Indiana, Crean On the Clock
We just received the message below from a reader by the name of John, located in Chicago, Illinois. And while we can recite NCAA By-Laws for football recruiting in our sleep, we are not that well versed, yet, in the recruiting By-Laws for other sports, such as basketball. We do know that basketball is now subject to the one-and-done rules which enables players to jump to the NBA after only one year in college, but in being completely honest we are not totally up to speed on basketball recruiting rules.
Regardless, what really matters here is that someone was compelled (outraged if you will) enough to write us about Tom Crean pushing players off the Indiana roster in order to make room for new recruits.
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Here's the message from John:
The only way to stop oversigning is to shine a bright light on the practice. There is a blog that recently launched which has done a terrific job highlighting the practice in college football, where guys like Houston Nutt, Les Miles and in particular Nick Saban seem to oversign as one of their fundamental business practices. Check it out at www.oversigning.com.
College basketball's version of Nick Saban is none other than Indiana's own Tom Crean. Yesterday, Indiana University issued a press release patting themselves on the back for allowing Bawa Muniru to "go to a program where he can play and continue his education". Anyone who looks at the situation carefully knows the reality, Muniru was asked to leave Indiana's program to make room for new recruits.
This isn't the first time Crean has done this either. In fact, when Bawa originally signed with IU he would have been the 14th scholarship player (one over the limit) had Crean not run off Malik Story.
To be clear, Crean isn't doing anything against the rules here. There is a rule that allows Big Ten programs to oversign by one prospect per year. The rule was agreed to because it gave coaches a tool to help deal with early departures to the NBA. If used properly, the oversigned prospect understands that if no scholarships open up he would head to a prep school year and wait until the following season to arrive on campus. That isn't what Tom Crean is doing here. Tom Crean just excused a player who was doing everything right (except for producing on the court) to make room for prospects he thinks CAN produce on the court. It is a sleazy practice and its unethical.
As members of the press you have a duty to expose this stuff, this is a grown man making millions of dollars taking advantage of teenagers who put their trust in him. Shine some light on it!
To follow up on this message we found the following article that might be of interest:
It's unclear where Muniru will transfer. If he goes to an NCAA DivisionI program he will have to sit out one season and will have three years of eligibility left.
IU was only going to have one scholarship available for the 2011 class, and that was coming with the departure of Jeremiah Rivers following the 2010-11 season. Hamilton Heights standout Austin Etherington committed to take that spot. Muniru's departure allows the Hoosiers to bring in at least two more players -- Muniru's slot plus the ability for Big Ten schools to oversign by one player per season.
If this is true, shame on Crean for running a player off in order to make room for a new recruit. Someone needs to get Tracy Smith on the horn and have him call Crean. We're willing to give Crean just a little bit of latitude (very little) because basketball is a slightly different animal than college football, but regardless, these coaches are paid millions of dollars and they should be capable of managing a roster without having to push kids out and oversign.
Indiana basketball sounds like it is in the same boat as LSU football with regards to having a very, very small number of open slots for the next recruiting class. This is just another great example as to why the NCAA needs to act on oversigning and do something to protect the kids that are being pushed out simply because someone else is coming in that is projected to be better.
As far as we know, academic scholarship recipients are not bumped off of their scholarships simply because the school wants to bring someone else in with a better GPA or a better SAT score. Academic scholarship recipients are given baseline performance metrics by which they are required to perform and if they do they stay on scholarship, and furthermore, the people making the decisions as to whether or not someone stays on academic scholarship HAS NO VESTED INTEREST in whether or not that person remains on scholarship. The problem with athletic scholarships is that they do not have clearly defined baseline metrics for the players to adhere to in order to keep their scholarship - everything is at the discretion of the coach, who has A HUGE VESTED INTEREST in who gets a scholarship and who doesn't, and many times coaches make decisions based on recruiting and who they think they can get to come in or who they have lined up to come in already.
Thanks for the note John, we're trying to do our part to put an end to oversigning.
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June 18th, 2010 - 22:13
Wait a second. I thought the Big Ten was all that was good and pure in college athletics! Are you (or is John) telling us that the same Big Ten which sets the example which all other conferences should live by in football, is actually oversigning in basketball? Am I further understanding, Josh, that you are not wagging your finger at the conference, but at Indiana alone?
And while we’re on the subject of abuses to rules, how about we take a good hard look at “Mr. One and Done” himself, Thad Matta. Matta has made his BONES from one and dones. The year OSU made it to the NCAACG vs. FLorida, he had THREE players that were one and done. Since then, he has had Kosta Koufos and B.J. Mullens. NOW, coming in the class of 2010-2011, we have Jared Sullinger, who everybody and his BROTHER knows will be one and done.
