Vick gives KU the option to go big or small now because you have another guy that can play multiple positions.
Grimes can slide over to the point and you go big with Grimes, Vick, KJ, Dedric and Doke. Also, that lineup is nasty.
You can go small with Dotson, Grimes, Vick, KJ and Dedric. That could be a starting lineup.
You can mix and match (Moore, Dotson, Vick, Dedric, Big Dave) or go super small (Moore, Dotson, Grimes, Vick, KJ) if a team ever trots out a lineup with five perimeter oriented players. Just lots of flexibility with Vick here.
I am guessing part of Self's conversation with him was that he won't be a starter this year. Grimes is the superior player, and KJ makes a lot of lineups work with his defensive potential. Vick returns to being a role player off the bench, where he could reach his full potential.
I think part of that is Bill Self's reputation to play experienced guys over newer players. That makes it harder to recruit a potentially more talented player who knows he may still sit behind a less talented (but more experienced) player.
Defense was Svi's main issue, so showing that he can at least hold his own against bigger guys helps his stock because he has struggled to guard smaller, quicker guys. If you can't move down the spectrum, you have to be able to move up the spectrum on the defensive end.
And that may be the issue. If Coach K knew that Bagley may reclassify, but led Carter to believe that he was going to be the focal point, that would be misleading.
Now perhaps Carter still opts to attend Duke, but he goes there with open eyes.
Its more about what he was told than anything else.
I agree with both of you on Bagley's potential. I think the thing that you are both overlooking is that Carter was, in his own right, a high pick without Bagley.
I also would note that Carter probably did more to help Bagley than Bagley did to help Carter. Bagley is, at this moment, a poor defensive player. Carter is a very solid defensive player. Duke switched to a zone in large part to hide Bagley on defense. While that helped Bagley by covering his most glaring deficiency, it hurt Carter because he didn't get to display his better defensive skills.
Comparing Carter to Frank Mason isn't a reasonable comparison because Carter was always going to be a high pick, whereas Mason needed a strong senior season to push him into the second round. Carter, as a highly recruited big man, was always going to be a high pick, so with stronger numbers, probably moves up a spot or two. And again, if the situation cost him even one spot in draft position, it cost him personally at least $2M in real money.
It has never happened in Kansas to my knowledge, but it has happened in some other states.
Legislative action was threatened in Kentucky if UK didn't play Louisville back in the 1980's if I recall correctly - they scheduled before anything was passed.
Something similar happened in South Carolina for SC and Clemson.
The whole reason Baylor is in the Big 12 to begin with is because the Texas governor insisted on their inclusion in order to approve UT leaving the SWC.
I think if there was a possibility that KSU may be relegated to a non-power conference, the legislature would step in, as that would be very damaging to KSU.
BOR might not, but the legislature might insist that the two state schools remain in the same conference. It's a boon to the state to have KSU in a major conference. If that ends, KSU will struggle in recruiting and will also have issues getting into the NCAA tournament and bowl games.
I am assuming that Carter would have gone higher. If Wendall Carter goes to Duke and averages 17 points and 10 rebounds, he's a top 5 pick.
Carter averaged 13.5 points on 8.6 shots per game.
Bagley averaged 21 points on 13.3 shots per game.
Let's imagine that Carter is the man at Duke instead and see if he can get those numbers. With no Bagley, let's assume Carter shoots a little bit worse, so let's knock his 2pt% down from 58% to 54%. Let's trim his 3pt% from 41% down to 38%. And let's move his FT% from 74% down to 72%
On 13 shots per game, Carter would shoot 11.5 2pt shots per game and 1.5 three point shots per game. He would shoot a few more FTs as well, so we will bump him from 4.5 FT to an even 5.
That means 426 2pt attempts, 56 threes and 185 FT, which, when adding in the percentages above, means 460 points on twos, 63 points on threes and 133 points on FTs, or 656 points on the year, good for an average of 17.7 points per game.
He already averaged 9 rebounds per game with Bagley on the floor. He probably picks up 2 more boards a game.
