🏀 KuBuckets Archive

So there are quite a few people on this board that have stated their disappointment in all of this FBI case as it pertains to Coach Self and the program. So my question to you is: What exactly do you Chancellor Girod and AD Jeff Long to do??

Fire Self? Fire Townsend? External Investigation?

This isn't meant to be rude or anything I am honestly curious as to what people want their school to do?

I believe they will almost certainly have to do an external investigation if for no other reason than to save face. I still like to believe in the good in ppl. So I kind of hope that happens and it turns up that our guys didn't do anything wrong. That's the first best outcome in my opinion as of today. But I admit I hold out little hope for that. It very much does at least appear that we weren't above board.

Beyond that I think it's still too early for any of those decisions. I think I'd want to see the investigations findings, and any NCAA rulings on violations/punishments etc. Before saying anyone should be fired and so forth.

Excellent question and topic. It's definitely food for thought

Keep fielding a competitive basketball team.

BOTH WILL STILL BE AT KU

Idk at this point that anything happens outside of an investigation, alot of it probably depends what else the FBI has on KU because I'm not sure this is enough to do a whole heck of a lot. The current case ruling may play a factor, if found guilty that means the court believes Self and the university is believed to have no knowledge of the payments made from Adidas. If found not guilty it means the court thinks there is enough evidence to believe the staff did know it was happening and the schools weren't victims of anything.

At this point there is nothing really that needs to be done other than perhaps an internal investigation to make sure all rules are followed.

At this time there is zero evidence, other than an off-the-cuff statement by an attorney at closing and not under oath that Coach Self might have known about the $2,500 payment to DeSousa. Even the KT phone conversation does not indicate an intent, indication or desire to pay money but only to do what ever possible to get Zion to KU; hopefully without breaking rules and or laws; obviously KU or Adidas did not pay and Zion, who at one time was a KU lean, ended up at Duke. Duke has the serious problem not KU.

All testimony offered under oath by people that had zero incentive to lie, indicated that KU personnel was not aware of any of the financial dealings.

So, unless someone can come up with some solid and verifiable information of corruption the presumption of innocence should still apply.

Keep in mind that I am the one that posted the Casablanca clip and the analogy of recruiting to making law and sausages so it is not like I don't believe that payments happen all the time, they do. I am just not that naive to think that some elite programs don't do it, they all do it to one extent or another and seems a little sanctimonious to pile up on Coach Self when he is likely one of the cleaner coaches while Coach K gets a pass because his self-professed innocence...give me an effin' break, look at his recent recruiting classes and tell me Duke is not paying...the Zion case alone is an indictment of Coach K and Duke....there is just no way that Zion/family that wanted $100K+ suddenly decide to go to Duke because of the education, even when he will not even be there 2 full semesters.

This is not boy scout land, this is the real world and things don't alwasys work they way we wish they would or should; they work the way they do and it is sink or swim.

Watch the NCAA have a limited, one time amnesty and move on as if nothing happened. Welcome to the real world.

Sue Preston for his tuition and whatever compensation KU provided.

@DanR I like that idea! Moms a piece!

@DanR And the cost of KU's investigation.

They say KU's attorneys have been at the trial.

Here is what we do....

We will be on the receiving end of every opponents' jeers... Great!

Can we NOW start (finally) listening to me and bring a chip into every season, every game, every second and start kicking the snit out of every living soul that thinks they want to challenge us to a game designed by our very own Dr. Naismith!

Here is a little clue... it is friggin' lonely at the top! But guess what... it's lonely at the bottom, too!

Rock Chalk, Jayhawk!

I want the truth.

Why? Because I CAN handle the truth.

I want a commitment from KU that we will NOT cheat, that we will NOT be complicit in cheating on our behalf by third parties, and that KU will FIRE cheaters.

I want KU then to privately posture to the NCAA that if any punishment is leveled at KU that KU will expose everything it knows about everyone, and burn the house down.

I want KU to demand an NCAA statement that implicates everyone, or we will expose everything we know about everyone, and burn the house down.

Why? Because KU was the one caught up in a prosecution that could have nailed any larger program. So we aren’t taking one for the team. We will burn it down.

Then I want the NCAA (and schools) to turn the ship around, be hard ass regarding enforcement, and demand compliance. Never pay players. If you don’t like the product and what is offered, don’t play. Be very clear that those that want money need to go somewhere else to earn it. And let the chips fall where they may.

