[jwostrumParticipant]

ncaa might have made a slip up in shabazzs case. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1409838-report-lawyers-suspect-ncaa-prejudged-shabazz-muhammads-eligibility-cases

[BlazermannParticipant]

I hate the bleacher report smh they Sound Like liars

[SiggyParticipant]

That’s their defense? Somebody supposedly overheard an investigator’s boyfriend’s ambiguous conversation about Shabazz’ eligibility? That sounds laughable.  If you can’t prove that there was no wrongdoing, look for a technicality.

[ag-pennypackerParticipant]

It’s impossible to prove a universal negative.  How are you supposed to prove something that didn’t occur?  You need to prove it did occur.  Although this story is extremely weak.  It’s also in the LA times as well I believe.

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

Or instead of: 

http://www.latimes.com/sports/college/basketball/la-sp-1115-ucla-shabazz-ncaa-20121115,0,1557715.story

Just sounds like Abigail Grantstein’s boyfriend is a loud mouth jack@ss. Seriously, why would he be going on about this? It may be a technicality, but the e-mail was written two days after the flight she was on with this guy. Now, I get this being "a technicality", it sounds like they do not have a lot to go off of with this ruling. The thing is, the ruling was him taking 1500-2000 dollars. Now, does that mean he is "dirty" and should be "nailed"?

If that is all they can pin on him, that seems like the NCAA is kind of going off of a technicality as well. Let him reimburse Benjamin Lincoln and end this thing. If they feel their is something more, the NCAA should probably given the actual dirt rather than this joke of a claim about his Duke/North Carolina visits. Because right now, their case against him seems to be just as much of a technicality as this is. The rules are the rules, just feel that their are ways of dealing with this that did not require him to be flat out ineligible, as Shabazz currently seems to be.

[SiggyParticipant]

I’m not sure if you don’t know what I mean by Bazz’ people trying to find a technicality.  What I mean by that is that in this instance, they are not trying to prove that Shabazz and his family DIDN’T do anything wrong, they’re basically saying that he should be eligible because the investigative process was compromised, and that the NCAA violated confidentiality because some investigator’s boyfriend was overheard talking about the case.  This is the same confidentiality pact that you want the NCAA to violate so that we know what "dirt" they have on Shabazz.

I don’t know what technicality you’re referring to, but the NCAA is just doing their job.  If it’s found that he received gifts, then that is a rule violation and it is that exact thing that they’re supposed to be looking for.  That’s not a technicality and according to their rules it requires a suspension, as well as a reimbursement.  The recruitment of Shabazz has been shady from the start.  Because of the lack of information, NOBODY knows exactly what they have on Shabazz.  Rules are being violated all the time in the NCAA. That’s no secret.  They haven’t been consistent lately (like the Parea, Jurkin case in Indiana) but they usually only investigate the most blatant cases.  

IMO, Shabazz, his family and his "family friends" did a poor job of not making what they were doing so obvious.  I think he’s lucky that the NCAA is only investigating those 2 unofficial visits as opposed the rest of his umpteen (maybe in the 20s) unofficial visits or that they’re not further investigating his AAU team’s and his family’s relationship with Adidas.  C’mon now, who the hell takes that many unoffical visits?  His parents certainly weren’t paying for all of them and not everyone who pays for them is a "family friend." Rules can be violated, but if a recruit and his family are a gonna hold their hand out and accept gifts, at least be more subtle about it.  Obviously I’m not privy to all the evidence, but this is just my opinion.  If it looks like a duck… 

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

That is all. The "wrong doing" in this circumstance, to me, is not really much of one. I understand that the NCAA wants to have a fair playing ground and to not have one student receive benefits that another student may not. Now, I not a lawyer, nor an expert on NCAA rules. However, to me, this "dirty recruiting" of Shabazz Muhammad seems like an incredibly lame case to me. The kid was obviously going to a prestigious basketball institution, be it UNC, Duke, Kentucky or UCLA (know UNLV had a pipe dream, they still did well for themselves).

My thought is, why is it so out of the question he would end up at UCLA? They did not have a great year, the dirt came out about Ben Howland, at the end of the day it is still UCLA. It is a beautiful campus in Los Angeles where numerous NBA players tend to congregate during the summers. All I am saying is, if the NCAA has some hard evidence or facts on UCLA actually cheating to get him, that would be one thing. Well, it seems by going with the whole Benjamin Lincoln UNC/Duke deal, they don’t.

The gift they accepted seems like something easily paid back. I am proponent of players getting paid and feel that Shabazz would be a likely cash cow, one I guess they feel they need to make an example of. Just have a hard time feeling like he has done enough to be outlawed from college basketball. My thing is, this guy shoots his mouth off about Shabazz being "dirty" and all they come up with is 1500-2000 bucks. Seems rather anti-climactic.

