Can't we just get to the heart of the matter. What is the RIGHT THING TO DO?

[ATL MU Warrior]

I want Buzz to make the program better, without crapping on a person's life in the process.  Sorry, that's just how I am.

I'm sorry, but playing college basketball for Marquette is NOT somebody's life for Christ sake.  

He can still go play college basketball somewhere.  He can still go get a quality education somewhere.  Hell, he could use this as motivation, go blow up somewhere, make the NBA, raise a family have grandkids and die a happy old man, completely content with his lot in life.  

Get real.  

[MerrittsMustache]

Anyone else get the feeling that Chico's date dumped him the night before the prom so that she could go with the star athlete?

[ChicosBailBonds]

I'm sorry, but playing college basketball for Marquette is NOT somebody's life for Christ sake.  

He can still go play college basketball somewhere.  He can still go get a quality education somewhere.  Hell, he could use this as motivation, go blow up somewhere, make the NBA, raise a family have grandkids and die a happy old man, completely content with his lot in life.  

Get real.  

You get real.  On June 30th, what college options are available to him that were available to him back in March?  Few, if any.   This is a person's life.  If this was your son or daughter, you would be pissed as hell.  It doesn't matter if the kid can go play somewhere else, his options have been curtailed seriously at this point.  Does he now have to go somewhere he didn't really want to go?  Does he have to sit out a year?  Etc, etc.  Those are life decisions and LIFE AFFECTING.  Sorry you can't see the obvious and make it sound like he can just pick up the phone and get added to a DI team on July 1st, less two months before school starts and after almost all scholarships around the country are GONE!

[MerrittsMustache]

You get real.  On June 30th, what college options are available to him that were available to him back in March?  Few, if any.   This is a person's life.  If this was your son or daughter, you would be pissed as hell.  It doesn't matter if the kid can go play somewhere else, his options have been curtailed seriously at this point.  Does he now have to go somewhere he didn't really want to go?  Does he have to sit out a year?  Etc, etc.  Those are life decisions and LIFE AFFECTING.  Sorry you can't see the obvious and make it sound like he can just pick up the phone and get added to a DI team on July 1st, less two months before school starts and after almost all scholarships around the country are GONE!

If it was my son then he wouldn't have signed knowing that this scenario was a very real possibility. I feel for DJ because I think he got some bad advice from the people close to him.

[Daniel]

Why do you all pretend we know the whole story, then dig into a postion?  None of us know anything - at least not much.

[Pakuni]

You get real.  On June 30th, what college options are available to him that were available to him back in March?  Few, if any. 

Apparently plenty, at least according to Brad Forster:

" Many schools have already called to offer DJ a scholarship.  He will weigh all offers and probably make a decision in the very near future. "

Does he now have to go somewhere he didn't really want to go? 

Ummm. No. I feel fairly confident saying nobody will force DJ Newbill to go anywhere he doesn't want to go. Especially with the offers rolling in. Probably even from a few schools that aren't one of "those" programs, like Marquette.

 Does he have to sit out a year?

No. See: Roseboro, Brett; Saunders, Damian.
In fact, you already knew the answer to this question, but somehow saw fit to throw it in anyhow.
Cause it was dramatic.

  Etc, etc.  Those are life decisions and LIFE AFFECTING.  Sorry you can't see the obvious and make it sound like he can just pick up the phone and get added to a DI team on July 1st, less two months before school starts and after almost all scholarships around the country are GONE!

And yet that's exactly what Brett Roseboro and Damian Saunders did.
They accomplished the impossible, it seems.

[MarquetteDano]

Even if Newbill signs with North Carolina and becomes a lottery pick what does that after to do with whether Marquette did the right thing?  I hope Newbill lands somewhere he is happy with but even if he does, it does not mitigate whether Marquette did something that may have lacked integrity.

[madtownwarrior]

Chico's - it's time to take your man-crush on Tom Crean and be a full time Indiana fan (oh, crap, the tan one runs off as many recruits as any one in college basketball so not sure how your morals will fit there as well).   