So Carter averages 17.7 points, 11.1 rebounds on 54% shooting at Duke. And that's assuming that he would have been roughly 8-10% worse from an efficiency standpoint. If he maintains his efficiency, he averages 18.8 points per game.
I don't know what you mean about no outside game. The guy shot over 40% from three, and also shot well from the line (which NBA scouts use as a measure for how good a shooter a player is). Bagley shot 40% from three, but shot just 63% from the line. Carter is probably a better shooter than Bagley is, although Bagley is more athletic.
Carter also averaged 2 blocks per game. Bagley averaged less than one, which is a bad sign for a guy as athletic as he is. If Carter gets to shine more offensively, he's almost certainly a top 5 pick.
Not saying it isn't deserved, but if they did that, it would effectively kill the Big 12 as a conference. With SMU's program on probation, that kept the SWC from having many games on TV (and having an unbalanced schedule in 1987 and 1988).
The money imbalance would crush the conference. Texas and OU would almost certainly leave. It would be the end of the Big 12 as a power conference, and since KU and KSU are likely linked, that means ending up in the Mountain West conference.
Carter was the #1 PF in the class before Bagley reclassified. He was also Duke's top recruit before Bagley reclassified and was ranked 4th in the nation, behind Porter, Ayton and Bamba. It's pretty easy to envision a world where Carter is the one averaging 20 and 10, plus showcasing his defensive chops (scouts noted that Carter is the more sound defender, but Duke went zone to help keep Bagley on the floor) rather than be a secondary offensive option and playing in a zone defense.
A cover up like that requires knowledge from so many people. There's no way for a lot of low level people to cover that up. It takes people with real power at the university level to pull that off.
If bringing in Bagley (and the subsequent decrease in stats for Carter) means that Carter went 7th instead of 5th, that cost Carter over $750,000 this year, almost $900,000 next season, about $920,000 in his first option year and over $1,100,000 in his fourth year. That's over $3.6 million dollars. Carter cannot recover that money no matter how well he plays because the rookie salary scale is locked in. He will never be able to recover that money. It is gone.
And that's if that statistical drop only cost him 2 spots.
This is real money that Carter lost. I'm sure if one of your children lost out on that kind of money after being misled by a millionaire, you would also be upset, regardless of how much money they ended up making.
I'm willing to admit that perhaps Coach K didn't mislead the Carter family at all. Maybe he didn't make any promises and this is just sour grapes. There's as good a chance of that as there is that he was promised something.
But either way, the lost income is real. Draft position matters and has a very real financial cost.
To me it depends on what Carter was told. If Coach K said look, you're gonna be our #1 option in the post if you come here, there's some bait and switch going on and I wouldn't be happy about it.
But again, we won't ever really know because Coach K isn't going to come forward and say whether or not he broke a promise to a recruit. He has nothing to gain from clarifying what happened, and everything to lose.
As parents, I can understand why the Carter's are upset. They are looking out for the best interests of their son. Coach K is looking out for his own best interests. There is a natural conflict there.
I agree with that. But from Jason Candle's perspective (borrowing your example) should you go to KU, where there have been four different coaches since the end of the 2009 season, none of whom have won more than five (FIVE!!!) games in their KU career?
There are going to be other opportunities. An SEC job will open up, with better recruiting ground. We both agree that Kansas doesn't produce enough D1 talent to support one D1 program, let alone two.
It's hard to attract a coach, and when you can't even offer stability and some level of job security, you don't have much else to offer.
UK fans want another title, same as KU fans, Duke fans, UNC fans, etc. There is always championship pressure at those schools. There always will be.
Calipari gives his team a chance to win the title every single year. Same as Self does. Same as Coach K. Sometimes, those teams flame out in horrible fashion. Sometimes they overachieve a bit. But they are always there, which means that eventually they will break through.
A Beaty firing means KU starts completely over for the fourth time this decade, which resets the clock on being competitive back to zero.
