NCAA investigating UK's Eric Bledsoe

[Tugg Speedman]

A Calipari recruit is being investigated?  I'm going to have to sit down and take in this truly unexpected news.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/29/sports/ncaabasketball/29recruit.html?ref=sports

N.C.A.A. Is Looking Into Former Kentucky Player

Two years ago, Eric Bledsoe was a star point guard without the grades to meet the N.C.A.A.'s minimum standards and needing to find a new high school. He solved both problems by moving to A. H. Parker High School and now, after one season at the University of Kentucky, he is awaiting a lucrative payday in next month's N.B.A. draft.

The changes in Bledsoe's academic and athletic prospects have attracted the attention of the N.C.A.A., which has sent investigators to at least three places in Alabama to ask about him. The N.C.A.A. does not talk about its investigations, and the scope of this one is unknown.

But Bledsoe's academic makeover and the extra benefits he apparently received could be another blow to Kentucky Coach John Calipari, who led teams at Massachusetts and Memphis that had their records and Final Four appearances expunged after rules violations were found under his watch.

Interviews with those connected with Bledsoe's life in Birmingham revealed potential violations.

¶Brenda Axle, the landlord for the house where Bledsoe and his mother moved for his senior year of high school, said that Bledsoe's high school coach paid her at least three months' rent, or $1,200. By moving there, Bledsoe was eligible to play for Parker, which he led to the Alabama Class 5A title game. Maurice Ford, the coach, denied paying the money.

¶A copy of Bledsoe's high school transcript from his first three years reveals that it would have taken an improbable academic makeover — a jump from about a 1.9 grade point average in core courses to just under a 2.5 during his senior year — for Bledsoe to achieve minimum N.C.A.A. standards to qualify for a scholarship.

¶A college coach who recruited Bledsoe said that Ford explicitly told his coaching staff that he needed a specific amount of money to let Bledsoe sign with that university. The coach, who did not want to be named out of fear of repercussions when recruiting in Birmingham, said Ford told him and his staff that he was asking for money because he was helping pay rent for Bledsoe and his mother. Ford denied this, saying, "I don't prostitute my kids."

He said he had done nothing wrong, adding: "I'm a poor black man. And when one black man tries to help another black man, there's always something wrong."

Calipari did not return a telephone call and text message seeking comment. A Kentucky spokesman said he was tending to his ill mother.

That Bledsoe — a 6-foot-1, 190-pound point guard — is on the verge of living out his N.B.A. dream would have been hard to envision in the spring of 2008. Bledsoe had lived an itinerant life for much of his high school years, often staying with friends or relatives, while his mother held jobs such as working at an adult book store and doing custodial work at a hospital.

By the end of his junior year, Bledsoe had attracted a solid list of college suitors, but the question of where he would play his senior year lingered.

Most of Bledsoe's teammates at Carol W. Hayes High School, which was closing at the end of the school year, were transferring to Woodlawn, another local public school. But Steve Ward, his former coach at Hayes, had concerns about Bledsoe's shaky grades and directed him to a local private school, Central Park Christian, where Ward thought Bledsoe would receive the academic attention he needed.

Bledsoe met with Levan Parker, Central Park Christian's headmaster and former basketball coach; showed him a transcript; and picked up an application. The next day, though, Bledsoe's mother, Maureen Reddick, called Central Park and said her son was going to attend school in California. Not long after, he enrolled at Parker.

Initially, the Alabama High School Athletic Association ruled that Bledsoe was ineligible to play at Parker, based on its transfer rule, but in November 2008 it cleared him to play, said Steve Savarese, the executive director of the A.H.S.A.A.

The A.H.S.A.A., the Birmingham City Schools Athletic Department and Ward were asked about Bledsoe by the N.C.A.A. assistant directors of enforcement Kristen Matha and Abigail Grantstein. They asked about everything from Bledsoe's grades to his car to the circumstances surrounding his transfer, according to those who were interviewed by the enforcement officers.

"Definitely it was suspicious," Ward said of the transfer. "He was in Woodlawn's zone when Hayes shut down. His mom is bouncing around because she doesn't have a steady job, so he moves to Parker's zone. Of course I think it was a little suspicious."

he state athletic association did not know who was paying rent for Bledsoe and his mother at the house on Center Street South. Axle, the landlord, said that Reddick signed a one-year lease for $400 a month. But she said she never received any money from Reddick or Bledsoe. She said that Ford paid her for the rent three or four times in cash, usually while Axle volunteered at Parker High School.

"I never paid his mom's rent," Ford said.