As far as the program, nothing. Everyone is complicit in the current environment.

But KU should dump Adidas. In the end this is all about money for both sides. There's a lot of money on the line. I just can't believe they would stick with them after this. It's pitiful, PITIFUL Gassnola was allowed to be around the program. The bad apple in the bag and there is a lot of apples out there doing everything he was doing without begging for someone to blow the whistle on him.

@Woodrow Drop Adidas, and get Nike. Hire Jeff Capel as recruiting coordinator. This will eliminate all FBI investigations, and allow us to be given Top 5 talent every year.

Here is my guess as to what happens next.
The lawyers convene with self and staff to determine if there is any hard evidence out there to prove self knew of payments. I for one can’t believe they would be so stupid as to leave any trail.
If lawyers think there is no proof, KU will issue a statement they they take this situation extremely seriously, and we may see self emphatically claim he or his staff had absolutely zero knowledge of adidas paying players to steer them here. Townsend also may have to publicly explain himself and also state that he never meant KU would actually come up with paying Zion. Good luck on that ( good news is that now EVERYONE thinks Nike ponyed up cash for Zion to go to Duke )

I agree on dumping adidas - very hard to see how we can continue this relationship now -
Regardless of our past good vibes with adidas, I think both parties should understand this is best to part ways.

The NCAA is obviously going to feel pressured to do something - rather that open Pandora’s box, they may make a token gesture of punishing some of the schools involved. I think some sort of punishment to KU would actually be a good thing in the long run. We need to take it and shut up, and get back to building back up a reputation as a top tier corruption- free beacon of basketball.

If anything I hope that the top one and dones
Go to Nike schools at least for a while .
F ‘em - Nike can pay them and they can burden some other program. I’ve never felt they are worth the troubke and we can win without them

If KU dumps ADIDAS now it will look guilt as sin as the recruiting pipeline shuts down. KU would be a low Nike priority, they aren’t courting the Jayhawks and would get sent the recruits left after Duke, UNC, Kentucky, etc...if we are to believe all the recruits are bought by the shoecos.

@BeddieKU23

Why should KU dump Adidas?

First, no other shoeco will pay what Adidas pays.

Second, it would be a de facto admission of guilt.

Third, if KU gets NIke or Under Armour we are just trading one crooked firm for another. Would you rather have World Wide Wes instead of Gassnola? They are all the same except, much like the mafia, Nike pays for protection from prosecution and mostly stays above the fray until an Elliot Ness like prosecutor comes along and takes them down.

Bosthawk said:

If anything I hope that the top one and dones
Go to Nike schools at least for a while .
F ‘em - Nike can pay them and they can burden some other program. I’ve never felt they are worth the troubke and we can win without them

Nike is paying guys that are not one and done's. That's just an FYI in case you think its only the top tier talent that's being influenced.

I can share through chat if you would like the specifics of one such case I'm well aware of

JayHawkFanToo said:

@BeddieKU23

Why should KU dump Adidas?

First, no other shoeco will pay what Adidas pays.

Second, it would be a de facto admission of guilt.

Third, if KU gets NIke or Under Armour we are just trading one crooked firm for another. Would you rather have World Wide Wes instead of Gassnola? They are all the same except, much like the mafia, Nike pays for protection from prosecution and mostly stays above the fray until an Elliot Ness like prosecutor comes along and takes them down.

1. Why dump Adidas?

Because its business. This trial is bad business.

1. There are always deals to be made. Why does KU need 191 million from a shoe company over 10 years? How did College Sports get so convoluted with shoe company money that it would be a deal "too good to walk away from". I understand this deal supports ALL KU athletics but Adidas (and some of its employee's) have created bad business.

2. Something we agree on. Maybe the NCAA will remove shoe companies from the equation, or make one single company the provider for all. That's a pipedream. I'm open to hearing suggestions of what exactly would solve the problem KU is deep in the mud in

@BeddieKU23
Thanks - yes that I figured as much, and guess that wouldn’t change anything, it’s just all the great players we love were 3 - 4 year guys ... I personally don’t really care about any of our one-and-dones. all KU players may have been compensated, but the ones who stick around seem to grow really connected to the school in all the right ways, just like we are.

But yep they most likely were all incentivized in some not-kosher way to come here.