Maybe what this abusive practice needs is someone who will simply shout from the rooftops what a horrible and abusive practice this is. We all know that these kids aren’t going to class and are not there for an education. They are there for one purpose and one purpose ONLY–and that is to go to the NBA. So Thad Matta is essentially a “greed broker”. He is taking advantage of the system, such as it is, and he is ignoring the whole concept of student-athlete just in the hopes that he can win a title or two.
People talk about what a whore John Calipari is. Well it must be because they aren’t looking just up the road a piece in Columbus, where Thad Matta is writing the owner’s manual on how to one and done your way to championship. With that new salary you’re bound to get, Thad, you’ll be able to buy plenty of chewing gum, buddy…
June 18th, 2010 - 23:07
Just for the record we are completely against the one and done rules in college basketball and if we had enough time to run two blogs, one for oversigning and one against the one and done rule, we would. The NCAA, NBA, University Presidents, and Coaches should all be ashamed of themselves for running what amounts to a 1-year farm league for the NBA. So yeah, we’re pointing the finger all over the place.
But before we wag our finger too much we need to get a better understanding of basketball recruiting. Despite all of Thad Matta’s one-and-done’s I don’t think he has ever had to push a kid out in order to make room for his recruits. He did say jokingly that he had already given away Greg Oden’s scholarship for his Junior season (when Oden was a freshman), but the entire world knew that Oden was a one-and-done and future #1 draft pick. However, I don’t like it – I just don’t like oversigning, regardless of the context or the situation.
http://www.cleveland.com/osu/index.ssf/2008/01/stricter_scholarship_rules_put.html
By the way, putting Thad Matta in the same sentence with Calipari is ridiculous.
June 19th, 2010 - 08:18
Matta may be the world’s best coach and humanitarian and may love his players as though they were his own sons, but he absolutely belongs in the same context as Calipari, based on his recent reliance on one and dones.
June 21st, 2010 - 04:40
Matta has never forced a kid out at OSU due to scholarship limitations, Calipari has (see ESPN OTL piece).
Also, Calipari has had NCAA violations at UMass, Memphis, and it sounds like soon to be UK.
Matta = zero NCAA violations.
The two are not comparable.
June 21st, 2010 - 09:15
There are not two other coaches in D-1 that have relied more heavily on one and dones. Look at Duke. Coach K could get fat on one and dones if he wanted to. He could have his pick of the litter, but he doesn’t. Matta does it repeatedly. He is as close a match to Calipari as there is in all of D-1, but feel free to go on deluding yourself.
June 23rd, 2010 - 17:43
Purposely missing the point or just refusing to acknowledge it? This blog is not about one and dones. So yeah, in a subject totally unrelated to this website, Matta is similar to Calipari. They both certainly have a lot of clipboards and suits too, but this blog is not called “clipboardsandsuits.com” so that comparison is just as irrelevant. Meanwhile in other unrelated subjects, Matta has not forced a kid out due to scholarship limitations whereas Calipari has done so (at least according to the other posters). Matta has not committed any NCAA violations and Calipari has done so (at least according to the NCAA).
On the other hand, it seems to me that this Indiana story only reaffirms the stated goal of this blog which is to shine a light on the disgraceful tactic of oversigning.
June 24th, 2010 - 08:51
Jg, my man, it seems like the denseness reside with you brother.
If you had read (and understood–that second part is important) my original response to this post, I was marveling that it was possible for the Big Ten to err in any way relating to the signing of athletes, since the author of this blog has consistently held the conference’s rules up as the glowing ideal that the NCAA was originally striving for when they wrote their by-laws.
As for whether one-and-dones are relevant to these discussions, you must me kidding me. The author is railing against A PRACTICE that he claims one conference is engaging in excessively. ONE of my MANY responses to this misguided effort is to point out that the coach of the basketball program at his beloved Ohio State is one of the sports worst perpetrators of ANOTHER PRACTICE, and that is oversigning.
Maybe we should appoint you as marshal of the entire internet so that you can run around to all of the blogs and forums and you can make sure that everybody only brings up things that YOU deem are appropriate to the discussion.
Better yet, maybe Obama can appoint you the Forum Czar. Awesome.
June 24th, 2010 - 15:29
Misstated. I meant that Matta is guilty one of the engaging in excessive one-and-done-ing.
June 24th, 2010 - 15:33
Misstated. I meant that Matta is guilty of engaging in excessive one-and-done-ing, not oversigning.
On a separate topic, my business partner, not an OSU grad, but a Columbus native and huge Buckeye fan, told me today that no matter how screwed up the Seantrel Henderson situation gets, it would cease to be problematic at ANY level if he signed to play at OSU.
