Coaches gild the lilly...oh the shock, the horror

We actually love reading the articles about how this coach or that program is pulling a fast one via creative interpretation, even if no infractions are involved (or have yet to bubble up to the cess pool surface).

It's like viewing a car wreck as you go by on the highway -- the siren-like call to look over is close to irresistible.

This subject actually brings mixed feelings. After all, college basketball IS a business. Win or at least be victorious enough, and the AD/college president will return your calls. Be 'successful' and the platitudes of the television announcers will flow towards a coach as if he discovered a cure for cancer.

Lose too much and start packing. Be deemed a failure if your players graduate and none get into trouble with the law but there just aren't enough notches in the victory column to keep up the prerequisite level of attendance and the donor dollars flowing.

And all this at an institution of higher learning.

Oh well, there's no new ground that hasn't already been tilled here. College basketball is no different from everyday life. The coaches and the players are no different than those persons populating other business enterprises. Why should we ever be surprised by anything that takes place? Or concerned?


Gray scale: Recruiters struggle with perfectly legal yet ethically questionable
Dana O'Neil
ESPN.com
November 19, 2008

Nearly 20 years ago, Eddie Sutton resigned as Kentucky coach after a package sent from assistant Dwane Casey to the father of recruit Chris Mills opened in transit, spilling $1,000 for all to see.

Pardon some coaches if they wax nostalgic for the days gone by, when rule breaking was clear-cut and obvious..

Like the evolution from Chuck Taylors to Air Jordans, the art of cheating has been refined and streamlined.

Sure, rules still are being flat-out broken the old-fashioned way, but the new wave sweeping the game is rule circumvention, not rule breaking. Clever coaches are employing a strong grip on semantics to expose loopholes and reinterpret rules to their benefit.

It's not so much cheating as it's, well...

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