Would just like this to atleast have a visible ending, would have been one thing if they had immediately handed down a "reasonable" suspension, a la Perea/Jurkin/South Carolina kid. Right now, nothing, only the knowledge that what he did was supposedly wrong and his eligibility up in the air. Just do not feel that it is wrong and I kind of care less about his connection to adidas, just would like to see him play basketball. Think he chose UCLA, if he was convinced, I doubt that the other schools were making any less of a deal. It is all speculation beyond the fact he got money from Benjamin Lincoln. Tend to think that it is not a big deal that he did, nor should it make him ineligible.

May not be a technicality, but when you apparently have this whole other accusation behind his ending up at UCLA, does it not seem like a bit of one? Guess this is another famous rant by me, just want to get down that I think this whole thing sucks and wish this entire thing would end. Feel their have been dirtier recruitments and even if this thing with the boyfriend blabbing may be a technicality, feel "wrongdoing" would be the NCAA’s definition, not necessarily yours or mine.

[SiggyParticipant]

I’m not trying to argue the ethics of the NCAA amateur rules.  They are what they are.  The NCAA lets players slide all the time.  I saw it first hand at DePaul when I was there during the Pat Kennedy era.  But if a player and his family blatantly disregards the NCAA rules to this magnitude, they should expect an investigation.  Whatever the NCAA finds during the investigation is what they find.  Is the NCAA punishing UCLA unfairly? Possibly, but the NCAA warned schools recruiting Shabazz. UCLA knew the risk involved.  Personally, I wouldn’t mind seeing more players follow the Brandon Jennings path because I think it’d be a humbling experience and the players would be able to work on their games full time and get game action in preparation for the draft without the distraction of school.  But if they choose to go the NCAA route they have to at least give off the impression that they’re trying to follow the rules.  If they don’t, then the NCAA is forced into action.  Basically, I dont’ think that the NCAA goes out actively looking to punish players, but if the actions surrounding a player raises red flags, then they have to look into the situation.     

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

I see where you are coming from, just really do not think that this was such an outrageous breaching of the rules. I do not know what Lincoln would be getting out of this and have seen nothing about him being an agent/booster. The NCAA ultimately felt that their pre-existing relationship did not work under their guidelines, the question is why in the hell did it take so long for a ruling? Realize he was flagged, just seems like a really weak reason that does not garner at least an announcement of a suspension rather than giving no end date to his being declared eligible.

Have no problem with them looking into the situation, just the amount of time it takes and the inconsistency of penalties. I think Brandon Jennings got an absolute wake-up call, with Jeremy Tyler getting more of one. Let’s face it, the NCAA was a pro breeding ground and has been for a long time. Holding this facade of amateur athleticism is just super outdated and kind of a joke.

See where you are coming from, just kind of feel it is a guilty pleasure to see these kids play in college. Going to the pros would make sense for some. College is fun, though, lol. I mean, it is that chance to still be a kid, yet play at least moderately high level basketball with more rigid coaching. It is not pro ball, it is a good chance to watch them in a level I love to watch against their relative age group.

Playing pro was a rough transition for Brandon Jennings, a guy I believe would have had incredible success in his one year at Arizona. Know that going pro probably made him that much more prepared for the NBA, just felt like I missed out on seeing a great player. Felt the same way with Enes Kanter and now with Shabazz. Just feel cheated from a fan perspective. Not the best reason, still a reason I dislike what I have heard pertaining to these charges.

[jwostrumParticipant]

here is the same story, espn.http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/67210/muhammad-eligibility-keeps-getting-weirder

[jwostrumParticipant]

type in the link, i guess its not so crazy now huh people?

[llperez]

from what ive read, and i actually havent dug too deep into this, shabazz recieved around 2k for a recruting trip that wasnt even to ucla. I beleive it was unc. The guy who provided the money has known shabazz and his family for about 5 years and has family ties to vegas. Nither the man providing the money nor the shabazz family ever tired to hide anything and has been open the whole time with the belief that the money was allowed under some ncaa provision that allows money from friends. Apparently the ncaa came to the conclusion that this guy was not a friend and was a business person of sorts. I dont know, it seems like a suspension and paying the money back should be fine if thats all the ncaa has going against him.

[apb540Participant]

If a player does not have the financial means to get to a college that is 10 states away for a very important visit, what does the NCAA suggest they go about doing?

Like MikeyV said, they need to update the rules.  Someone gave him the tools neccessary for him to persue his dream of playing basketball at a D-1 college of his choice.  What’s wrong with that?

[SiggyParticipant]

The family should practice due dilligence, gather as much information as possible, schedule in-home visits, pare down the options and request an official visit when he’s able to, which would be paid for by the school.  There is no good reason for Shabazz to take as many unofficial visits as he did.  The amount of unoffical visits he took was unprecedented, which obviously raised red flags.

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