Really - whether one approves or disapproves of the recent events of MU recruting, your desire to bash Buzz at every given moment is unwelcome and time for you to stop being a MU fan (and stop posting here),

[pbiflyer]

So, we have all these phantom offers from other BEast schools, but today in an articel from DJ's own mouth:

Newbill said LaSalle, Drexel, Niagara and Rider also had expressed interest in him.
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/breaking/sports_breaking/20100701_Marquette_withdraws_scholarship_offer_to_Newbill.html#ixzz0sUWAHHou


I thought I paid attention to Marquette basketball. Perhaps Chico can enlighten me. Which one of those schools are in the Big East?

[cheebs09]

My guess is since he can't go to another Big East school there would be no Big East interest, unless the school tries to do what UW did with Brust and appeal. However, I always thought when he committed that the offers could be coming from those Big East schools, not that he had them in hand. I'm probably misremembering.

[pbiflyer]

He was talking about when he committed to Marquette.

[cheebs09]

Yup your right. My mistake.

[TJ]

Here, here.  This is about doing the right thing.  Shades of gray are convenient for those who lack integrity.  Saying we don't know the full story.... convenient excuse.   Saying other institutions do the same thing or worse... justifying.

Even if the IWB story of things is 100% true, I still find issues on how this was handled.  At the very least the perception of the matter is not good.

Marquette boosters can convince themselves nothing was handled wrong here but a true neutral party would have concerns.  I hope I'm wrong about this but if Newbill's statement to the press was an actual quote.... not good.

+1

[ChicosBailBonds]

Anyone else get the feeling that Chico's date dumped him the night before the prom so that she could go with the star athlete?

LOL.

If you only knew....I married the Homecoming Queen numb nuts.

[ChicosBailBonds]

If it was my son then he wouldn't have signed knowing that this scenario was a very real possibility. I feel for DJ because I think he got some bad advice from the people close to him.

And how do you know this scenario existed?  How do you know this is what was communicated to DJ?  His AAU Coach, High School coach and Newbill sure haven't expressed that.  Or are you automatically only going to gravitate to one version?

[TJ]

Why do you all pretend we know the whole story, then dig into a postion?  None of us know anything - at least not much.

For me it's because I still have a problem even with the most positive spin that has been put out by those trying to rationalize the MU side of things.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Chico's - it's time to take your man-crush on Tom Crean and be a full time Indiana fan (oh, crap, the tan one runs off as many recruits as any one in college basketball so not sure how your morals will fit there as well).   


Really - whether one approves or disapproves of the recent events of MU recruting, your desire to bash Buzz at every given moment is unwelcome and time for you to stop being a MU fan (and stop posting here),

Madtown, I don't bash Buzz at every given moment, you're just wrong.  I just don't have koolaid blinders on. I've complimented Buzz many many times over, you just don't bother to read it or ignore it on purpose.

I also don't have a man-crush on Crean...I had to work for the guy, I know what a complete a-hole he is more than 99% of people on here.  It's one thing to deal with TC for 30 minutes at a function or an hour here or there, quite another to spend 60 to 70 hours a week.

And don't ever question my MU fandom...ever.

So now that you're 0 for 3, try again.

[ChicosBailBonds]

For me it's because I still have a problem even with the most positive spin that has been put out by those trying to rationalize the MU side of things.

Why do you hate Buzz?  You should stop posting here

[thatman32]

LOL.

If you only knew....I married the Homecoming Queen numb nuts.

You married your high school sweetheart?? How sad to not explore what is out there.

[mug644]

Yeah, that's basically how an NLI works.  Total protection for the schools, none for the student athletes.  It should also be stated that student-athletes are not required to sign a NLI by the NCAA.  Why they choose to do so, I have no idea.

Maybe because it is the only way for a kid to get a commitment (and a written one at that) from the school he expects to attend, and play for.

Maybe because signing (and having the school accept it) demonstrates that a decision has been made and the kid can stop looking elsewhere and other schools should stay off recruiting him.

