UK Should Fight The NCAA
If Sanctioned Over Bledsoe

It appears that the NCAA declared in its Memphis decision that playing an ineligible player is a strict liability offense. That means that the NCAA will sanction any school simply for playing the ineligible player even if the school was not negligent in doing so. In addition, even though the school used the NCAA’s own independent certification of the kid’s eligibility to establish the reasonableness of its decision to play the kid, the NCAA can and will punish the school when the NCAA subsequently determines that the kid was actually ineligible. No negligence, no knowledge, and no intention need be present.

Negligence occurs with a person or organization failed to exercise “reasonable care” in an action. In this type of case, a school would exercise reasonable care in my opinion when acting in reliance upon the NCAA Clearinghouse’s certification. That is what Memphis did, and that is what UK did. This is a lower standard than knowingly violating a rule, or intentionally violating the rule. Under such a negligence standard, acting in a reasonably prudent manner would be a successful defense against the allegation of playing the kid when the NCAA subsequently declares the player ineligible. However, in the Memphis decision, there was no evidence of which I am aware that Memphis acted negligently, much less intentionally or knowingly. Rather, the evidence of a reasonableness standard, e.g. relying upon the Clearinghouse’s certification, was not sufficient for the NCAA to conclude that Memphis was not culpable.

As applied to the Memphis case, reasonableness would be, “What would a reasonably prudent NCAA D1 member school, in good standing have done under the same circumstances as Memphis?” For member schools to support the NCAA’s position, in my opinion, they would have to accept the premise of the rule that each member school has its own duty of due diligence with respect to every player they recruit and offer a scholarship before allowing that player to enter a single basketball game. No school has the resources, not even the schools like Kentucky, North Carolina, or Kansas, to comply with such a rule.

Yet, that remains the “law” of the NCAA because of the Memphis decision, and I do not recall a single NCAA President or AD speaking publicly last summer in support of Memphis and against the NCAA’s decision.  Where is the outcry from the member schools over the Memphis ruling?

The logical consequence of this rule, if evenly enforced against all member schools, is that no school can afford to take a chance recruiting any player that is borderline eligible.  Therefore, only clearly eligible players will get an opportunity to play college basketball at the D1 level.  Regardless of actual eligibility, kids like Eric Bledsoe will effectively be locked out by this system.  For the vast majority of NCAA Member schools, that application has a practical level of tolerance because they are never in the running for the services of an Eric Bledsoe, a prime D1 basketball prospect with a borderline academic record.  Therefore, the vast majorities of the NCAA D1 Members can, and have, turned a blind eye on the Memphis ruling

Therefore, we end up with strict liability, e.g. violation of the rule results in punishment regardless of absence of negligence, knowledge, or intention.

The Memphis decision is awful because no school can protect itself completely from violation. Unless and until some member school takes the NCAA to court over that ruling, or the principle it stands for, it stands as precedent within the NCAA. Memphis appealed within the NCAA system, but apparently, Memphis decided to move on with its program’s life and not challenge the NCAA’s authority to do this in a court of law. Without that legal challenge, the NCAA member schools largely will ignore the broad consequences of the rule and allow the NCAA to use it as a weapon against preferred targets. Call me paranoid, but many within the NCAA want to bring down Calipari, and want to bring down a powerful Kentucky basketball program that Calipari now directs. Only a court challenge can stop this tyranny.

I do not know how a court would view this question, because the NCAA is a private member based organization, whose members make and enforce its own rules upon its members. The complaining party will probably have to show some broad public interest in seeing the Memphis standard taken down. However, if a member school could get this issue before the Federal Courts, there would be no place for the other 346 member schools to hide with respect to taking a public position about their ability to comply with the Memphis rule. Sure, some would take a position supportive of the NCAA’s Memphis rule, but I do not believe the majority would do that to their detriment to simply allow the NCAA a mechanism to selectively punish other members.

In my opinion, if the NCAA sanctions UK over the Bledsoe situation, and if UK was not negligent in playing Bledsoe, it is my opinion that UK should be the school to take the NCAA to the mat over their application of strict liability in this manner.

ANALYSIS OF THE 2010-2011 ROSTER

Calipari has 11 scholarship players as of now, just as he promised several weeks ago [10 or 11] with Dodson’s status being the deciding factor on the final number.  Dodson is back, and the number is 11.  At 11 scholarship players, this team has one less player for 2011 than it did for the 2010 season.

I believe the roster is now set for the 2010-11 season, at least with respect to players who will be eligible to play.  However, I am not convinced that Calipari is done yet, and it would not surprise me to see the big kid from UTEP transfer into UK this summer and spend a year on the practice floor against Kanter, Jones, and Vargas.  Regardless, I think we now know who will appear on the floor for the Cats next season.