Still not sure how we proceed with adidas though

@JayHawkFanToo Because it will become stunningly obvious that Nike has bought a federal investigation to eliminate all their competition when absolutely nothing is done about the information that came out about Zion and Dook. To stay with Adidas is to be regularly investigated, castigated, and sullied to the point we won't be able to recruit anyone.

Barefoot basketball. It's the only solution.

@tis4tim Get sponsored by Dr Scholl's!

@BeddieKU23 I think right now, publicly KU is in a no-win situation. Which is why for now I would keep Adidas. No new deal could be leveraged from a position of strength.

@BeddieKU23

The only shoeco that will pay KU big bucks is Adidas since it is pretty much its flagship program. Nike already has big (football >>>>basketball) programs in the Mid West and KU would be just another of the bunch and would not get nearly as much as it gets from Adidas.

Right now, Nike and Duke are starting to feel the heat and it could get a lot hotter for them. Same with Under Armour, remember it was them or intermediaries that allegedly paid Falmagne $60K.

There are not shoecos that are not up to their necks in the same quick sand and one prosecutor away from being in the same situation as Adidas.

BShark said:

@BeddieKU23 I think right now, publicly KU is in a no-win situation. Which is why for now I would keep Adidas. No new deal could be leveraged from a position of strength.

I agree and I assume that's the position they have taken by not signing.

Idk. The Nike/Arizona/Ayton thing just kinda went completely away it seems. They played the athlete and the coach sat what? 1 game.

Maybe Nike has more of a stake in all this than anything else. How do we know that Nike isn't in some negotiation to become the only shoeco and have a monopoly thru the NCAA. The multibillion dollar Giants gets more of the only thing it cares about $$$, and Nike gets all the exposure and sales. Why not? Stick to Adidas and under armour publicly thru the court system with these bs indictments and pave the way for this deal to take place.

I wouldn't put anything past anyone anymore.

mayjay said:

@tis4tim Get sponsored by Dr Scholl's!

Ha! I know that comment was meant to be pithy and humorous, and mine was certainly tongue-in-cheek, but sadly that's probably what would happen if the NCAA banned shoes. The void would be filled by some entity with deep pockets. Perhaps Sharpie would pay kids to draw a "swoosh" or stripes on their feet in lieu of footwear. Or some tattoo parlor would simply tattoo a pair of Nikes on some player's feet to gain brand exposure.

By the way, my response is brought to you by Quaker Oats.

JayHawkFanToo said:

@BeddieKU23

Right now, Nike and Duke are starting to feel the heat and it could get a lot hotter for them.

Am I a bad person for thinking that I might be okay with KU forfeiting a few wins or a couple of scholarships as punishment if it ends up taking Duke down?

@tis4tim

KU not getting Zion and not playing Preston when it found out about potential irregularities goes a long ways to show KU's desire to follow the rules. Even if SDS's guardian is found to have received $2,500, based on previous cases it is a 2 or 3 game suspension for Silvio at most.

@cragarhawk I think we should be looking at this from a different perspective. One taught by the President over the past 3 years: there is no such thing as bad publicity.

Maybe we will get more and better recruits from this whole thing. The top ones will convince themselves they will cash in at KU, and they will see the total lack of promises or even mentions of money as the staff just being coy. So, they fool themselves (and they could never admit that) and we stay clean while getting top players.

You nothing until all the trials are over and you take stock of everything. You definitely can't drop Adidas when Nike is much worse, and you'd be leaving millions on the table as the AD. The key is to play the long game with the NCAA. Dare them to look at everyone and not just a bad actor here or there. Get them to admit it's a systemic problem and treat it like baseball's steroid era. Everyone was doing it so it's either accept that and move on or pretend like the last 6 decades of college sports just didn't happen.

That's one of my biggest questions at this point, Do they have Miller talking about paying Ayton the 100k or not?

You know whether in the end if we are penalized for anything or not - - this type of thing is still frustrating.

what the hell has happened to the game? - -over the last few seasons - -seems like always something. - We have had Alexander - - - - We have had Problems with Diallo - - Then Preston - - then we have Desousa - -missing one - who was it the one that transferred to Arizona State and left there. - just seems like EVERY DAM year anymore always something. Whatever happened to just looking forward to KU kickin ass and taking names on the floor -- miss those days - just frustrating. - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY

@Woodrow I want the AD to fire the football coach.

@mayjay without picking a side cause I

1. Don't really belong to one, and
2. Don't really believe there should be sides to begin with.

I'll reply this...