It is only no protection for the student athlete when schools begin to undermine the integrity of the NLI, to pull back from the NLI as a demonstration of the school's commitment to the athlete. Almost regardless of the other things floating around this situation, Marquette did pull out of the NLI, and did so under Buzz's leadership.

Though I recognize that I don't know the extenuating circumstances, I can't quite move beyond this, especially in that Buzz presents himself as both honest and full of integrity. He may have been honest throughout, but I worry that his integrity has suffered (or at least the appearance of it).

[MerrittsMustache]

And how do you know this scenario existed?  How do you know this is what was communicated to DJ?  His AAU Coach, High School coach and Newbill sure haven't expressed that.  Or are you automatically only going to gravitate to one version?

And how do you know this scenario did NOT exist?  How do you know this was NOT communicated to DJ?  Or are you automatically only going to gravitate to one version?

[brewcity77]

Madtown, I don't bash Buzz at every given moment, you're just wrong.  I just don't have koolaid blinders on. I've complimented Buzz many many times over, you just don't bother to read it or ignore it on purpose.

I also don't have a man-crush on Crean...I had to work for the guy, I know what a complete a-hole he is more than 99% of people on here.  It's one thing to deal with TC for 30 minutes at a function or an hour here or there, quite another to spend 60 to 70 hours a week.

And don't ever question my MU fandom...ever.

So now that you're 0 for 3, try again.

I've only been on this site a few months, can't say I know you well enough to really make a fair judgment one way or the other. But when the controversies and MU-bashing come up, you do most often seem to be one of the guys spearheading the argument. Of your own accord, you seem to have done more criticizing than even the most ardent Bucky fan.

Again, I haven't really been here long enough to say, but when it comes to your fandom, it seems hard to balance your love for the program with your routine distaste for it. Maybe you're trying the tough love approach...just doesn't really seem that way.

[StillAWarrior]

I've only been on this site a few months, can't say I know you well enough to really make a fair judgment one way or the other. But when the controversies and MU-bashing come up, you do most often seem to be one of the guys spearheading the argument. Of your own accord, you seem to have done more criticizing than even the most ardent Bucky fan.

Again, I haven't really been here long enough to say, but when it comes to your fandom, it seems hard to balance your love for the program with your routine distaste for it. Maybe you're trying the tough love approach...just doesn't really seem that way.

I've been on this site for a long time and I've personally known Chico for even longer.  Anybody who thinks he doesn't absolutely love Marquette is completely wrong.  There's a lot more I could say but this is enough:  he's the biggest Marquette fan I know and nobody should ever doubt that.

[MUSF]

I posted this in another thread but I think it also answers the original question.

My synical guess is that these types of things happen more often than people realize but are usually managed by PR machines to prevent fans from seeing the proverbial cow being butchered.

I have problems with how this APPEARS to have been handled but I am also not naive enough to think that similliar situations don't happen across college sports on a consistent basis, and have probably happened at MU. 

You're right, where is the line?  That is an honest question.  It is a slippery slope we college sports fans often find ourselves on.  Is it fair/right for athletes to get accepted to a university that would not accept them as a general student?  Is it okay to take risks on kids with character issues because they have talent?  Is it right to recruit more athletes than a school has scholarships to keep those players from attending other schools?  All of these things happen and are largely accepted as long as teams are winning.

I want to see MU win and I don't want MU to break the rules to do it.  I also don't want MU to be perceived as more shady than the norm.  Alot of that has to do with PR and image management.  Buzz didn't break the rules but it APPEARS that we are getting awfully close to being perceived as a program that pushes the limits of the grey area.  I think Buzz needs to learn from this and tighten up the ship a little bit.

College sports are not a black and white world.  That being said, I don't want MU to break the rules or perpetually live in the grey area.  I think if many took off the blue and gold colored glasses they would agree with me.  I also think if this situation had happened during Crean's tenure, Chico's would be explaining how it may not be the best decision but it's a grey area.  Likewise, many that are vehmently defending Buzz would be disgusted by the same action were it perpetuated by a more tan, less bald coach.

[brewcity77]

+10

Excellent post, MUSF.