That mass exodus that @Woodrow mentioned will mean that scholarship numbers will be back at first year levels when Beaty started (65ish scholarship players). That will take two more years for KU to even get back to a full compliment of scholarships, then a couple of years after that to be Power 5 competitive.
That's a nightmare scenario, as it pushes KU being competitive in the Big 12 all the way out to 2023 or so.
Doubtful. KU rarely loses more than maybe 1 home conference game, and we typically don't host a true home game against a non-con that can beat us.
Never. It's a two man race. Wilt put up all time great individual numbers, though.
Probably Devonte because a solid backup PG is valuable, but I wouldn't be surprised if Newman found a way onto a roster long term with his scoring ability.
TCU will probably finish second in the conference.
Neither. Lives in Kansas. Flies south for football season, but that's about it. No need to fly over Missouri at all.
I can completely understand that position. Being in the legal profession, I have seen both sides of it, with innocent people taking pleas and guilty people trying to retract pleas. I don't know enough about Heimlich himself to speak to his situation, and I worry that all of this attention may result in the victim being publicly identified. The media has done a good job not identifying her, but I don't know that bloggers/reddit/twitter/facebook/etc. will have the same restraint. After all, it only takes one person leaking that information, then its out there.
My concern is more for the victim's privacy than what happens to Heimlich at this point. Heimlich can sign or not sign for all I care. That's up to the individual teams. But this getting into the public sphere has the potential to do real damage to the victim if people do not respect her privacy (and the privacy of the family overall).
There are lots of reasons to plead out. He says he took the plea at the advice of his attorney and to spare the family.
It must be remembered that if the case goes to trial, the victim will likely have to testify (and be subject to cross examination) in open court. That's a lot that the entire family would have to go through.
On top of that, it would be part of the public record. By taking the plea, everything was sealed. Yeah, that protects him, but it also protects the victim from having her life invaded later on.
The Royals picked in the top 5 in back to back drafts and took Starling and Colon. They took the often injured Kyle Zimmer right after that. Those three drafts brought us here.
Zimmer didn't have an injury history, but he hasn't been able to stay healthy. Colon was thought of as having a highest floor of many of the potential picks. Starling was expected to at least be able to hold his own at the plate.
When three straight high draft picks miss, you end up here. If the Royals had Stroman, Springer and Sale, they are in a different place. Or maybe they get unlucky and Sale blows out his arm after the draft and Springer develops more slowly because he is buried in the minors with no MLB openings on a team ready to compete.
The Royals whiffed three times. When you are a small market team, you can't miss more than maybe once every three or four years, and never when you have a top 5 pick.
There's a pretty distinct split. Some feel that his gameplans are overly structured, and that makes it difficult for guys to be successful outside of that scheme. This is similar to the "system QB" or "system WR" that racks up good numbers within that specific system, but can't match that success in a different environment. That is a concern raised by some NBA people because Self is very strict about his system.
There are others that are not as concerned about that, to be sure. But it is interesting that lots of KU players have slid in the draft, and I can't think of the last time a KU guy went higher than expected.
Sub Moore in for Dotson if you prefer, but the bottom line is that KJ probably starts and defends the other team's best player, unless that player is a true post. He gives KU the same versatility that Jackson did on the defensive end with his size and quickness.
Do I think he should be blackballed out of baseball? No.
The thing that sticks out to me here is that this is only public knowledge because the state of Oregon made a mistake and did not properly put him into the offender registry. He went to the police station and registered, as he is required to do (and will continue to be required to do). The police failed to take his prints, which meant that when his information went to the state, it could not be added, as it was incomplete. This triggered a failure to register criminal notice.
If not for that, we wouldn't know about any of this because it was a juvenile offense that was sealed.
The other thing that bothers me about this is that all of this attention will likely result in people identifying the victim in this situation. She does not deserve, and should not be, publicly identified. Having this information about Heimlich become public (rather than remaining sealed) could result in her identification and further trauma/humiliation/scrutiny/pain, etc. for her.
There are some in NBA circles that believe Self does a poor job of developing players for the NBA game. Whether or not that is a fair criticism, I think it affects how players from KU are viewed in the draft.
