KCRag Forum

No surprise, but KU is holding a presser tomorrow, probably to announce McLemore is going pro.

As expected, McLemore is entering the draft. Smart move. The chances of improving his draft stock by playing another year of college ball are tiny, and his family could certainly use the money. Good luck to him.

Now self has 2 extra scholarships to play with, after telling Rio Adams to go back to home to the land of drear and mildew.

Mizzou's Phil Pressey is entering the NBA draft.

AllThingsKC wrote:Mizzou's Phil Pressey is entering the NBA draft.

Phil is deluded. He must really not like Haith - and probably didn't enjoy being singled out by fans as a reason the team couldn't win tight games. Pressey could have left after his sophomore year and done a lot better than he will do in this draft - he's a good player but he's going to have many skeptics in NBA front offices..

KU Assistant Coach Joe Dooley named head coach of FGCU. DUNK CITY.

Also, Marcus Smart is coming back for another year at OSU. He woulda been a lottery pick - probably a top 5 pick. Hate seeing him stick around!

KCMax wrote:Also, Marcus Smart is coming back for another year at OSU. He woulda been a lottery pick - probably a top 5 pick. Hate seeing him stick around!

Wow! That sounds like a coach not really advocating well for the kid's future. This isn't Josh Selby. It is a lottery pick as mentioned.

Perhaps he is just a good kid that loves college. That is always an option. I don't know what kind of a student he is, but being the big man on campus has its benefits. His comments in some of the news reports were pretty great. OSU should be a great team next year.

bobbyhawks wrote:OSU should be a great team next year.

This keeps popping to mind:

There might be five Big 12 coaches who would've won the league with OSU's roster. It's just that none of them are Travis Ford.
-@mellinger, 3/9/13

chaglang wrote:

bobbyhawks wrote:OSU should be a great team next year.

This keeps popping to mind:

There might be five Big 12 coaches who would've won the league with OSU's roster. It's just that none of them are Travis Ford.
-@mellinger, 3/9/13

I don't really agree. OSU was the second most efficient team in the conference. They had one bad loss, and their only two home losses were by one point to #4 Gonzaga (end of season efficiency) and in double overtime to #9 Kansas. That they couldn't get it done on the road against the top of the conference (not named KU) is as much attributable to the young team as it is to their coach. OSU was the second youngest team in the conference by effective playing time and were #327 in the nation. Oddly, Michigan was #342, and Texas was dead last at #347. OSU still only lost the conference by one game and were 6 points at KSU and 1 point at home vs. KU away from taking it outright. I have a hard time thinking that Travis Ford can be slammed for that season. The first round exit, absolutely, but even that was an unfairly ranked 12 seed.

This draft is kind of deep, its probably smart that smart stays another year. He could be top 3 in 2014

brewcrew1000 wrote:This draft is kind of deep, its probably smart that smart stays another year. He could be top 3 in 2014

Wasn't he projected top 3 this year? I think Randle and Wiggins - along with Jabari Parker - would be projected ahead of him next year.

I would never begrudge anyone's decision to stay in school an additional year, but it's really hard to improve a top 3 ranking. I'd be thrilled if Ben Mclemore stayed another year, but I wouldn't call it a smart decision.

brewcrew1000 wrote:This draft is kind of deep, its probably smart that smart stays another year. He could be top 3 in 2014

I think the consensus is that this draft is very weak. A ton have people have declared, but that doesn't make it a good draft. Isaiah Austin is flirting with a lottery pick. Smart would have been a top 10, maybe top 5 lock. Next year is supposed to be a much better draft. Smart has to have essentially as good of a year as he did this year and hope to not be overshadowed by other newcomers and improved Sophomores.

GRID hates Superman.

That must have been shot at a Royals game.

KCMax wrote:GRID hates Superman.

Was that a screen shot from the Michigan game.

KSU's Angel Rodriguez to transfer.

KU reviewing report that McLemore's AAU coach accepted cash payments

The NCAA has ruled on similar cases on a case-by-case basis. But if McLemore’s amateur status was in question, KU could risk forfeiting games in which he participated.

AAU coach: I took money intended to steer Ben McLemore

AllThingsKC wrote:KU reviewing report that McLemore's AAU coach accepted cash payments

The NCAA has ruled on similar cases on a case-by-case basis. But if McLemore’s amateur status was in question, KU could risk forfeiting games in which he participated.

AAU coach: I took money intended to steer Ben McLemore

This is one of the strangest revelations of this type I've seen. I still can't tell if this came from fear over an NCAA investigation, or if this guy just called up the USA Today to get his name in the paper.

Cobb detailed his involvement during more than 10 hours of interviews with USA TODAY Sports at his home and elsewhere in the St. Louis area. Cobb says he is telling his story because he wants to help educate basketball families such as the McLemores and expose individuals who pursue college athletes and their families while the players still have amateur eligibility.

So, he wants to expose people like Cobb? At what point is a player responsible for all of the a-holes trying to mooch off of him? There may be more to the story, but if the NCAA is willing to drop investigations lately that actually involved coaches and athletic departments, this one seems even thinner.

Regardless of the merit or what additional details come of this, I hope it will create a discussion about one-and-done, and how guys with one foot out the door are treated (also how many treat the situation themselves). Probably every AAU coach of a lottery prospect gets offered cash like this. Obviously, it would be bad in BMac knew about it, but there is absolutely nothing he could do to stop it short of telling the NCAA mid-season (if he knew) and probably losing eligibility for the rest of his short career.

bobbyhawks wrote: Regardless of the merit or what additional details come of this, I hope it will create a discussion about one-and-done, and how guys with one foot out the door are treated (also how many treat the situation themselves). Probably every AAU coach of a lottery prospect gets offered cash like this. Obviously, it would be bad in BMac knew about it, but there is absolutely nothing he could do to stop it short of telling the NCAA mid-season (if he knew) and probably losing eligibility for the rest of his short career.

Despite all the discussions of the "worst case scenario", I really doubt if anything comes of this that would remotely hurt KU or Self. This was an interaction between a former AAU coach and an agent. If BMac knew about the transaction, how does that change anything? He's not the recipient of the money nor is he under the direction of the AAU coach at the time. If anything is startling here, it's how much agents are willing to spend on the off chance that a former coach could actually influence a players that is two years outside of his charge. 10,000 bucks is a lot of money to blow just to get a possible advantage. I can see why so many shady characters end up as AAU coaches.

There is really no penalty that the NCAA can levy on BMac anyway, even if he were somehow culpable, that could hurt him or the guys that tried to bribe the AAU coach. Nobody in this scenario has anything to lose save the University, and there is no way the University could have done nothing to stop this from happening.