@jaybate-1.0 Rick Pitino doesn't even know he's lying when he's lying. He's so believable (delusional) I think he actually believes his own lies.
I mean, Bowen recruitment he brags about not spending a dime on recruiting the player. Kid was paid $100k to come lol.
He is the one who complained the loudest about the shoe companies. Yet he is the one who has used it to his benefit.
Rick is a hell of a basketball coach. But just apparently a terrible human being.
@BShark I know. They aren't even smart about it. If I can take 15 minutes and figure it out, the FBI sure as hell can.
What is funny, think about the Bamba story that happened earlier in the summer. Doesn't look so far fetched anymore.
I really don't worry about Cliff. It seems like he wanted money, and as soon as that happened, UK and MSU dropped him like it was nothing. KU stayed in, but we had the leverage at that point. Who were we going to get in a bidding war with? Depaul? Illinois? Doesn't seem logical. Nobody paid for Cliff so his mom found another way to get paid.
@BShark I have never wished more on them finding things on UK in my life. I would love to see Cal go down in the worst way...
@bskeet Yea I think Adidas did strike a deal with Wiggins. Doesn't mean money exchanged hands until after he graduated. But I would bet that they guaranteed to beat Nike's offer for him no matter what. His parents were both pro athletes and everyone involved seemed to have a good head on their shoulders. I doubt they took money, knowing it could cost them millions in the long run.
Adidas can still help to persuade kids to come to KU. But it is going to take lucrative endorsement deals, and following through on promises made. They will have to build a reputation that the offer they make you before college is the one you get when you leave college.
They can't officially fire him for 9 more days due to his contract is what I've read. But yea, he's fired. And theoretically, Bowen is no longer allowed to practice. What do you even do if you're Louisville's basketball program at this point? Who becomes the head coach? You can't really promote one of the assistants from a crooked program. Who would take this roster at this point? Would the NCAA let the entire roster leave and play somewhere else eligible immediately?
UL should probably just not play basketball this year tbh, and the rest of the roster should be free to go play elsewhere. But that's just my opinion.
The more I look, the programs in trouble were able to sign guys super early. Almost like they were able to figure out who was for sale early and then take that approach with them and get them signed as soon as the early signing period opened up.
@BShark I think so for sure. Not to mention, he wouldn't be like a normal commit. He's been weightlifting and practicing all summer so he still shouldn't be too far behind besides learning the offense/plays. Another 7-footer added to this team is just terrifying.
Or we could add PG depth if Pearl gets the boot. Davion Mitchell could be Dotson insurance.
@BeddieKU23 Good point. We still have an open scholarship and PT in the front court... Malik Williams wouldn't hurt my feelings.
Literally read the title and started cracking up. Good stuff JB.
@BeddieKU23 Everyone thinks because Adidas reps we're involved... Funny because the only school popped so far that was Adidas was Louisville (who everyone had to know was paying players after they never missed a beat even after having a massive scandal).
They might find information someone got paid, but it won't be because we knew about it. I don't even think that they would make us vacate wins.
The funniest thing, is that UK fans keep saying we are dirty. When Camby got caught taking money and CLEARLY was paid to go to UMass. The number 1 recruit in the country picks UMass.... Give me a break. But, really good stuff over on the rafters today. Entertaining.
@DanR Literally my same thoughts. Not overly worried about him.
In a phone conversation recorded by the FBI, Dawkins told Sood and an undercover agent that "the path to securing commitments from college athletes was through assistant coaches...because 'the head coach...ain't willing to (take bribes) cause they're making too much money. And it's too risky,'" the complaint says.
Odds are very good Bill isn't involved in this. And out assistants get paid very well and have bright futures. Not worth $20k. The more I read, the more I feel better.
@BShark I think we have such a great recruiting pitch by itself, I don't know why we would even think about getting caught up in it.
@BShark I'm far less worried now that I know we lost the recruits. It was always a weird thought how Arizona was able to keep up on the recruiting trail with KU, UCLA, UK and Duke.
I'm fairly confident that Bill was smart enough to have 1000 degrees of separation from the Adidas reps. And to make sure that his assistants knew not to even talk to them. I'm not saying that Adidas wasn't trying to pay players to go to KU, but Bill probably didn't know which ones were up for sale. At least, that is what it looks like at the moment.