Many NBA people think Self is so strict in his system that guys may not be as effective outside the KU specific structure. That is a challenge that this year's team especially can help overcome with Grimes, the Lawsons, etc.
There is no question that college basketball is still the best path to showcase talent and move up.
College is the path that most of the talent currently follows.
Kobe Bryant will be a Hall of Famer and he spent exactly 0 seconds playing college basketball. Kevin Garnett will be a Hall of Famer and he spent exactly 0 seconds playing college basketball. Lebron James is either the best or second best player of all time, and he spent (one moment, let me check to be sure) yes, zero seconds playing college basketball.
College basketball currently gets most of the best potential NBA talent, so it is reasonable that most NBA draftees have some college experience.
But that doesn't mean college is the best path. Perry Ellis was a pretty highly ranked recruit and a McDonald's All American. He spent four years at one of the best college basketball programs in history. He has played in one preseason NBA game, and 50 G League games.
If college was the best place to showcase talent and move up, Perry Ellis would be in the NBA right now. He is not.
If college was the best path, there would be no OAD pipeline, because players would be staying in college to develop and move up.
There are lots of development paths. The rules currently dictate that players be out of HS for a full year before going to the NBA, otherwise players like Ayton, Bagley, etc. would never have even set foot on a college campus. Bagley reclassified to move up his eligibility for the draft.
Talent is the key. Whatever path NBA potential follows will become the path, whatever that may be.
Would Preston have been a lottery pick had he played at KU? I think that's the question that hasn't been asked.
Preston was ranked 11th by 24/7. He was ranked 20th by Rivals. He was ranked 18th by ESPN. That would have put him on the edge of being a lottery selection from the beginning (not including upperclassmen and foreign players) at best.
Luka Doncic, Miles Bridges, Mikal Bridges and Jerome Robinson were all taken in the lottery. That means there were 10 freshmen selected in the lottery. Preston was not ranked in the top 10 in his class. The only freshmen selected in the lottery that was always ranked behind Preston were Trae Young and Shae Gilgeous Alexander. Even had Preston had a strong season at KU, it's unlikely he moves in front of Young or any of the guys previously ranked in front of him.
Preston would not have been a lottery pick, even if he had played at KU and played very well. Let's say he played at KU and played just okay. He's probably a late first, early second round pick at best. Chances that Preston was absolutely going to get a guaranteed deal if he played at KU, given his HS ranking, were pretty low. He wasn't a top 10 player in his class according to any ranking, and the consensus had him lower than 15.
Billy Preston was unlikely to be a lottery pick in the 2018 NBA Draft unless he had a great season (consensus All American) similar to Trae Young that vaulted him into that level.
Preston may be a winner because he gets to pick his situation. Being drafted locks him into a certain situation with no control over where he goes. I was actually happy for Malik that he didn't get drafted once it got deep into the second round. Better to choose a situation that is a good fit where you can be successful than be forced into a bad situation.
Word from several NBA people is that if the Kings don't take him at 2 (assuming Ayton goes 1 to Phoenix) there are a host of teams willing to trade up to 3 to get him. If that's true, he gets taken at 3, but maybe not by Atlanta.
Of course, the Hawks always manage to do the wrong thing on draft day, so its just as likely they have several trades on the table, fail to make a decision, time runs out and the Grizzlies pick Doncic at 4 before the Hawks realize their clock expired.
The Cardinals are one of the oldest MLB teams, and as a result, have a lot of history. That helps them outperform market size.
The Cincinnati Reds also tend to outperform their market size. That long history certainly helps. Same story with the Detroit Tigers, and to some degree, the Cleveland Indians.
Of the oldest MLB teams, the only ones that don't tend to outperform their market are the Pittsburgh Pirates and Oakland A's (caveat being that the A's have moved multiple times, so their history in Oakland is very short compared to the other historic clubs.
