It is said that “winners never cheat and cheaters never win”, but is that really true in college sports today? All we have seen this summer is top program after top program getting “in trouble” with the NCAA for numerous violations. UCONN basketball, Michigan football, USC football, and yet another John Calipari coached basketball program (surprise, surprise), have all allegedly bent the rules one way or another and are facing reparations, some more major than others.
Yesterday, the long awaited report on the Reggie Bush saga at SC was suppose to have been made public, but according to ESPN.com, we are going to have to wait a little longer. 
I mean why not, it’s only been five years since Bush walked the Trojan campus, so why not wait a little longer right? No, this has gone way too far. I’m so tired of the NCAA waiting until the smoke clears to find out there was a fire (definitely not okay even to 
Smokey Bear). Either USC cheated or they didn’t and that should have been figured out by now. Seriously, should we wait for Reggie to finish his NFL career and for every single USC staff member who was present back in 2005 to be gone before the NCAA makes a decision? Even if the decision was made today, I would say it’s about four years too late. Sure, you could try and take away Reggie Bush’s Heisman Trophy and give it to Vince Young but what does that do? Pete Carroll is long gone, and maybe this was part of the reason, and so is Bush, so what is there left to do, punish USC? As a Lane Kiffin hater, I would have no problem with that, but it just doesn’t make much since.
Now on to Kentucky. Is anyone shocked that another offseason has come and so has more allegations against John Calipari? If you are, then you probably decide not to pay too much attention to college basketball or Calipari is paying you to do so. Either way, things are getting down right ridiculous. In case you missed it, a report came out a few weeks ago that former Wildcat Eric Bledsoe was staying in a free rent apartment with his mom and also was an academic nightmare. Why is this guy still coaching in the NCAA? 
Of course Calipari denied the report, but should we really trust a guy who just had a 2008 runner up banner taken down at Memphis and also had recruiting violations at UMASS before I was even watching ESPN? I would say no, but once again, it doesn’t matter much anymore. Bledsoe is gone and will be a top 10 pick in the upcoming NBA draft. Calipari may face problems if he stays at Kentucky, but why sweat it when you have the Nets, Cavs, etc. waiting at the door? The fact is that the NCAA allowed this to happen. Calipari should have been supervised like an Alcatraz inmate this past season, but that obviously didn’t happen and the biggest slime-ball in sports lives on.
Many have also heard about the big problems in Ann Arbor, other than the fact that they can’t win football games. Rich Rod & Co. were guilty of exceeding the legal limit on practice time, more than Tony LaRussa exceeded the legal limit with his blood-alcohol level at the stoplight a couple years back. 
The funny thing is that Michigan AD David Brandon claimed that the ridiculous amount of extra practice time did not provide a “competitive advantage” and therefore, no scholarship reduction or postseason ban was needed. Granted, I don’t blame him for not self-imposing these sanctions on his own program, but no competitive advantage? Then why would you do it if it didn’t help you win football games? Trust me, nobody does anything against the rules in the NCAA just for “funnzies”, it’s to put up W’s. With that being said, Brandon decided that it was enough to shorten practice time over the next two years and to limit the amount of coaches/staff at practices. Wow, practices that are shorter than 20 hours a day and only one water boy, that sounds like a punishment. All kidding aside, more needs to be done, but that is up to the NCAA.
So there you have it, some of the most successful athletic programs in the country have not been operating by the rule book. Is the NCAA going to lay down the law or are they going to let these programs slide by? That has yet to be seen, but the real question is whether you can win doing things “the right way” anymore? I’d like to think yes, but part of me is unsure. To exemplify my feelings, let me close with a report I heard yesterday from one of my friends at U of I who works with the basketball program and has heard this report from a U of I assistant.
Rose's Brother
According to him, Derrick Rose wanted to go to Illinois and really enjoyed his recruiting visit, that was until Rose’s brother talked to current U of I assistant, Jerrance Howard. Supposedly, when the visit was over Rose’s brother said to Howard “okay, now let’s talk about money.” Howard said they would not pay Rose to go there and Rose’s brother walked out the door. We all know what happened next: Rose went to Memphis, Memphis went to the title game, Rose and Calipari leave, etc.
As much as I would not want to have the sanctions and problems that came after Rose, a trip to the national title wouldn’t have been bad either. Not to mention the fact that the NCAA is notoriously soft on big time programs who bend the rules, why would you not take that one year roller coaster? I’m not saying that programs should cheat, but I do start to wonder “can clean and honest programs (who aren’t named Kansas, Duke, UNC, etc.) get the best players and win against programs who don’t abide by the rules”? I don’t know, you tell me.
-Derek Piper