@BShark Think through this with me. Who are the recruits we should actually be worried about?
Guys that were possibly affected:
- Oubre - Recruited by Norm - Finalists were UK and KU
- Diallo - Recruited by Norm - Finalists were UK and KU
- Doke - Recruited by Norm - Finalists were KU, FSU and UNC
- Embiid - Not sure who he was recruited by. Down to UVA and UT. Not so worried about him.
- Wiggins - Recruited by Townsend - Finalists FSU and UK
- Bragg - Recruited by Norm - Finalists were UK and KU
- Jackson - Recruited by Townsend - Finalists MSU, Ariz.
- Cliff - Recruited by Snacks - Finalists Illinois and Depaul
Looking at this, I'm less worried. Cliff's mom took out a loan. Doesn't seem likely they got paid. If KU were in a bidding war, looks like UK would also be involved in many of these.
If anything, this was Self knowing that Adidas would take care of him without any contact from his staff to Adidas. A sort of unspoken agreement. Bill would do his part, and Adidas would do theirs with no contact necessary.
On a side not, Towns can close top 5 kids and Norm has kicked UK's ass lately.
@approxinfinity Was just going to say that. If somehow we get out of this completely unscathed, lookout.
With Pitino being fired, I'd have to say the Romeo sweepstakes are going to heat up. KU would have to look like the favorite at this point I would think.
I'm curious to see what serial handlers will go to jail.
@jaybate-1.0 more likely than not, this one guy was caught committing fraud and that was what opened the investigation. It wasn't a probe into CBB, but a probe into this mans finances that lead to them seeing a much larger illegal activity going on in CBB.
@KUSTEVE DEAD! :joy:
@BeddieKU23 In the press conference they made it sound like they will continue monitoring college basketball and that they are in pretty deep at this point. They got one guy to turn and that caused 10 people to get arrested. The Justice Department and FBI now have 2 options:
They can use this as a warning to other programs and brand reps. They don't offer plea deals and crush these 10 individuals with long prison sentences and harsh fines hoping that the scare tactic works. I think this would be effective to an extent.
They can take those 10 people and offer them pleas and get another 100 people. Then take the 100 people and get 1000. And actually clean up college basketball.
I think #2 seems more likely. They have already done the hard part by getting in the system and finding out what was going on. Now, you take these 10 people, you slam a 5-year prison sentence in front of the 4 coaches and offer up a deal if they will give you names. You slam a 20-year prison sentence and millions in fines in front of the brand reps and offer up a deal if they will give you every name you ever wanted. This lets these coaches continue their lives and puts a stop to the problem without legitimately ruining anyone's life. This is not something people need to do jail time for. But it is something that needs to be fixed.
I do suppose there is a 3rd option that is what usually happens:
@Statmachine I would at least think that we have multiple levels of separation.
The Adidas reps getting caught was just embarrassing. The quotes they have from them on Wire Taps are just insane. If you're going to be committing felonies at least be smart enough to do it on a burner phone.
If you don't know exactly what happened, here is a summary of the Justice Department's press conference.
Scheme #1: Coaches taking bribes from financial advisors, agents and managers to push players that they are recruiting towards them.
Scheme #2: Sports brands paying players to attend schools sponsored by their brand. Some players over $100k. They passed the money through shell companies and committed fraud by putting those charges on the books as something else.
There will be more that comes out in the future. FBI is in DEEP in this. Have several FBI agents posing as financial advisers. Plea deals will be made for more names. This is far, far from over. College basketball recruiting just changed. Holy crap.
Justice department announcing charges on several live streams right now.
I wonder just what the penalties could be. If someone goes to prison, this could legitimately change the recruiting landscape for both football and basketball.
@BShark I don't believe for a second that KU paid players.
I do 100% believe that players were paid to come to KU though. And as long as there is a deniability between Self and the other coaches I'm ok with it. Nothing different than any other program. Anyone who thinks WWW and Cal don't have something crazy going is an insane person. No other way would a team be able to out recruit everyone so drastically. Any other time in history a team has dominated recruiting, violations were found. No reason to believe this is any different.