I dare say the current president was definitely not the one or at least not the first to teach that "lesson". Which is more of an actual shift in culture than I'd say a lesson so to speak.

That's been going on for for decades as well. Andy Kauffman was really good at it. I'm sure there were others before him.

Rap music in the early ninety's and so on and so forth down the rabbit hole. Until now. If you watch closely, which incidentally I don't anymore because it is this way....

It's gone past the point of any publicity being good publicity straight to only bad publicity is good publicity. Every media outlet in the world has caught onto that. Sin sells if you will....

If you look at how UK took off recruiting wise after their newly hired coach, who had just left a program under a shadow of vacated wins and such. I'd say you're probably spot on. Now we should technically start getting 4 of the top 5 guys year in and year out after this. Sadly, that adds up.

@wissox literally laughed outloud. 😁

JayHawkFanToo said:

@BeddieKU23

Why should KU dump Adidas?

First, no other shoeco will pay what Adidas pays.

Second, it would be a de facto admission of guilt.

Third, if KU gets NIke or Under Armour we are just trading one crooked firm for another. Would you rather have World Wide Wes instead of Gassnola? They are all the same except, much like the mafia, Nike pays for protection from prosecution and mostly stays above the fray until an Elliot Ness like prosecutor comes along and takes them down.

I don't necessarily mind your 2nd and 3rds. But the first kind of rubs me wrong. This whole mess is about money. "For the love of money is the root of all evil" is what the good book says. Should we care if Adidas pays more? Can we compete without a shoe contract? Does the NCAA need to regulate this more to put an end to this sham of a business arrangement that puts every major college team in the crosshairs?

Someone said would they be willing to see us get a wrist slap if it meant Duke gets some punishment? I don't. Why really would we want to see Duke go down? They're one of our rivals. We've actually had the upper hand in that rivalry for the best part of a decade now. I dislike them as much as the next KU fan, but not sure seeing all of our blue blood rivals get nailed is good for us or for the game.

Give them a lifetime contract and a raise.

Oh and get out of the Big 12. Texas and Kstate suck

So if Bill Self played it straight, played by the rules. Then lost a lot more games and disappointed even more in the tournament. None of you of would be like yea but HCBS plays by the rules. No everybody would be screaming it's time to go. What do you expect? What are you expectations?

Hey HCBS you need to get five kids from the wheat fields of Kansas and go win a NC. Crazy?

DoubleDD said:

So if Bill Self played it straight, played by the rules. Then lost a lot more games and disappointed even more in the tournament. None of you of would be like yea but HCBS plays by the rules. No everybody would be screaming it's time to go. What do you expect? What are you expectations?

Hey HCBS you need to get five kids from the wheat fields of Kansas and go win a NC. Crazy?

Probably would have missed the tournament by now. Don't worry I've been beating this drum lol.

Ya one of the problems I have with that is this..

Nobody was saying that before all this. If someone said we were cheating on any board you read in the country I'm sure the answer was more like. We're KU, the most tradition rich program in history and always will be. We don't have to pay players to come here. Bill Self is clean, he sits players whenever there's any doubt. You should look at you're own dirty guy... Coach ratface or Calimari.....

I have zero doubt that or something similar has been the defense to such claims.

Suddenly now the narrative has changed to this current stance of "everyone else is doing it", "we have to do it too in order to be competitive", "what do you expect us to do" "this has been going on everywhere for decades" and so on...

If it's really okay with you and you really believe it's that way everywhere that's fine. But where was that narrative prior?

@cragarhawk I was saying this before, particularly to jaybate when he insinuated that things were stacked against KU.

I was one of the few though, and one time when I brought the subject up on the phog (quite awhile ago, under a different name) I got a beatdown which looks hilarious in retrospect.

And of course obviously it would have been reaaaaaally awesome if KU had been doing it w/o cheating but there has always been too much smoke, imo.

Wright, Rush, Arthur, Collins, Selby etc...

@BShark okay. So I probably generalized there. If you were or if anyone okay... Was saying that same thing prior. Then I say kudos to ya. And even, hey, well done for being ahead of it when clearly i myself wasn't.

But you do see the point then? By in large that has not been the consensus narrative prior to this all coming out. Correct?

@cragarhawk Agree. Many appear to be blindsided by it.