Under N.C.A.A. rules, it is not permissible for a high school student's family to receive rent money from a public school coach. It would be considered an impermissible benefit.

Efforts to reach Bledsoe and Reddick were not successful.

When the rent payments stopped being made in early 2009, Axle said that she asked Ford about it on occasion and that he told her he would call Reddick.

Bledsoe and his mother abandoned the house in May 2009, and, according to Axle, left it in poor condition. When Axle last saw Reddick in June, she asked her who was going to pay the $3,200 she owed in rent.

"She said Maurice should have paid me," Axle said.

Ford repeatedly denied Axle's assertion that he paid rent for Bledsoe and his mother.

"If I paid his rent and I paid my rent out of my teacher's salary, what are my kids going to eat?" Ford said. "I don't love basketball that much."

As Bledsoe was blossoming into an elite player, top basketball programs poured into Birmingham to try to get a copy of his transcript.

But Ford, who described Bledsoe's academic performance in his five semesters at Hayes as "awful," would not give it up because, he said, it was his policy not to distribute his players' transcripts unless the player was about to go on an official visit, which requires a copy of the student's high school transcript.

The New York Times reviewed a copy of Bledsoe's transcript following his junior year. A veteran compliance officer with no ties to a university involved in Bledsoe's recruitment said that while it was not impossible for someone with a record like Bledsoe's to qualify for a college scholarship, he would need "an extraordinary senior year academically" to qualify. The compliance officer spoke on condition that he not be identified because he was not authorized to speak about Bledsoe's transcript.

Bledsoe's grade point average in core courses — subjects like math and English that the N.C.A.A. requires — hovered around 1.9 after his junior year, and that included two unusually high grades — an 86 and an 80 — he received during his half-semester at Parker as a junior.

Bledsoe failed to receive a B in a core course at Hayes. He had one B from a summer school class at Woodlawn that replaced a failing grade in English before he attended Parker.

To meet the N.C.A.A.'s minimum requirements, he would have needed to receive mostly A's at Parker. Ford said that Bledsoe's sum ACT score was a 69, which meant he needed to jump from about a 1.9 to a 2.475 in core courses, according to the N.C.A.A.'s sliding eligibility scale.

Ford defended the high grades that Bledsoe received at Parker, both late in his junior year and during his senior year. He said that at Hayes the only care was that Bledsoe was eligible to play basketball. Ford said that his guidance and discipline in forcing Bledsoe to attend class and do his work saved Bledsoe's basketball career.

He said that if Hayes had not shut down, no one would have heard "anything about Eric Bledsoe again because he would have never made it. Never made it. Everything happened for a reason. He was sent to me for a reason."

Ford boasted about his academic track record with basketball players and said Bledsoe told him that he could just show up in classes at Hayes, not do work and still receive D's. But Doretta Harris, a teacher at Parker who taught Bledsoe, said that Ford never cared about academics.

"Just winning," Harris said. "That's all."

Harris said she taught Bledsoe in economics for nine weeks.

"He was a C student at best," she said.

On the court, things could not have gone better for Bledsoe and Ford, a successful veteran coach who left Parker after their one season together to take over at J. O. Johnson High School in Huntsville, Ala.

But off the court at Parker, the 2008-9 season was a tumultuous one. During the school year, the principal, Joseph Martin, was reassigned to a middle school and later retired. There was an eligibility scandal with Parker's girls basketball team, and an audit later revealed missing money and merchandise involving Martin.

Martin said Bledsoe's grade turnaround at Parker "isn't hard to do anywhere in Birmingham, Ala., if you make somebody put their feet to the fire."

"I'm not saying it wasn't a challenge," he said. "He knew what he had to do at Parker."

Martin said he never saw Bledsoe's final transcript and said his grades were not altered or inflated while he was principal.

Martin, in an interview outside his house, praised the teachers at Parker and said that if a student needed help, "he was going to be with one of these teachers over here who was going to get him what he needed."

By all accounts around Birmingham, Bledsoe is a shy and polite young man. And while people here are rooting for him to be selected high in the draft, the question lingers about the path he took to Kentucky.

"The kid couldn't have been nicer," said Parker, the Central Park Christian headmaster. "That's his reputation, a polite and mannerly kid.

"But he's clearly been used."

[willie warrior]

More Calimari cheating. He will slide out of Ky. in about a year with tons of dollars and move on to establishing his next sleaze pit!

I sure Ky. gets nailed big time for hiting this slime ball.

[nyg]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=5231161

Here's another story from ESPN.

Article states Bledsoe took Online classes (an A in Biology, yeah right) and night classes (Algebra II and III).   Never heard of online and night classes in a high school.  Do they actually do that???

