SIAP - Zion's agent says he took payoffs from Nike to go to Duke
under the category of 'shocking news', Zion reportedly took thousands of dollars from Nike to attend Duke. The real shocking part is who is claiming this. It's his former agent. There's the caveat that the agent is suing Zion for 100 million for breach of exclusive contract for his actions after declaring for the draft. This could be sour grapes, or be real. I'm sure the NCAA will punish Adrian College for this heinous problem.
https://www.si.com/nba/video/2020/05/11/zion-served-request-admissions-duke
These are lies. It's just Michigan fans saying other teams cheat, because we can't compete on the recruiting trail. Am I saying this correctly?
You're saying the right words, but not vociferously enough. A little more work and you'll be there!
Let's not kid ourselves...Adrian College is clearly cheating their faces off, and if it took false and hurtful accusations against those poor devils at Duke to expose Adrian's chicanery, then so be it!
#GoBulldogs
There is plenty of evidence that Adrian College is up to no good. How else could they have started up a competitive hockey program that quickly without some shady activity? I mean while Adrian’s vibrant downtown, mall with at least 4 functioning businesses including a Speedway Parking lot to congregate and ample deserted dirt roads to drink your Friday night away are certainly appealing to the aspiring college Hockey player there has to be something else going on to drive their success.
I agree that the NCAA has to get on this and stop being distracted by this Duke BS.
Should have saved that money for the design team, so his shoe wouldn’t have exploded.
If my crush was a specific type of horse breed, she'd be an 'American Cream Draft'.
Interpreting your comment as meaning you no longer are conquering ponies butt are now after the bigger booty only draft horses can provide to you.
Pun intended
"If my crush was a specific type of horse breed..."
She doesn't look like any horse breed I'm familiar with.
Sorry, amateur here...why does she have side-neck holes? I could understand catering to the tracheotomy fetish crowd, but who does this one attract?
I'm thinking he went vampire on her and afterward plugged the holes?
I’m not quite sure but if I’m not mistaken you’ve slept with Maizen’s girlfriend and we don’t appreciate it!!!
Oh, you don't say? Coach K isn't just an amazing guy and is actually a scumbag? Hahahaha. Burn, bitch.
I hope this progresses to the point where he has to say something.
I'm guessing that something will be (given how many "plausible deniability" layers he has probably put in place) "I'm shocked and saddened to hear that X, Y, and Z have tarnished Duke's reputation."
I heard there is already talk of him kicking Zion off the team, now that this has come to his attention.
Nah, Coach K is totally in the clear. Some Nike bagman clearly worked independently and without the knowledge of Duke staff, including Coach K. In fact, said Nike bagman, while representing Nike, did so without the knowledge or approval of his Nike overlords. They, too, are shocked at this turn of events and would never condone, much less sanction, such unethical behavior which clearly violates the true spirit of amateurism and the ethos of good sportsmanship, in general.
Kind of like with Marvin Bagley's folks who went from bankruptcy with a combined income of 44k and having their house foreclosed on to living in a gated community of million dollar plus homes in 4 years.
https://www.si.com/college/2018/03/28/marvin-bagley-iii-nike-aau-team-sponsorship-investigation
The link to the OregonLive article in the SI piece is even more eye-opening:
https://www.oregonlive.com/business/page/the_loyalty_game.html
Man those reverse mortgage programs are really amazing.
It would be pretty shocking if "thousands of dollars" was any number with $X,000. It would be totally not shocking if it was $XY,000 or more dollars.
Idk--in high school, there was a lot of crazy stuff I'd do for a Taco Bell giftcard.
Well at this point what do you expect? Everyone and their mother knows the NCAA is a spineless organization, and schools are more and more realizing this and willing to give them a big "Fuck you we're going to do what we want anyway, and you're going to just sit there and watch." OBJ was on the field during the title game and was literally handing out cash to players afterwards. The NCAA did nothing. Schools are going to keep pushing the envelope to see how much they can get away with.
If there are no consequences for breaking the rules, then what's the point of even following the rules to begin with? All that gets you is looking like a chump as everyone else passes you by.
I'm resigned to the same train of thought at this point.
As much as I hate to say it, the "Michigan Way" in CFB and in college hoops is functionality obsolete if we want to be truly competitive with those "schools" who sponsor professional teams.
The NCAA in its present form is a sham. It's time for major upheaval and major realignment, not only tearing down the NCAA but also abandoning old rivalries and conferences if we---meaning the University of Michigan---are determined to stay true to our long-time professed standards.
