Maizen

June 29th, 2017 at 12:42 AM ^

...Bamba’s older brother, Ibrahim Johnson, went into detail about a relationship between Mohamed and an outside influencer named Greer Love. He claims that Love supplied Bamba with gifts (TV, $200 a week, vacations, and others are mentioned specifically) in order to be in his inner-circle once he becomes a pro. He also states that Bamba “will not play college basketball this year” and that he has already reported him to the NCAA and will speak with them. He makes it clear in a comment to his video that no money came from the University of Texas. This is an important point, as this saves the school from repercussions, though not necessarily saving Bamba’s eligibility.

Note that there is some explicit language in Johnson’s video, which you can watch here.

At around the 17:30 mark of the video, he says that the NCAA contacted his brother and that Bamba told them Love does the same for other players, which would essentially be Bamba admitting to the allegation (of course, if his story is true).

Whether or not this is all true remains to be seen, but the allegations are very detailed and the booster that he describes is exactly who he says he is. Greer Love is the Vice President of Huron Capital, a Michigan based venture capital and private equity organization.

Love is also a University of Michigan alum. It may just be a coincidence that Bamba, a consensus top 5 recruit, had the Wolverines on his final list. Regardless, it is an interesting detail in hindsight.

Humen

June 29th, 2017 at 1:12 AM ^

This is all accurate, but you left out a few interesting details. His brother (the snitch) has a business degree. He doesn't go into detail about it, but he says he told Mo that he wanted to be a sports agent and represent him. Greer opposed this. So his brother decided instead he would attend grad school at Texas. Apparently Greer opposed this too. His brother stated he expected to be admitted to grad school at Texas because Mo was his brother and lots of schools will do that. His brother made repeated references to "hustling on the block." My interpretation was that he is involved with selling drugs, but I could be wrong. Overall, the animus here stems from his brother's perception that Mo has abandoned his family and not provided his mother or his brother enough kickbacks from his status.

Edit: his brother also stated that Greer Love was Mo's 4th grade teacher. Bizarre if true, but much of this is

Rabbit21

June 29th, 2017 at 7:19 AM ^

The whole thing is bizarre. Just as a benefit of the doubt thing: I'm wondering if the brother is salty about something, knows the illegal benefits thing would screw his brother over and picked Greer Love's name as an unrelated to sports rich guy that he knows, because he thinks it sounds plausible.

xtramelanin

June 29th, 2017 at 5:41 AM ^

para mi, para ti, y arriba y arriba

too good not to post the whole set of lyrics.  and for those too young to remember, ~ 1986 a movie came out about a 50's rock star named richie valenz, and his famous song was called the 'la bamba'.  rough translation:  in order to dance la bamba one needs a little grace, a little grace for me and for you, and higher and higher.  for you i will be (x2).  second verse 'i'm not a fisherman (x2), i am the captain.  anyway,  a catchy tune.

Para bailar La Bamba

Para bailar La Bamba

Se necesita una poca de gracia

Una poca de gracia

Para mi, para ti, ay arriba, ay arriba

Ay, arriba arriba

Por ti sere, por ti sere, por ti sere



Yo no soy marinero

Yo no soy marinero, soy capitan


Soy capitan, soy capitan

Bamba, bamba

Bamba, bamba

Bamba, bamba, bam

 

Everyone Murders

June 29th, 2017 at 7:51 AM ^

Valens died along with Buddy Holly and J.P. Richardson (a/k/a The Big Bopper) in a plane crash, immortalized in Don McLean's The Day The Music Died.  Waylon Jennings was supposed to be on the plane (he played bass at the time for Holly!) but gave up his seat for the flu-ridden Richardson.  Richardson was probably the biggest name at the time - his song Chantilly Lace somehow putting him ahead of the unbelievably talented Holly in the minds of teens at the time.

The group crashed flying a Beechcraft Bonanza (I believe a V-Tail), a fairly well-know "doctor killer" because it can be squirrely to fly.

The more you know ...

ijohnb

June 29th, 2017 at 8:42 AM ^

funny, to me Ritchie Valens is Lou Diamond Phillips.  Whenever I see a video of actual Valens singing a song I am like why is that guy singing a Ritchie Valens song?

In reply to by ijohnb

Everyone Murders

June 29th, 2017 at 9:22 AM ^

Because of his guitar chops, a common hot take a few years ago was that Valens was "the" musical genius of the three. 

While I like Valens's music, I think that's bushwa - Buddy Holly was an amazing songwriter, singer, and performer with a catalogue of which a 60 year-old musician would rightly be proud.  He helped bridge the country crowd into Rock and Roll (sort of a later counterpoint to Little Richard), helping turn Rock and Roll into the most widely loved form of music in America and much of the Western World for decades.

It's intriguing to think of what Valens could have done had he lived longer, but the Holly legacy?  Holy shit, he could write a song.

