UNC's Hariston done

[Hards Alumni]

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/hairston-39-career-over-north-183327142--ncaab.html

Ultimately, the punishment for him will be insignificant.  He will be drafted in June.

[Lennys Tap]

After hearing Jay Bilas drone on and on about how the NCAA was unfairly punishing the kid, I'm kind of shocked by this news. I guess after completing their own investigation North Carolina didn't even file an appeal on the kid's behalf. Wonder if Roy's "boss" (LOL) will rip his coach in the local paper for his lack of control of the program.

[Spotcheck Billy]

more bad news for UNC

Mary Willingham, who worked with athletes at UNC, gathered information for CNN and among other tidbits, says that one UNC basketball player simply couldn't read at all.

Here's a key paragraph: "As a graduate student at UNC-Greensboro, Willingham researched the reading levels of 183 UNC-Chapel Hill athletes who played football or basketball from 2004 to 2012. She found that 60% read between fourth- and eighth-grade levels. Between 8% and 10% read below a third-grade level."

We didn't get that excited about the story because, frankly, it's nothing new. Coaches have been gaming the system for about a century, if not longer. There are ancient jokes about football players who were too stupid to understand that 2+2=4.

The exploitation of athletes is nothing new.


What is new, at least around here, are the death threats and hate mail Willingham has gotten, apparently from deranged UNC fans. So much of what's happened around this scandal over the last few years is disgusting and cynical, but even by the standards of this great, sprawling mess, death threats introduce an impressive new low.

[Lennys Tap]

more bad news for UNC

Shoot the messenger

[keefe]

Wonder if Roy's "boss" (LOL) will rip his coach in the local paper for his lack of control of the program.

Did Larry Williams end up at UNC?