[GOMU1104]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=5231161

Here's another story from ESPN.

Article states Bledsoe took Online classes (an A in Biology, yeah right) and night classes (Algebra II and III).   Never heard of online and night classes in a high school.  Do they actually do that???

Yes, online classes are HUGE for recruits that are on the fence when it comes to qualifying. Recruits take online classes through BYU or The American School in order to raise their grades. Our rival fanbase believes that is how one of our past recruits ended up qualifying.

However, come August 1st, this practice will end as the NCAA recently decertifed online courses such as these.

[GGGG]

The problem is that online classes can be abused, but the actually are an inexpensive way for school districts to offer remedial work.

[cheebs09]

Jeronne Maymon took some online classes. I think Cal will be in the NBA next year. He had his one year with the dream team to try and get his Championship, but now all the violations will force him to get out of town.

[nyg]

Yes, online classes are HUGE for recruits that are on the fence when it comes to qualifying. Recruits take online classes through BYU or The American School in order to raise their grades. Our rival fanbase believes that is how one of our past recruits ended up qualifying.

However, come August 1st, this practice will end as the NCAA recently decertifed online courses such as these.

Thanks, I was not familiar with that.  When a borderline D student gets an A in an online Biology course, it has to throw a red flag to someone. As far as night classes, that can't be a more inexpensive route due to more resources being allocated to evenings, but I presume they have them.  I wonder how he did in the Algebra classes?  Glad the NCAA is eliminating this process, but you know it will continue with the recruits somehow.

[ChicosBailBonds]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=5231161

Here's another story from ESPN.

Article states Bledsoe took Online classes (an A in Biology, yeah right) and night classes (Algebra II and III).   Never heard of online and night classes in a high school.  Do they actually do that???

Some of our players during this current administration have done the same thing.  Maymon took online classes to become eligible at Marquette.

[Josey Wales]

I was wondering why this kid was leaving early, and now I know why. He is just not very good, and he won't have a long or productive career imo.

[77ncaachamps]

Baggage...

And I wonder how impatient the UK fans will be if Cal doesn't get them to the title game and win it in the next 5 years...while continuing to drag UK's program through the mud with more incidents like these.

Or I guess he can't win without other people's "help"...

[lab_warrior]

Calipari doing something scummy recruiting-wise?!!  GET OUT!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-XgvHPt1cg

[Lennys Tap]

Some of our players during this current administration have done the same thing.  Maymon took online classes to become eligible at Marquette.

Some? Who are the players other than Maymon? One of the players in the former administration was a non qualifier who had to sit an entire year to be eligible. And he was the player most responsible for that administration's success. Just sayin'.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Some? Who are the players other than Maymon? One of the players in the former administration was a non qualifier who had to sit an entire year to be eligible. And he was the player most responsible for that administration's success. Just sayin'.

I'm not aware of any players that took online classes to get into Marquette until the last two years, if there are, then by all means we should hear about it.

In the last two years, however, we've at least one (I'm hearing up to 2) that took online classes.  It's incredibly ripe for mischief and I'm glad the NCAA is cracking down on it.  

Why are you bringing Dwyane Wade up?  What does that have to do with this thread ripping on a Kentucky player taking online classes when we've had at least one of our most recent players doing the exact same thing?  But great to see you got another Wade was the only reason we were successful line in there.    

[GOMU1104]

Anyone who has ever read the book "The Blind Side" (not just watched the movie)...the BYU classes were the reason Michael Oher was eligible to play at Ole Miss.

This will all end August 1st, so there is still time for people to take advantage of it.

[Lennys Tap]

I'm not aware of any players that took online classes to get into Marquette until the last two years, if there are, then by all means we should hear about it.

In the last two years, however, we've at least one (I'm hearing up to 2) that took online classes.  It's incredibly ripe for mischief and I'm glad the NCAA is cracking down on it.  

Why are you bringing Dwyane Wade up?  What does that have to do with this thread ripping on a Kentucky player taking online classes when we've had at least one of our most recent players doing the exact same thing?  But great to see you got another Wade was the only reason we were successful line in there.    

I bring up Wade because I think it's hypocritical to criticize "the current administration" for taking high school seniors and junior college players who are fully qualified according to NCAA standards while giving "the previous administration" a pass for recruiting someone (our best player ever) who was not. I have no problem with with either "administration" in this regard but you seem to have one with only the present one and I can't figure out why.

Also, I know we have disagreed on what some words mean in the past but I'm pretty sure some doesn't mean one even if you go very deep into its definitions.