@BShark Besides the coaches, it appears like it was Adidas who got popped. https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/four-college-basketball-assistant-coaches-hit-with-federal-fraud-corruption-charges/ ↗
At least they are trying :joy:
@BeddieKU23 Who goes? Howard landed McCormack. Towns was the lead on De Sousa. Norm was the lead on Dotson, but Norm isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
At least our coaches aren't getting popped for something like this.
Also, @jaybate-1-0 proof that brands do in fact pay high schoolers. Adidas rep caught paying $100k to a kid so he signs with Adidas. On the bright side, at least Adidas is trying. Just clearly not as good at is as Nike. Although, 3 of the coaches arrested were Nike schools... So maybe not.
@HighEliteMajor Why would we do that?
@Bwag because schools like Ohio State sell $30M of apparel at almost every football game. Brands are making back there money in the first 3 home games of a football season.
@mayjay not like she couldn't watch literally every game from her living room... And half of his games will be 5-6 hours away at the closest. The closeness logic has dumbfounded me ever since ESPN3 started airing literally every game.
Now if we are getting negatively recruited toward mothers because of our problems last year, makes sense. I know I would be if I were an opposing coach.
@jaybate-1.0 I think either of those scenarios is a great recruiting strategy. UNC has adopted that strategy and been very successful. Seems like he is sort of combining the OAD, Gonzaga and UNC strategies into a super roster for his 2nd championship. not a bad plan if you ask me.
@Texas-Hawk-10 Well I'll disagree with Baylor being below KU, simply because if I had to bet on the game I'd take Baylor. With the points... They showed against OU that they still have at least a little bit of talent and life left on that roster.
But everything else seems logical and pretty spot on.
What I've seen from Highlights:
Pros:
- Big Dave has mastered the drop step to both sides. Something that, for some reason, most freshmen big men can't seem to do.
- Appears to run well, especially for his size ever since he lost the weight. I'm not worried about him having to play 25 mpg.
- He has decent touch and should be able to at least be a scoring threat on the block.
Cons:
- Not an elite athlete. Sure he is a giant and he runs pretty well. But as far as explosiveness, I don't see a lot. Looks like he is about to get hung on the rim almost every time he dunks it.
- Does not score well left handed. Typical problem for most freshmen coming in. But I hate to see that from a big guy especially. It takes a lot, lot, lot of work to develop touch with your opposite hand.
I think that he will be a VERY good college 4 year player, and be an impact from day one. I think his lack of elite explosiveness will keep him in college though, much like it has Dedric Lawson. For that reason, this signing is an A+. The frontcourt is going to be solid for at least a couple of seasons now.
It's some of both. If you don't prepare players they are going to make mental mistakes. If you don't practice going on a different snap count people are going to jump offsides because they have been conditioned to go on a certain count. Same with anything. If you don't practice it, it's 100% the coaches fault. If you practice it properly and a player doesn't execute than it is in the player.
@BShark Idk that you could get Kelly. But I think you could sell Les. He's so old I'm just not sure he will get any great job offers. Seems like a perfect fit. A P5 school that he would get while it is on the rise. He would get to keep using pipelines he had before. If he could just get it to a point where he could hand it off and it not be a total disaster, I'd be pumped.
I think boosters would be willing to pay Chip Kelly $7m a year though, so who knows.
What about seriously going after Les Miles? He's not a long term solution, but I'm not sure we will ever have that here without it being an alumni hire. Miles could at least continue to build upon the Louisiana pipeline Beaty has built.
McCormack pitch seems pretty simple. Give him a before and after picture of Doke. Should have been enough to seal the deal right there.
Adidas might just be the place to be in 10 years and several us could look like fools for wanting to switch. Eventually, there will be another World Wide Wes and he might just end up on the Adidas side of things. We will see. But I do like that Adidas is really investing big chunks of money into programs. Usually when businesses do that, they protect their investments... Hopefully that means a few stacks.
@BShark I at least respect Dotson for that. He picked the team committed to him for the longest.
Other guys who KU was on and then drop them last minute for no real reason pisses me off.
Another name will come up.
I'm not so sure that the Quickley thing is dead yet. Adidas guy. Adidas could be moving heaven and earth behind the scenes to get the Quickley/Zion show to come to Lawrence.
