Welcome to The Holy Land of Hoops

As of today...my guess is we finally went back at them due to the Sid Wilson thing.

when it rains it pours

They are a program now. Dirty under two coaches.

By the way I'm just assuming the Sid Wilson case is why. He signed his NLI, immediately asked for a transfer leaving us very low on bodies and without time to recruit his replacement. We could have blocked the transfer to UConn but we let him out of his NLI and did not block UConn. Then Sid's father was asking for a letter of recommendation from SJ amid speculation that UConn tampered with Sid to draw him to UConn. We refused to provide one. Sid's father started badmouthing us in the media saying we were not helpful and that our 0-8 start was "karma"...how ironic! My guess is SJ administration didn't take too kindly to that and called up the NCAA to give them a heads up regarding their dirty bribery while Wilson was under NLI.

To be honest I do feel bad for Sid being in the middle of all of this, but I have zero sympathy for UConn. By the way, the fact that the NCAA denied Wilson's waiver to play immediately at UConn makes me think they have some type of evidence...perhaps bribery. I know the SJ administration was sure it occurred. Don't know details though hopefully they come out. At the end of the day the NCAA will slap UConn on the wrist, but it's still fun to watch them burn.

I could be wrong, but I doubt it has anything to do with Sid Wilson, it was too recent - the NCAA never gets on things that quickly. Tampering is also really hard to prove and can get messy for the accuser as well as the accused. When Taurean Thompson transferred to Seton Hall over the summer, Syracuse fans and media were all up in arms screaming "tampering" too but nobody's offered anything resembling evidence that it's true - and the NCAA hasn't announced an investigation into SHU yet (please, let's keep it that way).

What I'm wondering is how far back this investigation goes. Does it date back to the Jim Calhoun era? Or did Kevin Ollie just find that he had to be a little more "creative" to get recruits to play in the AAC?

Don't immediately dismiss UConn as the party that blew the whistle either. Ollie can have his full contract terminated for just cause. If it is determined that he was knowingly involved, they don't owe him a cent if he is fired. The only thing from preventing UConn from firing Ollie now is because of his guaranteed contract - and UConn spent over $5 million last year getting rid of Diaco and staff. The last thing they need is to be paying another sport's coaches not to coach.

If it is alleged that Ollie was involved, they can fired him, and declare they aren't paying him (which will force Ollie to sue for remainder of contract/damages). Likely, that case settles where UConn pays Ollie something, but not the full remainder. Ollie gets a chunk of cash, free to pursue an assistant gig in the NBA, while UConn saves a little bit in effort to get a new coach up there to try and right the ship.

So, if the 2011 title is revoked?

Edrick wrote:
Its amusing how much of a train wreck UConn and Memphis are. Wonder why.

Lack of institutional control.

UConn Facing Allegations It Violated NCAA Rules In Recruiting Ohio Player - Hartford Courant – March 26, 2009

Coach Jim Calhoun was answering questions about a Yahoo! Sports report that said his program broke NCAA rules in recruiting Nate Miles.

The university would not say whether it has started an internal investigation, but it did say in a statement that it "takes very seriously its responsibilities of NCAA membership and will do all that is expected to follow up on any information related to possible NCAA rules violations."

The NCAA says that a school must demonstrate "institutional control." The NCAA also says that it expects the head coach of a program to promote an atmosphere of compliance.

Calhoun Takes Hit; NCAA Levies Sanctions Against UConn – Hartford Courant – February 22, 2011

"This is deeply disappointing to the UConn community," UConn President Philip Austin said in a statement. "Let me be very clear, we will comply fully with the NCAA's sanctions and work with great resolve to restore the luster to our men's basketball program."

UConn Athletic Director Jeff Hathaway stated: "We value the principles of the NCAA and fully recommit ourselves to running a program of impeccable integrity." Incoming President Susan Herbst told the Connecticut Post in an e-mail that Calhoun's job was not in jeopardy.

UConn Confirms Investigation Of Men's Basketball Team Following Allegations - Hartford Courant – January 25, 2018

“UConn is absolutely committed to a culture of compliance and intends to fully cooperate, as always, with the NCAA,” UConn president Susan Herbst said in a statement. “We will do so in a thorough and transparent manner reflective of the model athletic and academic institution we continually strive to be.”

FYI, current records of former BE programs:

AAC:
Cinn. - 1st Place / 7-0 / 18-2 / RPI: 23 (tourney team)
UConn - 5th / 4-3 / 11-9 / 76 (no shot)
USF - 12th / 1-7 / 8-13 / 265 (no shot)

ACC:
L'ville - 3rd / 5-2 / 15-5 / 17 (tourney team)
Miami - 6th / 4-3 / 15-4 / 16 (tourney team)
VTech - 9T / 3-4 / 14-6 / 77 (outside of bubble)
ND - 9T / 3-4 / 13-7 / 60 (bubble)
Cuse - 9T / 3-4 / 14-6 / 34 (bubble)
BC - 13th / 3-5 / 13-8 / 66 (outside of bubble)
Pitt - 15th / 0-8 / 8-13 / 154 (no shot)

B10:
Rutgers - 12th / 2-7 / 11-11 / 184 (no shot)

B12:
WVU - 2nd / 5-3 / 16-4 / 21 (tourney team)

What's most interesting is that the longest tenured BE schools are the ones struggling the most now that they've left. BC, Pitt, Syracuse and UConn clearly miss those regional rivalries much more than the others. They're not pulling as many kids out of the fertile recruiting areas around G'town, SHU, Nova and SJU that they were used to, and it's showing. #NoSympathyHere

Update: Many on the UConn boards have been saying that this is simply a self-review of the program and that it's not about any specific allegation. The guy who broke the story just tweeted that it IS in fact separate and it's about a specific allegation(s). Ouch.