If Vick wants to be a pro, he needs to go the G-League route because that will prepare him for the NBA better than another year in Lawrence. His NBA role (3 and D wing) is going to be somewhat different than the role he might play at KU. If his goal is to play pro ball, he needs to get used to being a role playing 3 and D wing, likely off the bench. He needs to be immersed in the video room with understanding the details of schemes and plays. He has to learn to diagnose actions based on only one key.
He's not going to get that at KU because the schemes and plays aren't going to be complex enough. The designs aren't going to include the misdirection he will see at the pro level.
If he wants another shot at a national title, he should come back, because his skillset could push this particular team over the top.
Also have to remember that Euro League players are better than most D1 players, even at the Power Conference level. A guy that can start at the high levels in Europe would likely be a dominant player at the D1 level. They may not have the eye popping athleticism, but they are still better overall players than most D1 guys.
It doesn't ensure stardom. A guy that's a star over there may be only a bench player in the NBA, but Euro stars are rarely simply unplayable in the NBA. That's the comfort with Doncic - he played well at the highest level in Europe, so its doubtful he will be a complete bust. Guys coming from college have to jump several more levels, so they are more likely to bust.
First, we have to look at the level he is playing at. He is playing in the top league in Spain, and in the EuroBasket champions league. Basically, that's the second best league in the world. The level of play there is higher than D1 basketball overall. Most D1 players could not play in the top Spanish league, or in the top level of EuroBasket.
So from a competition standpoint, he grades out high - the things he can do against the competition there will likely translate to the NBA because the competition jump will not be as great as it would be for a player from college to the NBA.
So let's talk skills. He's an average athlete by pro standards. He won't blow you away, but he's not a poor athlete. Here are some of his top plays from last year.
[Doncic](
You can see he's not going to amaze you with his athleticism as far as speed and leaping ability, but he has great body control and coordination.
His quickness is probably underrated a bit. Check out play #7, at 1:25 in this clip. He shifts gears in the open floor and just leaves his man in the dust, then confronts the defender in the middle of the lane, takes the bump and gets the off hand reverse to go even though he never gets to the left side of the rim. As I observed with Quentin Grimes yesterday, the ability to maintain body control and balance is an underrated part of athleticism.
Similarly play 6 is impressive because it shows him blocking a dunk with his off hand. He's not a great leaper, but there aren't many non centers in basketball that can turn away a dunk with their off hand. I don't think he will be a great defender at the NBA level, but that's a hell of a play.
He can really shoot it, and his handle is good. His right to left crossover keeps guys off balance, so the deception is effective. He's also big enough that his shot is difficult to bother.
And then there is the passing. Check out the pass at 4:43 in the clip. That's a behind the back pocket bounce pass to a rolling big on the move. Hits him in stride for the dunk. There's a short list of current NBA players that can make that pass against that defense on the money.
His NBA floor is Lonzo Ball, but a better shooter. That's his floor.
His most likely landing spot is fringe all star - someone on the level of a guy like Steve Smith.
I can't pinpoint a ceiling for him, because we don't really have a guard with that size, plus his passing and shooting ability, to compare him to. A better shooting Magic Johnson is absurd, and I hate when people compare every guard above 6-7 with a little passing ability to Magic.
I'm not worried about him defensively like I worry about a guy like Trae Young because he has the size to defend different guys. Young has to deal with PGs or SGs, and he gives up a lot in the post. Doncic won't. You can't just switch and back him down because he's 6-8, 230. He can't handle the elite quickness of some NBA guards, but that's a problem for anyone dealing with the John Wall's, Russell Westbrook's and Damian Lillard's of the world.
Doncic can start on a playoff team. I don't know that he will be a perennial all star, but I do think he will be a perennial good player because he can shoot, he won't be a complete zero on defense and he is a very good passer.
According to Kenpom, Texas Tech's adjusted defense was 4th in the country. Texas Tech did to Nova what they did to most everyone - made them a below average offensive team. The difference was that even though Tech limited them on offense, Nova could dig in and get stops, too. Nova was a very balanced team by Kenpom standards - #1 in offense, #11 on defense.
