As you've probably heard by now, the NCAA has stripped Memphis of their record 38-win season, their Final Four appearance and national runner-up finish, and put them on three years probation to boot.
Apparently among the other findings is that Derrick Rose took his questionable SAT in Detroit, which made us immediately think: there's a school there where people know they can go and cheat. There's a school in Raleigh that has, or had, a reputation for that.
But as soon as we heard that, Pat Forde followed up by pointing out that Motor City, or what used to be Motor City anyway, is home, or at least sort of home base, to one World Wide Wes, aka William Wesley, which does make one's eyebrows go up. Forde said he would love to know more about that, so we have a suggestion for him: find out where Robert Dozier took hisquestionable SAT test.
Geoff Calkins of the Memphis Commercial Appeal hammers away at this, and Calipari, in a big way, arguing that of course Calipari knew, and that he may even have arranged it.That wouldn't surprise us at all, but even if that's not true, this surely is: he knew how short Rose was in his earlier attempts, and, having long since mastered the arcane art of getting marginal players eligible, he surely knew - there's no question, really, that he knew - that Rose's score couldn't be legit.
Mark Story of Kentucky.com says that this bodes ill for Kentucky, and that, if you'll pardon the phrase, they made a deal with the devil (anytime we mention Kentucky, we want to add, in parenthesis, (Laettner!) just to spook them again).
Gary Parrish points out the unfortunate reality for Calipari, a guy who wants to be accepted as part of the establishment, but who now never will be. He argues Calipari will never make the Hall of Fame now, and he may be right. How could you get in with two Final Fours negated?
Of everything that we've read so far, though, no one comes close to Mike Freeman's take, which is absolutely scathing. It's also the closest to our own take, particularly his conclusion.
USAToday runs down some other thoughts on the mess.
It's been a rough stretch for hoops in the Commonwealth. Calipari wasn't accused in the NCAA's report, but his reputation took a hit, and so did Rick Pitino's in light of his unpleasant recent confession.