If that means a new conference for us along with the Northwesterns and Stanfords and Vanderbilts of this world, so be it.
The only other choice is to flaunt the rules and roll in the mud with the Clemsons and Tennessees and OSUs and Kansas and Duke and assorted other piggies.
I'm sure when it comes to student athletes receiving impermissible benefits there is a continuum, but i'm not as confident michigan is as far to the "light side" as you are.
What's it called when you hire a recruit's parent to the payroll? Is that flaunting the rules? If, say, Urban Meyer had hired Devin Bush's dad instead of Jim Harbaugh, do you think this blog might have had some choice words?
No, I'm not saying we're as pure as newly fallen snow. But on a scale of 10 where 1 is 100% pure and 10 is 100% dirt as far as rules and ethics are concerned, we're a 3, OSU is an 8 or higher, Kansas hoops and Ole Miss football are virtually 10s. It's time for the major college money-making sports to end the charade, and if/when that finally happens that Michigan chooses a path. Instead of tiptoeing around, like most colleges are still doing to a large degree, it's time for transparency for all.
What rule did Michigan violate by hiring Devin Bush Sr.?
Players receiving payments from shoe companies to attend one of their sponsor schools is a blatant rule violation.
We didn't break any rule and Devin Bush Sr. and there was talk (on MGoBoard) of him getting a coaching spot when Partridge left. However, when Isaiah Wilson's sister got a non-football job a Georgia, Michigan fans were pissed off. No rules were broken, but it is shady.
The one item in Michigan's defense here is that Bush was ranked like 180 by two of the services, which is good, and in the high 400s by 247. Even though he ended up being great, everyone thought he was a 5'9" LB. Why would you cheat for a 5'9" LB?
I'm sure some people would have grumbled, but, as was pointed out at the time: (a) Devin Bush, Sr. was eminently qualified for his position, and (b) Devin Bush, Jr. was not a super-high-profile recruit. Sure, he turned into an NFL first round pick, but he was a four-star on the composite, ranked #312 nationally.
If Michigan had hired Jennifer Coney as a football analyst, that would have been different.
I read the last line as suggesting Jennifer Connelly as a football analyst... which would have been AWESOME!
She was a great equine analyst back in the day.
That's precisely the point. We're bending rules where we should be breaking them, because if there's no enforcement, there can't be any illegality.
If a team is willing to bend the rules, why would you confidently say they aren't breaking them? Ole Miss hired Shea's brother Sean in 2015 one week after getting Shea... did we say, "Oh look, Ole Miss is just bending the rules! Surely one cannot both bend and break rules at the same time!" Like I said, I'm sure there is a continuum, and I don't think Michigan is the among the worst, especially when it comes to basketball, but I don't think we're the untainted virgin some on this board seem to insist on.
I have zero interest in watching teams of paid "students" that have zero legitimate academic pursuits and only loosely affiliated with their schools (assuming they even step foot on campus). If I really wanted to watch "the best talent that money could buy", I'd just watch the pro leagues.
I would gladly instead watch televised service academies (and I already do), ivy league, etc. where the phrase "student-athlete" is not a jest.
Why does the person/people you're watching need to be prim and proper, studying students for you to enjoy watching? I actually don't 100% disagree with your premise but you seem overly passionate about the athletes being study bugs when not on the field
I'm more inclined to have it be players that came to their schools for the education first, sports and other considerations second. If they end up being good enough to go pro in sports (after graduating and completing their studies) - awesome and best of luck to them. For those who want sports to be their primary career (and with little true interest in academic pursuits - as is the case with so many "one and done's" and some other "star" players), college is probably not where they should be (which is ok, since there are many other alternatives for almost every sport - with more alternatives coming online each year). This isn't just some pipe-dream either: we still see today men that are former UM football players of past years (just as an example) that went on to be leaders in various industries (outside of sports) yet played in 1st/2nd string roles on their respective teams. It seems to me that this is becoming less and less as more starting/backup players these days are only (or at least primarily) interested in athletics during their college days.
Maybe I'm too much of a nostalgist, but college sports were created to have actual students pitted against other students from rival schools - nobody cared if the caliber of play was world-class, so long as the school spirit and rivalry was there. Keep in mind that most college sports existed before any of their respective pro leagues - the NFL (for example) is merely the money-driven adaptation of college football (created long after college football was already established tradition)... despite so many perceptions today that college football is merely a weak imitation of NFL (mainly spouted by those who have no college football affiliation or knowledge of its history).