@BShark I definitely would and have been one of those that would have defended the program for clean. And I think most would have. I saw as you said very few before hand that believed or at least admitted maybe.. to this what I call new narrative

@cragarhawk

I still think HCBS is Clean? Why not? If it's what it takes to be the best? If there was indeed wrong doing on his part. The narrative hasn't really changed.

The only thing that has changed is the KU fan base mindset. So many are starting to see what it takes to stay at the top.

Not one KU fan would defend HCBS if he couldn't win the Big 12 Conference more than once in a three year period. Or even worse didn't even make the tournament.

No one KU fan would be like yea but he runs a clean program. Not one.

The evidence that is being put out isn't a KU thing. It's a College Basketball thing. So why bash a great Coach for doing what all us KU fans want. A winner.

It’s because you don’t go around and say, “yeah we’re totally cheating lol” on a public forum when there’s no concrete information otherwise.

@DoubleDD ya that's completely not the point. I didn't see you nor anyone else saying that type of thing before. Even though I admit there were probably a few that were saying the same then as now. Largely... Meaning for most fans. The narrative has suddenly changed. Plain and simple.

And you cant count me as 1 fan who will still be in support if we lose and are 💯 above board while most others aren't. There may not be alot. But there's for damn sure 1.

cragarhawk said:

@DoubleDD ya that's completely not the point. I didn't see you nor anyone else saying that type of thing before. Even though I admit there were probably a few that were saying the same then as now. Largely... Meaning for most fans. The narrative has suddenly changed. Plain and simple.

And you cant count me as 1 fan who will still be in support if we lose and are 💯 above board while most others aren't. There may not be alot. But there's for damn sure 1.

It doesn't matter. Wait for the other trials and lets see if you still feel the same way?

Shit we should be thanking HCBS doing everything in his power to keep KU at the top.

Jesus how many players has he sit on the bench?

FarmerJayhawk said:

It’s because you don’t go around and say, “yeah we’re totally cheating lol” on a public forum when there’s no concrete information otherwise.

You nailed it

I think many of us are expressing too much fear... and that fear turns to attacks and accusations. Let's just let this play out.

I question why our coaching staff has any contact with shoecos. Why? Because no matter what, we will always look bad. It will always smell of conspiracy.

If this was the old west... Self and Co. would already be dangling from a rope. No trial.

We good? Ooops... I'm guilty now.

@drgnslayr You know why it smells of a conspiracy? Because it is a conspiracy.

Bill Self could have done a press conference already and said, "We don't cheat, we haven't taken part in it, I've confirmed with our staff, we don't pay players, and we don't use or conspire with third parties to pay players."

I want to hear from Bill Self.

@HighEliteMajor The big difference is he is a KU fan, so he probably is hoping for the best. You're a KU critic, so you're hoping for the worst.

@KUSTEVE I think you are wrong on that.

@Crimsonorblue22 I know you're disappointed. But you love KU. You posted 600 comments when we won the B12 last year, won the B12 tournament, and made it to the Final Four. You posted when Grimes played, and Bill coached the USA under 18 Olympics. You posted during our summer scrimmages. You posted about our crummy football team. You posted when we got a new AD. You watched every second of Late Night. Now....lets say...If you had never posted after calling one of our players a 'cancer" last year...never made one comment about us making it to the Final Four, never gave your opinion about who was going to start, and were completely AWOL for EVERYTHING ...late night...summer scrimmages...recruiting... the whole she-bang ...until some stupid bullshit came up that makes us look bad, and you about broke your fingers wringing your hands talking about how "ashamed" you were, and you had spent the last 5 years writing negative articles about our team, our coach, our players, and our accomplishments, then I would be calling bullshit on you, too. But you're not on here playing some stupid head game- you're just like me...you love KU. So, don't get suckered in - a dead clock is right twice a day. We will overcome this, and we will be stronger for it at some point.

@HighEliteMajor

At this time the only allegation against Coach Self (and KT) are statements that were not accepted as evidence during the trial and stated by the defense attorney during his closing argument and while he was not under oath and done solely for the benefit of his client and it is contrary to all testimony given by witnesses under oath.

I don’t believe it would help at all to have a press conference to deny wholly unproved allegations and all it would do is give credence to the allegations.

@JayHawkFanToo When I agree with you on something, are we both obligated to scurry home and call NASA to make sure the Earth is still revolving properly so we can expect a normal sunrise?