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

I bring up Wade because I think it's hypocritical to criticize "the current administration" for taking high school seniors and junior college players who are fully qualified according to NCAA standards while giving "the previous administration" a pass for recruiting someone (our best player ever) who was not. I have no problem with with either "administration" in this regard but you seem to have one with only the present one and I can't figure out why.

Also, I know we have disagreed on what some words mean in the past but I'm pretty sure some doesn't mean one even if you go very deep into its definitions.

You're jumping the gun.

He stated a fact, maymon took online courses.

Has nothing to do with Crean/wade/oneil/lovette/rivers/Glaser/chones/lee/etc.

We (MU fans) should be careful throwing rocks from glass houses. And that has nothing to do with the current/former/former-former administration.

It has to do with the facts throughout MU's history (including Al).

[Benny B]

I'm not aware of any players that took online classes to get into Marquette until the last two years, if there are, then by all means we should hear about it.

In the last two years, however, we've at least one (I'm hearing up to 2) that took online classes.  It's incredibly ripe for mischief and I'm glad the NCAA is cracking down on it.  

Why are you bringing Dwyane Wade up?  What does that have to do with this thread ripping on a Kentucky player taking online classes when we've had at least one of our most recent players doing the exact same thing?  But great to see you got another Wade was the only reason we were successful line in there.    

Depending on where you are in the country, online classes are the norm in many high schools these days... even for honors students.

[muwarrior69]

Once the BCS schools divorce their basketball teams from the NCAA like they did with their football teams this will all become standard practice. My guess is that in 10 years the NCAA will be irrelevant and "student atheletes" in college football and basketball will be an illusion. Sorry for being so cynical, but that is just the way I see it going.

[GGGG]

Once the BCS schools divorce their basketball teams from the NCAA like they did with their football teams this will all become standard practice. My guess is that in 10 years the NCAA will be irrelevant and "student atheletes" in college football and basketball will be an illusion. Sorry for being so cynical, but that is just the way I see it going.

The BCS schools have never divorced their football teams from the NCAA.

[esotericmindguy]

Who cares what classes they take, why should Buzz, Cal or any other coach feel guilty for admitting students that meet the requirements.  If its such a problem look at the school districts or schools that offer the programs.  As long as these guys aren't criminals they do a huge amount for universities.....coach call is a dirt bag no doubt, but I just don't see the big deal.  Imagine being 16-17, knew you were going to make a living playing basketball in 2-3 years; there is a good chance you wouldn't take school seriously either.

[Nukem2]

Kentucky reports that Bledsoe went through an extra NCAA academic review.  What more can they do.  I don't like Cal or UK; but, what more could they do in this case?

[ChicosBailBonds]

Depending on where you are in the country, online classes are the norm in many high schools these days... even for honors students.

Correct, but that doesn't change the fact that this is an enormous hole that will lead to incredible mischief.

There is no way of telling who is on the other end of that computer actually doing the work?   We already have situations where the student athlete attends class, but who knows who is writing the papers, etc for the kid.  But at least they have to attend class to actually take the tests and show they know the material.

With the online classes, that is the problem.  This goes far beyond just athletics, but corporations are asking some of these questions, too.  Are these students truly learning the material before entering the workplace or is someone else doing it for them.

[Hards Alumni]

Correct, but that doesn't change the fact that this is an enormous hole that will lead to incredible mischief.

There is no way of telling who is on the other end of that computer actually doing the work?   We already have situations where the student athlete attends class, but who knows who is writing the papers, etc for the kid.  But at least they have to attend class to actually take the tests and show they know the material.

With the online classes, that is the problem.  This goes far beyond just athletics, but corporations are asking some of these questions, too.  Are these students truly learning the material but entering the workplace or is someone else doing it for them.

what about requiring the kid to be on a webcam for the duration of the online course?  tracability seems to be there for the same amount as a classroom.

[MerrittsMustache]

There is no way of telling who is on the other end of that computer actually doing the work?   We already have situations where the student athlete attends class, but who knows who is writing the papers, etc for the kid.  But at least they have to attend class to actually take the tests and show they know the material.

Kind of like how Derrick Rose had to show up and take his SAT test, right?

Not to mention, for classes in huge lecture halls, these players could have the coach's daughter take the exams for them. Haven't you seen The Program?  

[SacWarrior]

And the coach Scuzzipari Merry-go-round spins again.

I really hope my personal favorite NBA player Tyreke Evans doesn't fall into this pit of indecency, but knowing how high of a recruit he was and that he signed with Calipari even I'm not that naive.