There's a play at the 0:59 mark in the video on this thread that captures Grimes' balance, athleticism and strength perfectly. He's driving at full speed and goes into a spin. The spin itself is incredible because he separates from the defender as he spins even though the defender was between him and the basket prior to the spin and he was dribbling towards the baseline before he started the spin. At the start of the spin, both feet are on one side of the defender, and in the blink of an eye he gets his entire body past the defender on the spin.
That in itself is pretty incredible, but Grimes isn't done.
He comes out of the spin with perfect balance, set up with a good base to explode to the rim. Most players have trouble controlling their momentum out of a spin, so they lose some of their explosiveness. This was one of the problems that Andrew Wiggins had from time to time, and why he couldn't always protect the basketball.
Grimes has the balance and base to explode, so even though the defender fouls him fully across the arms (gets both the left arm and the right arm on the foul) Grimes doesn't lose momentum or explosion. He just changes his shot to an under control reverse layup. It's not a wild fling, either. It's fundamentally sound, right off the corner of the square.
The only play where he even looks like he might have lost his balance a bit is at 1:33. He splits a PnR with absolutely no space. Literally, the defender is holding onto his big man (if you freeze it, you can actually see the defender untuck the jersey of the screener). Somehow, Grimes gets through that non-existent gap anyway, takes one dribble and powers through the bump for the finish.
This is a great play for a few reasons. It usually takes a lot of time to get guys to come off screens really tight. Grimes came off the screen so tight he created space where there was none. He did that without losing any agility or explosion, as he immediately got back to an explosive dribble to create space for himself and force the foul.
Every time I watch Grimes, I come away more impressed. I know he was only ranked 8th, but I will say right now, there are not 7 better players in that class. There aren't five better players in that class. If Grimes was listed as a PG, he would have been 4th in the class behind only Reddish, Barrett and Little (maybe) because of the positional value of him being a big PG rather than an average sized wing player.
Self articulated what I have been saying for months - Grimes is just such a complete player at this stage in his career. He doesn't have any major holes that will keep him from being effective, while also having the athleticism and youth to continue to improve.
Quentin Grimes is a tremendous player, and it looks like he is getting better. Get him around some better players where he doesn't have to do everything and I think his passing and defensive abilities will show up even more. Give him a PG like Dotson to set him up for more open looks than he ever got in HS and I think that three point percentage ticks up a bit.
One thing that sticks out to me is that he is able to maintain body control even when he gets off balance. He can take a bump or power through a foul and not lose his ability to finish, or if no foul is called, the ability to still hit a teammate.
His vision is underrated right now because he was such a dynamic scorer in HS, but he could be (and I think will become) an elite PG at the next level - probably will take 4-5 years, but I can see him developing into an All-Star caliber player in the NBA.
If KU were to take someone, it has to be someone that can come in right away as an impact player. Mickey Pearson looks like a guy that will eventually make an impact, but maybe not until his sophomore year. I just don't think he is a guy that can push KU to the next level this year. He's similar to Agbaji, and we already have him. I think Agbaji will be a very good player in time (maybe a starter in 2019-20). Having another 2019-20 contributor is nice, but if we grab someone late, it should be to shore up this season, not to get a head start on next year.
Unfortunately, that isn't the type of law I have expertise in. I definitely understand protecting your family. You have to do what is necessary to protect those you love.
One thing I have learned about dealing with school people/local authority figures is that if you do end up needing to get a lawyer, get one that does not live in that town/district/area. While every lawyer is supposed to act in the best interests of their client, its always best to have a lawyer that doesn't fear any sort of retribution for themselves or their loved ones by taking on the situation. They will be able to approach the situation with a much clearer vision.
Absolutely agree that KC is more fun in the summertime when the Royals are good. Watching bad baseball is pretty lousy.
The problem for the Royals is that I think it would be difficult for them to have an 82-88 win team year in and year out with their financial situation. They simply can't bid on their core players to keep them all in place long term, and if they are finishing in the middle of the pack every year, it is more difficult to find future stars to replace those guys through the draft.