Gassnola has ready plead guilty to the charges against him. He has no reason to cover anything up at this point. He's the one cooperating the most and telling all. Gatto and Dawkins both plead not guilty to the charges against them. They are looking for anyone to to scapegoat to make themselves look innocent and have chosen the flagship school of Adidas basketball.

Do I think Bill Self is totally innocent in this? No, he's always been at least aware of players getting paid and other benefits. He's not naive of that. He's also smart enough to use coded language that can left open to interpretation so there is plausible deniability if the NCAA starts snooping.

KUSTEVE said:

@Crimsonorblue22 I know you're disappointed. But you love KU. You posted 600 comments when we won the B12 last year, won the B12 tournament, and made it to the Final Four. You posted when Grimes played, and Bill coached the USA under 18 Olympics. You posted during our summer scrimmages. You posted about our crummy football team. You posted when we got a new AD. You watched every second of Late Night. Now....lets say...If you had never posted after calling one of our players a 'cancer" last year...never made one comment about us making it to the Final Four, never gave your opinion about who was going to start, and were completely AWOL for EVERYTHING ...late night...summer scrimmages...recruiting... the whole she-bang ...until some stupid bullshit came up that makes us look bad, and you about broke your fingers wringing your hands talking about how "ashamed" you were, and you had spent the last 5 years writing negative articles about our team, our coach, our players, and our accomplishments, then I would be calling bullshit on you, too. But you're not on here playing some stupid head game- you're just like me...you love KU. So, don't get suckered in - a dead clock is right twice a day. We will overcome this, and we will be stronger for it at some point.

@mayjay

Let’s call it a new beginning.😉🤫

I do find the Venn diagram of people who simultaneously are mad at Self for maybe playing fast and loose with NCAA rules and not recruiting well enough humorous.

FarmerJayhawk said:

I do find the Venn diagram of people who simultaneously are mad at Self for maybe playing fast and loose with NCAA rules and not recruiting well enough humorous.

:thinking:

Self is a good recruiter and has good guys on the staff. The turmoil and uncertainty could cause problems though, like it did temporarily for Arizona and Louisville but I also fully expect Self and co to bounce back strong in recruiting once the crap is done.

BShark said:

FarmerJayhawk said:

I do find the Venn diagram of people who simultaneously are mad at Self for maybe playing fast and loose with NCAA rules and not recruiting well enough humorous.

:thinking:

Self is a good recruiter and has good guys on the staff. The turmoil and uncertainty could cause problems though, like it did temporarily for Arizona and Louisville but I also fully expect Self and co to bounce back strong in recruiting once the crap is done.

Talking retrospectively. Like the early 2010’s classes were garbage but OH NO SELF HAS TO BE A SAINT

FarmerJayhawk said:

BShark said:

FarmerJayhawk said:

I do find the Venn diagram of people who simultaneously are mad at Self for maybe playing fast and loose with NCAA rules and not recruiting well enough humorous.

:thinking:

Self is a good recruiter and has good guys on the staff. The turmoil and uncertainty could cause problems though, like it did temporarily for Arizona and Louisville but I also fully expect Self and co to bounce back strong in recruiting once the crap is done.

Talking retrospectively. Like the early 2010’s classes were garbage but OH NO SELF HAS TO BE A SAINT

Oh yeah for sure, those people are goofs. You get recruiting classes like Wisconsin when you are clean.

@FarmerJayhawk Very good point.

The Venn diagram comment is without merit, in my opinion.

1. If what folks say is true, that all high level CBB is crooked, then everyone is on the same playing field. Our crooked guy is just competing. Thus any recruiting complaints are relative.

2. If what folks say is NOT true, and all high level CBB is NOT crooked, then our guy, who is apparently crooked, should be landing better classes given the crookedness (money) in his corner.

3. If what folks say is NOT true, and NO high level CBB programs are crooked, then like point #1, everyone is on the same playing field. Our guy is just competing with other clean programs. Thus any recruiting complaints are relative.

Here's what I think MAY be true. Self may not have led the way with others into crookedness. I think the evidence shows that, possibly, he switched course and descended into crookedness - referencing some weaker KU recruiting classes and then landing Wiggins. (this is a theory, to those prone to lash out with anger -- you know, a discussion point). I know some think the same game was played back to and before our NC season. I don't know.

Further, the retrospective reference to recruiting classes vs. Self being a saint, doesn't make sense to me. So it's inconsistent to have questioned the quality of our recruiting classes in the past while at the same time wanting our coach to be clean when this garbage comes out?

