draft and you'd just know they had no chance to go pro.
Parents have some responsibility also, but it's remarkable how many kids do make it out of similar situations to Cliffs without their parents or themselves messing it up.
@wissoxfan83
Thanks Sox,
I really don't care one bit that a kid goes to the pros early-I could care less how old he is. I care that a scumbag screws up his long term future whether it be college, pros, intl sports or whatever.
These a-holes should be on the hook -as in -sign with me you have X million guaranteed right now-cash up front-or go to college and enjoy the life. Plan A or plan B and if an agent or lawyer crosses the line they loose every penny of the transaction, get fined, fired, disbarred , etc.
So-to make my point clear-and agent-lawyer or what ever commits.
A: You. Choose a college. and good luck no matter how long you stay-we talk when you leave the NCAA.
OR
I give you cash upfront that ALL can see and I will represent you in the NBA negotiations.
@HighEliteMajor I also enjoyed that tweet you pointed out that Cliff favorited... About how he took a step back under Self....
@HighEliteMajor I'm on the fence. I agree with you, Cliff needs to own his mistake. He wasn't tricked, but he is still a kid and it seems he didn't understand the risk vs reward here.
@HighEliteMajor You don't get tricked. You get greedy. You can't convince me she didn't know it was wrong. And if she had any questions she had her kid's head coach and supporting staff that could've provided guidance.
I would really love to see the NBA and NCAA get together to try and work on issues that can cost a college kid eligibility and make an innocent party suffer the consequences while nothing happens to the guilty parties. Fortunately for KU, they're unlikely to ever see any punishment because the NCAA is never going to see the actual loan documents they need to force KU to vacate last year because Cliff's mom was able to get a lawyer that knows how to handle the NCAA.
Personally, I'd love to see agents, or their runners, that pull crap like this lose their license to be an agent and if it's someone trying to get certified, they get their certification denied.
Just another damn set of rules which serve the literal metaphor of a giant boot stomped onto the throats of the impoverished. NCAA Division 1 Basketball a pristine example of pure amateur sport? BAH! Ignorance and greed? Oh, yeah. Takes the education and support system of Presidential Royalty to pull off the tricky financial machinations and twisted geographical power moves which lead to little more, by way of eventual exposure and punishment than proverbial slaps on the hand and a few scowls from the pulpits or babbling newshawks. Essentially, Bill Self and Associates appear not to have been on top of a situation involving a cherished H.S. All-American whose origins most probably served to wave a red flag involving the possibility of fiduciary impropriety. We live and learn. The mutability of a highly successful Division 1 coach of a major sport is one hell of a work in progress. This Cliff mess was something like two steps back...into the D-Block and Selby situations. Jayhawk Nation probably won't get caught up again in anything like it for at least 5 or 6 years....
These kids are required to watch a film EVERY time they go go an armature tournament starting when they are finishing middle school.
They have coaches and counselors to help them in high school and college alike. Some of these kids aren't the brightest of the bunch (parents as well) but there are knowledgable people all around them that can keep them informed and out of trouble.
It keeps happening, and everybody looses but the scumbag.