What's new
By:
Filters
Gamecock Fanatics

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

***NCAA Rules On South Carolina's Involvement in FBI MBB Bribery Scandal***

I almost think the NCAA let Frank twist in the wind for a while because of Bryan Bowen.

At face value, there's nothing wrong with taking in a player in Bowen's situation.  I don't think many people would have guessed his part in the scandal would turn out to be the most egregious from a dollar amount standpoint if we weren't necessarily told that from the beginning.

But it's different if one of your former assistants was one of the central characters in something that was very awkward and embarrassing for the NCAA.  Then you put the NCAA over a barrel by asking them to allow the most serious player offender to continue to play basketball on your squad.

I also think the NCAA would have hammered the crap out of us if we had been to the NCAAT a few times after the Final Four run.  One mission of the NCAA is make sure one school doesn't have an unfair advantage over others because of improper recruiting practices.  Our lack of post-season appearances since the FF run definitely would say we don't have a competitive advantage over most other programs right now.

 
kingofnerf said:
I almost think the NCAA let Frank twist in the wind for a while because of Bryan Bowen.

At face value, there's nothing wrong with taking in a player in Bowen's situation.  I don't think many people would have guessed his part in the scandal would turn out to be the most egregious from a dollar amount standpoint if we weren't necessarily told that from the beginning.

But it's different if one of your former assistants was one of the central characters in something that was very awkward and embarrassing for the NCAA.  Then you put the NCAA over a barrel by asking them to allow the most serious player offender to continue to play basketball on your squad.

I also think the NCAA would have hammered the crap out of us if we had been to the NCAAT a few times after the Final Four run.  One mission of the NCAA is make sure one school doesn't have an unfair advantage over others because of improper recruiting practices.  Our lack of post-season appearances since the FF run definitely would say we don't have a competitive advantage over most other programs right now.
Click to expand...
@kingofnerf I get where you're coming from.  It certainly sometimes feels like there is someone out to get the USC men's basketball program at the NCAA, but with all due respect... you do understand that the "NCAA" is not one person (or even two) who have some sort of axe to grind, right?

EACH individual case goes before a panel of trained professionals (lawyers and experts) who review the individual case.  Unless there is overlap with the cases (i.e. - a person or group involved in both circumstances), what is involved in one case has NO BEARING whatsoever upon another case.  Bowen's situation had absolutely no crossover with the Lamont Evans situation.  Evans was long gone when Frank Martin made the decision to bring Brian Bowen over from Louisville in 2018 (Evans last year on the USC staff was PJ Dozier's Freshman year in 2015-16).  Lamont Evans had zero connection the program at Louisville, other than his association with Christian Dawkins.  I don't see any connected dots.

Certainly the NCAA is not my favorite organization when it comes to how arbitrarily they make these kind of decisions.  BUT... they ARE fair in the way that each case is handled the way it should be.  Independently and without bias.

 
doublea1971 said:
@kingofnerf I get where you're coming from.  It certainly sometimes feels like there is someone out to get the USC men's basketball program at the NCAA, but with all due respect... you do understand that the "NCAA" is not one person (or even two) who have some sort of axe to grind, right?

EACH individual case goes before a panel of trained professionals (lawyers and experts) who review the individual case.  Unless there is overlap with the cases (i.e. - a person or group involved in both circumstances), what is involved in one case has NO BEARING whatsoever upon another case.  Bowen's situation had absolutely no crossover with the Lamont Evans situation.  Evans was long gone when Frank Martin made the decision to bring Brian Bowen over from Louisville in 2018 (Evans last year on the USC staff was PJ Dozier's Freshman year in 2015-16).  Lamont Evans had zero connection the program at Louisville, other than his association with Christian Dawkins.  I don't see any connected dots.

Certainly the NCAA is not my favorite organization when it comes to how arbitrarily they make these kind of decisions.  BUT... they ARE fair in the way that each case is handled the way it should be.  Independently and without bias.
Click to expand...
No, there was no common link with Evans between Louisville and us.  That's not my point.

Bowen was available to us because he was already either suspended or off the team in Louisville for his tie to the scandal up there with Pitino's group.

Frank was trying to do the noble thing with Bowen already knowing his former assistant Evans was part of the scandal that involved unnamed players at this school based on the FBI recordings of Evans at the time.

Frank could be perceived as being self-righteous about Bowen all the while not being able to control his own assistant for doing the same thing.

Just like blaming poor fan attendance as one of the reasons for a losing streak while ignoring the fact his teams just weren't that good and that was the real reason the fans weren't going to the games.

Clueless and self-righteous to a certain extent or maybe trying to kiss up to the NCAA by giving Bowen another chance here.

 
Ace Dilcock said:
The investigators had to know about the Bowen situation, either through over-lapping investigations or just because they talk at the water cooler. So hard to say if that played a role in the final resolution.

But in the overall scheme of things, I think it turned out right. We always do a good job of self-evaluation, with penalties and corrections.

Ray runs a losing program, and so does Frank.
Click to expand...
FIFY.

 
Ace Dilcock said:
No need. Prior to this year, Frank has consistently had winning records - even four straight winning records in the SEC - one of the best leagues in college basketball.

Same is true of pretty much every other program that Ray oversees - with the exception of football the last couple of years, and Ray addressed that.
Click to expand...
Frank has consistently been a game or two above .500 since the FF run.

He had some 20-win seasons building up to that.  I even had a 20-win season thread on CT but stopped posting to it because we would lose every time I did and I thought it was bad luck to do so at some point.

 
Ace Dilcock said:
He had 24 wins the year before the Final Four run also. And also winning records in the SEC since the Final Four run - until this year.

Frank's issues have been that he has not returned enough guys to gel until after the OOC games in the early season, so there were always 2-3 questionable losses that cancelled out the SEC wins. This was going to be the first year that we has enough returnees to click from Day One - then we had covid that prevented any clicking, players out due to protocol, injuries.....
Click to expand...
Yeah, it takes 3 or 4 seasons for guys to be successful in Frank's system.

The odds of synching the different classmen up all at once are kinda against being successful unless you go back to the 1970s when true FR weren't allowed to play their first year.

 
Here are the specifics of what the NCAA handed out to us in the end.  Still relevant for discussion if Frank gets fired as many may think.

South Carolina’s men’s basketball program was placed on probation for two years by the NCAA on Thursday for former assistant coach Lamont Evans accepting between $3,300 and $5,800 in bribes from a sports agent.

The NCAA’s decision put an end to South Carolina’s role in the college basketball corruption case that began in 2017.

The Gamecocks largely avoided more serious penalties like a postseason ban for what the NCAA deemed a Level I infractions case. South Carolina coach Frank Martin was not named in any NCAA allegations.

The committee classified the case as Level I-mitigated for the school and Level I-aggravated for the former assistant coach.

Along with the probation, the NCAA accepted South Carolina’s self-imposed sanctions, including a reduction in unofficial visits from prospects for this season and next, a six-week ban on telephone recruiting and a $5,000 fine.

The NCAA imposed a 10-year show cause order for Evans, meaning any school that tries to hire him must restrict him from any athletically related duties unless it shows cause why the restrictions should not apply.
Click to expand...
https://apnews.com/article/basketball-columbia-frank-martin-lamont-evans-south-carolina-2d0a9cc12340588ec10ff059dfd07359

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top