M-Dog

June 29th, 2017 at 9:56 AM ^

When you look at all the many legendary groups that have said they were profoundly influenced by Buddy Holly's music . . . there is no question about his musical genius.

Despite his all-too-limited time on the scene, he was a catalyst for much of what we know as rock and roll now.

 

BoFlex

June 29th, 2017 at 1:16 AM ^

It is interesting that the "bagman" named is Greer Love, who seems to have no connections to Texas at all... Vice-President for Detroit-based "Huron Captial," went to undergrad at IU and completed his MBA at Michigan.

If Texas actually didn't have involvement or knowledge of it, then it is worrisome how close in proximity this Greer Love guy is to Michigan athletes and potential recruits.

Blueblood2991

June 29th, 2017 at 1:32 AM ^

Long story short...22 minutes later.

Not gonna lie, compared to all the depressing shit going on at MSU, this is some off-season drama I can get behind. I doubt anything happens, but it has the potential to be entertaining.

Mgodiscgolfer

June 29th, 2017 at 1:37 AM ^

Your ears burning? Because somebody asked about you (Where's WD been?) in the middle of a thread and that almost derailed the thread into a where is WD thread? It was about a week and a half ago.

This is the first time I have seen you in a very long time and personally I don't care who you voted for, your still alright by me. I have always enjoyed your posts on MGoBlog and I believe your input would be missed if you stopped all together. Thanx and as always Go Blue!

FatGuyTouchdown

June 29th, 2017 at 2:23 AM ^

get $200 a week, a TV, and maybe a couple vacations. I'm sorry but I have a really hard time getting behind the NCAA on this one. I totally understand why the NCAA would rather focus on this than giving Rick Pitino a slap on the wrist for allowing his coaches to buy prostitutes for underage kids, looking the other way while UNC commits blatant amounts of academic fraud, and Baylor basically gets off scot-free for allowing a dangerous culture to fester and hurt so many women, and commit so many heinous acts. Sure, the coach is done, and the AD moved to Liberty. Let's nail the kid for a TV and tickets to Cabo. 

JonnyHintz

June 29th, 2017 at 5:21 AM ^

When you're receiving money, gifts, and trips for being an athlete, you lose your amatiw status. You are at that point considered a professional and banned from participation in amateur athletics. The NCAA is an amateur athletics association. So players aren't allowed to receive compensation of any kind.
Don't like it, go play in Europe.

This isn't like a family member is doing it. This isn't a vacation to see Florida with your grandparents. This isn't a TV from your parents for Christmas. This is an outsider giving gifts and money to a player in return for influence.

M-Dog

June 29th, 2017 at 10:06 AM ^

Because it's already ruined.

It's just a farcical mix of "pro" college teams perfectly OK with that (SEC says Hi!), and a handful of college teams swimming against the stream trying to keep the idea of amateurism somewhat intact. 

It's not working.  And nobody in charge really cares anyway.  

So end the charade.

 

Bigku22

June 29th, 2017 at 1:05 PM ^

Imagine being so naive you think this could "ruin amateurism. Kids all over the country get under the table benefits, and GOOD for them since the hard work, countless hours, and effort they put in goes to making schools and those who run them richer.

The NCAA and idea of amateurism is a complete sham.

FatGuyTouchdown

June 29th, 2017 at 9:38 PM ^

and before you bring up the "Europe" argument, I highly doubt that you would have been mature enough to move halfway across the world, apart from your family and friends for 9 months at 17-18 years old. The NCAA is a fucking crock of shit. I don't give a fuck who gets paid, I root for the University of Michigan, not amateurism.

matty blue

June 29th, 2017 at 1:28 PM ^

look, i get it.  the ncaa is silly and stupid.  very, very few people would miss it if it went away entirely.  you want to light it on fire, i'll be there with matches.

but it's pretty simple - if you want to play college basketball, you don't get to just say, "the idea of amateurism is a sham and the rules are completely stupid," disregard those completely stupid rules, and play anyway.

many of us here like to bitch about the sec's constant rule-breaking in football, but we also don't generally want to get down in the mud with them.  "win the right way" etc.  i really don't see how this is any different.

Mr Miggle

June 29th, 2017 at 10:48 AM ^

they were a recruitable (or recruited) athlete.  

Pretty sure it doesn't mean just any relationship from the past. If he was giving Bamba gifts and cash since he was his 4th grade teacher, that should be okay with the NCAA. There might have been other grounds for concern with that, obviously. If the gifts start only after he's a highly sought after recruit, that's another story. 

 

Mr Miggle

June 29th, 2017 at 2:06 PM ^

His brother's comments are out there and they can't ignore them. That doesn't mean they have to go digging for everyone else that might be involved. Especially since the school hasn't been implicated, they can easily just deal with Bamba's impermissible benefits.

If the Ed Martin case didn't involve casting a wider net, there's no reason this will.