This was proof positive that the perspective of the finger wagger changes dramatically when its his team, his coach, his recruiter, etc. that is engaging in the dubious activity.
No wonder you guys think one and dones are off topic or that Matta isn’t doing anything wrong.
June 25th, 2010 - 07:15
I love how you always try to wax “I am so hip and cool” with your “my man” and my favorite “pass me whatever it is your smoking” Awesome dude
June 21st, 2010 - 21:49
Has anyone taken the time to look at Army (aka West Point, the United States Military Academy)? This is there signing classes:
2010 – 53 / 2009 – 55 / 2008 – 54 / 2007 – 22 / 2006 – 18 / 2006 – 7
Considering the fact that everyone at West Point is on scholarship, more precisely considering the fact that they are all paid to attend school, it appears that there is a conceptual difference between the number of players signed and the number of players on scholarship.
June 21st, 2010 - 22:59
The military academies are exempt from the scholarship limitations – they can give out or sign as many as they want every year.
June 26th, 2010 - 13:34
Interesting. Can you share that rule for our future use?
June 28th, 2010 - 11:22
When they sign 50 guys, they first have to go through basic before playing football. A lot of guys learn being at West Point and playing football is too much.
Also, as with the intent of this blog, they aren’t signing guys and kicking out others.
July 3rd, 2010 - 11:09
Well, as a West Point graduate, I’m quite aware that the Academy is not kicking out guys who do not make the team. Of course, it looks like the some of the schools discussed in this BLOQ are not kicking kids out of school either.
Once again, it appears that there is a difference between signings and scholarships. There also appears to be a difference between schools that use scholarships to load up their football team, and schools that rely upon players paying to play on the football team.
June 23rd, 2010 - 17:41
Update on the LSU numbers game…
“OL Clay Spencer Will Not Return to LSU Football Team
Tigerbait.com is reporting that Clay Spencer is taking a medical hardship and will not be returning to the LSU football team.”
http://www.andthevalleyshook.com/2010/6/23/1532740/ol-clay-spencer-will-not-return-to
That gets them down to 86, 1 more to go.
June 27th, 2010 - 01:35
Great content and very helpful thank and keep up the good work.
September 1st, 2010 - 14:13
so, as an IU fan, I am very interested in the original story that this blog started with. I’m curious where the information about Tom Crean is coming from. Those are pretty serious allegations. Is this coming from a reliable source, or are we just assuming these things because of their appearance? If they are true, then there is obvious incentive for these so-called “kicked-out” players to keep their mouths shut. If this is the case, I would assume that there are possible NCAA violations that are taking place. Any thoughts?
September 7th, 2010 - 10:59
While I greatly appreciate the general intention of this blog, good intentions do not obviate the need to avoid irresponsible rumor-mongoring. With respect to the two individuals mentioned above, the facts do not conform to the innuendo.
First, Malik Story was one of the most promising recruits in Indiana’s first recruiting class, along with Nick Williams. Both transferred. It was not because Crean ran them off. They were the two stars of Crean’s first teams and were the (hopeful) building blocks for the future. It was a total setback for Crean when Malik decided to go elsewhere.
Second, while Bawa Muniru’s contribution to the team were somewhat in the opposite direction, his departure was also not because Crean ran him off. Instead, he wanted to go to a team where he could earn more playing time. He played 62 minutes all of last season, and was likely to see the court even less this year. He was a very good student who just wanted to play more basketball, which he will be able to do at Tennessee State.
Testament to the good-will associated with Bawa’s decision is the fact that the program which brought him to the states from Africa, A-Hope, also happens to be the program of a number of future IU recruiting targets. And those targets, as well as the program’s director, remain on good terms with Coach Crean. That obviously would NOT be the case were Bawa callously “kicked-off” the program to make room for another player.
So, again, the general subject of this blog is an important one. But it undermines its purpose when it slanders coaches and programs without basis or research into the particular circumstances involved. And, in this case, the original charges were completely without merit and even a small bit of research by this site would have exposed that fact. A little due diligence, please.
September 22nd, 2010 - 15:07
well said by JH except for the fact that Malik Story was no where near the most promising player, in fact the least promising player of that class considering he was the only recruit that was not ranked by rivals, scout, or espn.
Nick and Malik left IU because IU had a top 10 2009 recruiting class coming in and they were worried about their future playing time
Bawa left because he wasn’t getting playing time
end of story.
January 27th, 2011 - 15:39
Buzz Williams at Marquette has run off numerous player in his short tenure at Marquette.
Two recruits were signed the last two years and booted before school even started. It seems Crean taught Buzz Williams well.
Both don’t give a rip about their players…who are still kids.