I think Michigan is at a point where they as a program don't know what they want to be. Either that or they don't want to have to make the choice. Do they get down into the dirt with the LSUs, Clemsons, OSUs and Tennessees of the world and finally do whatever it takes to bring home the hardware? Or do they decide that something like that isn't in the best interest of the school and everything it stands for, and slowly go the way of the Ivies where its on a slow, decades-long trip to irrelevance?
They're in the unique position where they have the ability to do either one. But I don't think they can do both. Or let's put it this way: they can't compete with the true elites in their current state.
Whatever choice they make, so be it. The point is that I think (like you) that Michigan is at a crossroads and just hasn't decided what it wants to do.
It's not about this being breaking news -- this is about Zion possibly coming out putting it all in public record and forcing the NCAA to relax its "amateurism" rules. Nike and Adidas would love to be able to pay players over the table and make everything legitimate -- so what interest does Zion have in keeping quiet? And if the NCAA tries to punish Duke Nike Adidas, they're going to lose a ton of money.
So at least for me, this is news because foreshadows the possibility of NCAA ending the charade in the nearish future.
And then Michigan could actually compete in recruiting while following the rules.
HANG THE DAMN BANNERS
The NCAA had no desire to do anything to Michigan. That entire ordeal was self imposed.
Duquesne is the school that will get hammered.
Never sign with a firm led by a woman then leave her hanging at mid court at midnight.
I’m not sure why any program is following much of the NCAA rules. It is obvious the NCAA has no power. None, the only power they have is what any individual school caves to.
Duke has been rumored for this for a good while and nobody ever went after them. The NCAA would bury Kentucky but Duke, nope. Football they would bury a big10 team but an sec team, nope. But now they have zero power, none. Case in point is Emmert trying to talk about when sports will return regarding Covid-19 and all five of the P5 conference commissioners saying what they will do without regard for the NCAA.
I’m not sure why any program is following much of the NCAA rules. It is obvious the NCAA has no power. None, the only power they have is what any individual school caves to.
Duke has been rumored for this for a good while and nobody ever went after them. The NCAA would bury Kentucky but Duke, nope. Football they would bury a big10 team but an sec team, nope. But now they have zero power, none. Case in point is Emmert trying to talk about when sports will return regarding Covid-19 and all five of the P5 conference commissioners saying what they will do without regard for the NCAA.
It's no secret that they get paid. I just wonder what the wage disparity is.
How much more did RJ Barrett get paid than Zion?
How much does Cam Reddish or the 4 and 5th prospect get paid to go to Duke rather than the Tar heels or another paying program?
Are there conversations amongst players before or after, comparing their price tags?
Fetch my fainting couch.
Shocking! But I'm not sure what anyone would expect. Dude turned down $120K to play at Kansas - did anyone really think he took Coach K's offer of $0?
LMAO!!!
Dick Vitale (FWIW) tweeted out that two Power 5 programs are going to get the hammer soon, due to practices like the what has been posted by the OP. I wonder if Duke is one of them.
I would think Kansas has to be one of them. Then maybe Arizona or LSU?
I think Kansas and Zona are in the middle of theirs,the two new schools (i think ) are Duke and Texas Tech .
Not about you NFG, but at this point, things like this are so dumb. There is enough valid info currently public to crater the basketball programs at Kansas, Louisville, LSU, Arizona, Auburn and Duke (I won't even argue about UNC since the NCAA already punted on that one).
And here's Dickie V saying TWO schools are going to get the hammer!!! It's probably Memphis and some other second tier school in a non-power 5 conference. Who cares at this point. If you are a Power 5 school you can cheat all you want. The NCAA will do nothing. They won't even make a public comment about a report like this. Some day when it seems like public sentiment has grown loud enough, they will send out a generic release saying they don't believe cheating is taking place in general, but there could be some problems to address and we will be forming a committee to look into it.
The only power they have in College Basketball is they control the Tournament, that is it. Football where the real money for schools is controlled by the conferences. Just a matter of time before the P5 Conferences tell the NCAA to screw off. They not the NCAA are determining if football is played this fall. They not the NCAA is deciding what happens.
Imagine being one of the top programs in basketball history, paying Zion, signing two top 5 recruits, and still not winning your conference or making it out of your region
Take a bow, Duke