I don't really have dog in the recruiting class fight because I've been one who has wanted to abandon the chase for the OADs, and was more accepting of lower ranked players.

There was a point in time I mentioned that Bill Self was selling his soul for OADs. Some different context, of course. But if Self REACTED and CHANGED based on what others were doing (perhaps the Calipari thing at UK; perhaps getting beat in the NC game by UK) -- by conspiring with Adidas to pay players -- that would make sense to me in this timeline.

Was Wiggins the first guy?

And if you get recruiting classes like Wisconsin, the got to the NC game -- when everyone was supposedly crooked.

This is why strict enforcement is the best path for KU. If Self is such a good recruiter, and we have the Kansas brand, wouldn't that make us even more attractive -- on an even playing field?

Pretty hard to look at the 06-08 rosters and think Self might have been totally clean before the Wiggins class.

I wonder if it is more likely that coaches who tried to restrict transfers were running totally clean programs. Or, vice versa, if coaches with a complete willingness to allow transfers were more likely to have some shady stuff. It seems that a player who isn't being allowed to play much or transfer might be more willing to blow the whistle.

This incentive has changed somewhat with the gradual adoption of looser NCAA rules.

But I wonder if violations are indeed more widespread than we would hope. After all, why don't we see players "anonomously" ratting out compensated players on their biggest rivals?

@BShark What would explain how a team with the recruiting you refer to, coming off of a NC, would then have recruiting issues?

@mayjay Good points. I had made the point as well regarding a distinct lack of info related to the corruption. Something I would expect (south of the mafia). Part of the evidence against widespread corruption is the lack of information suggesting the same. I would assume more chatter. You would think that all DeSousa would have to do, to get a full release from KU is suggest he might blow the whistle. Posture that if he can't play elsewhere he doesn't care if he's ineligible then. Or that the dad of the kid not getting the "bag of money" might cozy up to some willing reporter. Or a girlfriend that knows. People can't keep their mouths shut and social media makes that even more obvious.

Information is negotiating leverage.

Further, why would "Fenny" have to give back the UA money? What are they going to do? Why would Adidas feel it needed to help pay back UA?

Perhaps it's the code of conduct. Er, Mafia like. Integrity within corruption.

@HighEliteMajor

As you know, most top recruits know each other well and even recruit each other. Sometimes they play together in HS, national teams, tournaments or more often than not in the infamous AAU circuit.

Recruits talk to each other and know what it is going on and what the going rates are. Preston was ranked anywhere from 10 to 20 and if he commanded $90K, I find it hard to believe that the higher ranked recruits would play elsewhere for less or even no money. Recruits seem to flock to UK and Duke knowing that there are players ahead of them and they could be the team's star elsewhere at another elite program and yet they continue going there even when other programs have equally good coaches and facilities...what explanation other than money could there be?

Having said that, I believe that every coach generally knows whats is going on and most maintain a distance from the process to have plausible deniability. Part of the sponsorship package programs sign with apparel firms is the expectation that recruits will be steered to the program with no school formal involvement. Basically it is...I don't want to know what you do and don't tell me and and I will just look the other way and pretend I don't know what is going on.

I imagine most conversations go like this:

• Shoeco XXX: Hello Coach YYY, we have a couple of players Z1 and Z2 in our AAU teams, would your program be interested?
• Coach YYY: Of course we would be interested...
• Shoeco XXX: let's see what we can do.
• Coach YYY: Much appreciated

or...

• Coach YYY, Hello Shoeco XXX. Are you familiar with players Z1 and Z2? I believe they play in AAU teams sponsored by you...
• Shoeco XXX: Of course we are familiar with them, interested?
• Coach YYY: Very much, we would like to have them join our program.
• Shoeco XXX: let's see what we can do.
• Coach YYY: Your help is always appreciated, this is why we have this fat contract with your firm.

The Occam's razor principle of problem solving states that when presented with several solution the simplest one with the least assumptions tends to be the correct one. In this case, the approach presented above appears to be the simplest and easiest to explain.

@HighEliteMajor I have actually heard that Self got tired of recruiting for awhile. So it's possible that those 11 and 12 classes were mostly clean, and had academic risks.

But I'm saying Julian, Sherron, Arthur, Rush, Cole etc... Not clean recruitments.

Roy wasn’t a good recruiter at Kansas. His classes would hinge on one high profile guy signing and he’d push off everyone else until he did. Many times his whole class would fall apart while waiting and he’d be in scramble mode late.