Every year, I think to myself, how has Bill Self never landed an elite PG? He has clearly developed them extremely well. Sherron Collins should have had a career trajectory just like Ty Lawsons, if you know, he didn't get fat. Mario made it. Robinson played overseas for forever. DG and Frank were ranked 100ish and will be playing in the league. He made Tyshawn an All-American. Yet, he just can't land an elite PG. It's almost like he sold his soul or something and his punishment from the basketball Gods is Tyler and never landing a OAD PG.
And then I think, Adidas will hand him one when the timing is right. But, alas, another year passes and we will be without an elite PG recruit on the roster. While somehow UK can secure a PG commit while having 2 on the roster already. Neither of whom will be going pro after this season. Dumbfounds me. Recruiting is the least logical thing I have ever followed. Which makes it by far one of the most frustrating things in sports...
@JayHawkFanToo Whatever gets the job done!
@jayballer54 Well if we lose 6, yea we will need more guys. 1 scholarship short as is, PLUS we lose 6 guys.
Going to need to land at least 5 players. Leaves room to pick up a transfer or 2, something I believe Self will continue doing on a yearly basis at this point.
@BShark If he closes on both of them, he is one more good recruiting season away from being a flight risk IMO.
A 37 year old who can recruit and has a Chicago tie screams Low/mid-major HC material in my mind. Though I'm sure others will disagree with me.
@DoubleDD The Railroad does have a great pension. But they are coming after it right now. Problem is the Railroad has a stupid number of unions and none of them are strong. So if someone does come after that pension, it'll be pretty easy to take it.
The railroad system probably wouldn't work nationally either due to the pay discrepancy. Railroaders all make good money. So the system works because enough guys making enough money can all help keep the Pension fund afloat. They also know the number of people that will be drawing from the pension fund. Where, nationally, we didn't plan for such a large growth rate or this size of a retirement boom to happen all at once. The Railroad will have people retiring and being hired consistently it's entire life-span. So the ebbs and flows are predictable. One law allowing illegal immigrants to collect extra benefits could completely change the pension system on a national level overnight.
I'm just not sure that the Pension system would work for an entire country. At least, not if people aren't willing to spend 30-35% of their paycheck on taxes every month.
@DoubleDD This is the workaround for the blackout problem.
@JayHawkFanToo Well that is WHO and the HOW you get social security to change. I'm looking for the WHAT do you change to make social security work better for (mostly) everyone.
@mayjay Thoughts?
Currently, the way the system works we will have to just keep increasing the amount paid in taxes or enforce a Chinese-type children law to decrease the population growth rate.
With that being said, we have time. I think I read a 2% tax increase will extend Social Security for another 30 years or something like that.
My suggestion, would be to phase out Social Security and introduce a slightly modified version of it. We still force people to save money. We will keep an 8% tax for that. The other 4% we currently get taxed (to make up the 12% tax), will be used to pay off Social Security years and years down the road. Social Security will need to be funded by the feds until it is paid off, but it eventually would. This tax starts for those who haven't paid a dime into social security yet. All those who have paid into social security will receive it, in full. Those who will be apart of the new system, will get all of the money they put in, untaxed. But not a dollar more. I like to think of it as literally, a forced savings account. You will only receive what you put into it and what half of your employer puts into it. The other half of the employer match will go towards the costs it takes to run the program. Theoretically, health care will be free by the time this rolls around, so people who worked their entire lives should be able to retire on this amount. Once Social Security is 100% paid off, the 4% tax goes away and people then get to keep all 12%. A guaranteed interest rate of everyone's funds will be 6% yearly no matter what. Any market gains on the funds will be placed into a separate fund to pay off any down years in the market.
It is very similar to social security, except that it doesn't allow us to EVER run out of money. And people are putting away anywhere from 14-18% of their income, Tax Free. This would help impoverished people, I believe. Those who live at the poverty line receive barely any social security. Roughly $1,000 a month. Adjusted with their life-spans, they only receive about $240k in benefits. This plan would allow them to have closer to $345k that they could have right at retirement.
If we were to cap funds received by the top 5% and increase the interest rate somewhere near 8% we are talking about $500-$600k at retirement.
Of course there is a lot more too it, but the simple numbers look pretty great to me.