I'm okay with the cycles (personal preference, like you said), so long as there are clear upticks rather than just long dry periods. I am okay with the Royals struggling the next couple of years if, come 2021, they have a competitive team based around the guys they drafted this year (and next year), plus what they already had in the minors.
But I can certainly understand those that want to see a more competitive team on a yearly basis - this year is UGLY.
Five guards works in high school because talent trumps size at that level, and many teams simply can't punish a five guard lineup on the glass.
But as you move up, you have to have big guys that can hit the boards. If you have a Durant or Lebron type, that works, but otherwise you have to have someone that can clean the boards.
There have been five guard lineups that have won state titles in high school. I can't remember a college team (D1) that won a title without a big guy.
I don't know. The chance to win a title is precious. I think you have to maximize that opportunity when given the chance.
Look at the Dodgers from last year. They won 104 games.
The Indians won 102 games last year.
The Indians didn't even make the World Series. The Dodgers lost in the World Series. This year, if the playoffs started today, LA would miss the playoffs, and Cleveland would not have home field advantage in the LDS round. If they could have improved their chances by 10% last year, I bet either of them does it.
That's what the Royals did in 2015. They took a team that was locked into winning its division and made sure they not only won the Division, but had the best possible shot at winning it all.
The Nats have been good for the last several years, but have a bunch of playoff flameouts to show for it. They could lose Harper to FA at the end of the year. I bet their fans would take a lesser chance next year to have capitalized on some of the chances they have had over the last four or five years.
It's like you say with the ShoeCos. They have power, so they have some say in how things play out, whether that's with recruits, or whistles, or money.
Speaking of the ShoeCos, in this situation, the bad actor was not acting on behalf of any particular university. Instead, they were acting on behalf of a ShoeCo. However, the NCAA has not even approached the subject of penalizing any ShoeCo as a result of these actions.
Instead, the ShoeCo blames the individual person. Perhaps they acted alone in this instance. But that doesn't answer the critical question of where this lowly person got all that money...
The ability to fight a charge is worth as much as anything in criminal justice. Same applies here.
The NCAA has limited resources for pursuing these types of things, same as a prosecutors office would. It's simply easier to pursue things against individuals that won't/can't fight than it is to pursue them against individuals or entities that can/will fight.
There was a story not too long ago out of Wyandotte County about a man being released from jail after spending more than 20 years behind bars for a crime he didn't commit ↗.
The prosecutor at the time, who it was later discovered had an affair with the judge sitting on this case, introduced some questionable evidence, and withheld evidence from the defense, including witnesses that would have testified that the defendant was not the person that committed the crime. It has later come to light that the reason this person was even accused of the crime was because his mother rejected the advances of a law enforcement officer.
Obviously, that's an extreme case. But we can look elsewhere.
Look at Bill Cosby and Harvey Weinstein. Larry Nassar. They have dozens of victims each. The only reason they came to light was because many women came forward against each of them. Had it been only one, each of those men was too powerful to ever be prosecuted. Again, extreme cases, but that shows what happens when you have resources versus when you don't.
Yet this person went to prison on the false testimony of one LEO. No corroborating testimony. No physical evidence.
Perhaps if he had access to funds to hire an investigator himself (although the prosecution is required by law to turn over potential exculpatory evidence), he would have discovered the witnesses that disputed the police story and been exonerated at his initial trial.
But access to a lawyer to mount a serious defense would have made an enormous difference. And before anyone says anything about public defenders, they are underfunded and at times amount to nothing more than plea factories, attempting to clear as many cases as quickly as possible or face ↗ contempt charges ↗. Yet there is little public interest in funding this Constitutional mandate.
Weinstein, Cosby and Nassar all have access to strong legal teams, which have been able to make the prosecutors earn every inch in their attempt to convict them.
The same thing happens here. The ability to fight is as valuable as any. Otherwise you can just get swept away.
The deal works if one of these guys makes it to the majors and is a contributor. But the most advanced guy hasn't really hit at the higher levels, and the guy with the most promise is a young pitcher that hasn't even conquered A ball yet.