I share the concern about depth at point guard, and agree that Calipari may fill this responsibility by committee [Miller, Liggins, and Lamb].  I believe that is not the most comforting scenario given that Knight is a freshman, and there is always a risk of injury.  However, given the need to hold spots open for the powerful 2011 recruiting class, I fully understand why the roster is currently composed just as it is.  I would not swap any of the incoming players for another incoming true point guard, and with Bledsoe’s exit after just one year, the returning portion of the roster leaves only the Miller-Liggins option for this backup point guard role.

For weeks, it has been clear that the most critical recruiting need that Calipari faced for 2010 was to get at least 2 capable interior players.  Vargas and Jones fill that bill as far as I am concerned.  Therefore, in my view, the 2010 recruiting class could not have ended must better for the Cats in 2010-11 than the way it has finally played out.

So, let the comparisons begin:

1.  How will this team compare to last year’s team?

2.  How will this team compare to the field next season?

I am sure that folks will frame the 2010 v 2011 comparisons in many ways.  Here is mine.

The Starters:

PG:  Wall v Knight

I do not think there is any doubt that Wall is one of the best PGs ever to wear the UK uniform.  He has probably earned the #1 NBA draft pick, just as the experts said he would do a year ago.  However, Knight is not chopped liver.  He will bring a different set of skills to the floor.  I doubt that Knight will end the season with the levels of recognition as Wall, but I am not concerned that the drop off at PG will be all that great, or significant. Advantage 2010.

C:  Cousins v Kanter

A year ago, Cousins was clearly a player with potential for greatness, but unlike Wall, I do not recall many people who projected Cousins as a top 5 NBA draft pick after just one season at UK.  We all know that Cousin’s growth over the one season working with Calipari was nothing short of phenomenal.  Kanter’s pre-season hype is perhaps greater than Cousin’s was, but it remains to be seen how much Kanter will benefit from a year of Calipari’s coaching.  I believe Kanter will benefit greatly, and I believe that at the least, Kanter will mean as much to the 2011 Cats as Cousins did to the 2010 version.  Push 2010 v 2011.

SG:  Bledsoe v Lamb

Of all the 2009-10 freshmen who have moved on to the next level after just one season, Bledsoe impressed me the least.  His personal circumstances led him to a personal decision to move on, and I understand those reasons completely.  Lamb arrives in Lexington highly regarded, just as Bledsoe did, but Lamb is more naturally suited for the SG position from the beginning than Bledsoe was.  I believe Lamb will perform at an overall higher level than Bledsoe did over the course of the season.  Advantage 2011.

SF:  Miller v Miller

Miller as a junior will contribute more to the team than Miller did as a sophomore.  Advantage 2011.

PF:  Patterson v Jones

As highly regarded as Terrence Jones is, he will not bring the same level of experience, toughness, and “get it done” ability to the floor as Patterson did as a Junior.  However, I believe that Jones has the potential to bring a game as a freshman to the team similar to what Patterson delivered as a freshman, and Jones will not have the entire weight of the team on his broad shoulders as a freshman that Patterson did during his freshman season.  I believe that next year’s team will see a drop off in output from the PF position, but it should be small.  Advantage 2010.

The Bench:

Liggins, Jr v Liggins, So:  Advantage 2011
Hood, So v Hood, Fr: Advantage 2011
Harrellson, Sr v Harrellson, Jr: Advantage 2011
Dodson, Jr. v Dodson, So: Advantage 2011
Stephenson, Sr v Vargas, Jr:  Not sure how Vargas will contribute relative to Stephenson as a Senior, but my sense is Advantage 2011
Harris, Sr v Poole, Fr:  Not sure how Poole will contribute relative to Harris as a Senior, but my sense is Advantage 2011
Orton, Fr v Nobody:  Advantage 2010
Krebs, Sr. v Polson, Fr: Push

2011 will not be as strong in its starting five, but will provide stronger, more consistent bench play.

I believe that the 2010-11 Kentucky team will begin the season top 10, and will mature and grow up as quickly as last year’s team did, if not faster.  The returning players have the advantage of one full season with Calipari.  However, last year’s team won several early games that it had all but lost, and this year’s team could lose some games of that type in November and December as a price for its growth.  However by the end of January, I would not be surprised to see this team as a top 5 team, making another legitimate run for a final four and national championship in 2011.

Thank you Coach Calipari for all your hard work.  And, thank you Coach for bringing this program back to life for the entire BBN.

Word is tomorrow night at the Jordon Classic 5* Doron Lamb will be the next stud freshmen to throw in with the Cats, keep your fingers crossed because this is the kind of cold blooded shooter that this team was missing last year.

This kids nick name is the Smooth Criminal, check out this vid and you will see a small sample of how he got this tag.

It’s a historic day in the Big Blue nation.
#1 player in the class of 2010, and Gatorade National Player of the Year Brandon Knight and the #1 player and consensus best player regardless of class, Mike Gilchrist have both committed to UK.
AMAZING, this sends the message that Calipari plans to stick around for the long haul and is determined to build a dynasty with the best players in the game coming thru Kentucky.