Bill has always been a better recruiter than Roy. I assumed most of the recruitment was above board with a few outliers that didn’t sit well with me. Preston’s quick commit when Ayton disappeared for one. Wright and Arthur are a couple more possibly Shady signings. It’s all a bit disappointing, but if Bill’s initial comments are true (wants it all exposed/cleaned up) then hopefully he really was completely hands off. Maybe Bill didn’t know the means with which Adidas was “recruiting” for him. Possibly he didn’t know, but it doesn’t seem likely that is the case today.

Tomorrow is a new day. I’ve enjoyed the good times. I’ve really enjoyed the great times! And I’ll stand by Bill’s side while this storm is weathered. I’m stil not convinced BIll was directly involved at this point. I do think he was well aware of how to recruit thru using other forms of payment- jobs and housing. And I imagine he rationalized it as a way of getting the parents into the same town as their kids. That’s how I see it...though I suppose it’s not allowed.

HighEliteMajor said:

@drgnslayr You know why it smells of a conspiracy? Because it is a conspiracy.

Bill Self could have done a press conference already and said, "We don't cheat, we haven't taken part in it, I've confirmed with our staff, we don't pay players, and we don't use or conspire with third parties to pay players."

I want to hear from Bill Self.

I want to hear from Bill, too. He said he wasn't going to respond until the trial was completed.

I agree with you that the optics here look pretty darn convincing. And one of the areas I always appreciated in Bill and Company was their efforts to control optics.

Unless the NCAA makes a major overhaul, I just see us continuing to have these issues if we are going to stay going for that top "tier of trouble!"

Remember when we didn't sign any of that top shelf talent? We were all complaining.... There just isn't any good answers here. Talented kids are connected to family that would like to cash in on their talents.

@drgnslayr I do think there is a good answer. It's simple and easy. Don't cheat. If I know we're clean, and we fail to land top talent because others cheat, I can live with that. I just would like to have that information. If KU (Self, AD, Administration) has a gripe with the NCAA, then it's incumbent on them to deal with that, and to do so publicly if necessary.

I am very hopeful that hearing from Bill Self will steer this in the right direction. This can be a moment of leadership at its best.

HighEliteMajor said:

This can be a moment of leadership at its best.

You are spot on!

I am liking what I've heard out of Bill now, but this is an ongoing situation and won't be the last time Bill comments on this.

I am also hopeful that Bill and his staff, and all through the Kansas administration there will be new policies set forth to prevent any kind of contact with shoeco employees in the future regarding players and recruitment.

This is the perfect situation where optics alone damage the Kansas brand.

I know this isn't exactly what you want to hear out of me. But it is the optics right now driving public sentiment and creating a less-than-positive environment around everything Kansas.

What I'm not saying here is that we need to coverup unethical practices. We need to not be involved in unethical practices, including violations of NCAA rules as well as federal and state laws.

Self said last night at his presser that he is not going to talk about this for the rest of the season. There are things that he still can not talk about until this whole thing is over. that could literally be years. By then nobody will care, and he still probably will not comment on it.

Also when asked last night if Self thought it was OK for coaches to have contact with people like Gassanola he literally laughed at the absurdity of the question. So if you are looking for policies that ban that you are going to be very disappointed. Like Self said it is ridiculous to say who a coach can and can not talk too. If you say coaches can not talk to shoe execs then do you also say they can not talk to handlers, financial planners, etc... That is not going to happen.

As Self also said shoe companies have influence over ALL levels of basketball. Whether people like it or not it plays a huge role in a lot of different aspects of the game. It would be dumb for Self not too have good relationships with not just Adidas execs, but execs from NIke, UA, and now Puma.

@Woodrow

I'm not saying we shouldn't have good relationships with any or all of the shoecos.

But when it comes to discussions concerning recruits, it is hard to get away from whether or not those discussions help steer the recruits. Then we quickly get into areas relating to NCAA infractions and can also connect us to situations involving federal crimes.

My question: Is it really necessary for those discussions to exist? If the answer is "yes" relating to actually landing recruits, isn't that some form of conspiracy?

@drgnslayr You didn't direct it to me but I want to just ask--how do you have regular contact with, or chances to watch, kids who are playing for shoe-sponsored AAU coaches and teams and leagues, and how do you get info about the kids from those coaches, without having contact with the shoe companies' representatives?