"Cheating going on" in women's basketball | Page 2 | The Boneyard

"Cheating going on" in women's basketball

I've wondered whether there are AAU coaches who attempt to steer their players to certain schools and if they have an incentive to do so. I have no knowledge of any wrongdoing but it wouldn't be difficult to figure out a way to funnel money to an AAU program without any direct connection to a school. I'm not even sure there is any rule prohibiting an AAU coach from accepting money.

It seems like the whole process of recruiting is done for the most part behind a cloak of darkness as far as the public being involved. There are always the usual reasons given by a recruit when they announce their school. "Perfect fit". "My dream school". But there are some odd things that puzzle me. One for example is the apparent pattern of elite Oregon-based players going to Tennessee. The LV fanbase refers to it as a "pipeline". Russell, Nared and now Westbrook. I am in no way accusing anyone of any wrongdoing but I am at a loss to explain why Tennessee has this apparent attraction for players from one specific area so far from Knoxville while their longtime recruiting strength in Georgia specifically and the rest of the south generally has weakened considerably. I can understand players on the west coast wanting to get away from home but I would think that there are a number of elite college programs from which to choose. And yet they all seem to end up in Knoxville. Again, it may just be that Tenn does a better job than any other program, but if so I would expect to see them having the same success in other areas of the country.

Maybe the whole process of recruiting would be better served if there was more openness on the part of the media. Once in awhile one of the writers covering wcbb drops a hint about an AAU coach having a feud with a wbcc coach but for the most part they keep what they know to themselves. It just reinforces my opinion that journalists in sports are in large part part just public relations specialists for the sports they cover, more concerned with protecting an image than in reporting the truth.
 
Well, there does seem a bit of "Amen" corner preaching going on here. One cannot coach as many years as Muffet and not witness a host of improprieties. Yet, frankly it seems KnightBridgeAZ has the right of it. Muffet's words weren't the keenest of insights, but nothing she said had the ring of falsehood to me. It would perhaps have been egregious if she'd started making specific accusations without proof. Yeah, her remarks tend to put ND above the fray, but any remarks she'd make under these circumstances would make her seem purer than the field.
 
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How about offering a father a couple chairs on the bench as an assistant coach while his daughter is being recruited by that school! Sounds like a way to pay the family for the players services.
 
I heard of an incident if a player being offered cash to attend a school but although it was from someone whose knowledge of recruiting was extensive, it was still second hand. But while there's not much money in women's hoops to encourage the extent of cheating as the men's game, there are coaches making 7 figure salaries whose teams are underperforming. These coaches might figure it's a worthwhile investment to encourage a star player to join her team before she ends up on the hot seat. But while it's easy to find lots of flouting of some recruiting rules, like talking to recruits outside of allowable periods, etc, it's hard to find many of outright bribery. I have to think it's a something that rarely happens.
 
After being around Connecticut High School Basketball for over 30 years in various ways. Cheating is going on in both boys and girls basketball. Whether it is recruiting a player for a private school and giving them academic scholarships as payments to play ( this does happen ) even if the players grades dont warrant it. I was offered a free ride for 4 years to attend a parochial school to play basketball ( I didnt ). I have seen AAU coaches recruit players from their team to play at different high schools where tuition will be covered for them. I have seen players by themselves or their whole family moved to different districts with mortgage or rent paid for them. The CIAC knows about alot of what I mentioned but look the other way. I know the schools, the coaches, the players and the how. I will not name names because of the kids! The kids were manipulated by adults and to them it made them feel special!
 
In CT, private schools, parochial or the such should not be in the same League/brackets with public HS's as they draw from a wider area than public schools can draw! There should be a private school league and a public school league.
When I coached Wrestling at East Lyme HS, St. Bernards had wrestlers from all over eastern CT and 2 kids from Westerly, RI, I had East Lyme and Salem CT to draw from! Not the same starting points!
And St. Bernards said they never recruit but doesn't the Priest want kids to get a "Catholic Education?" and talk to them about attending that Catholic HS? That's recruiting in my book!
The Day's Mike DiMauro had an article on this about a week ago.
 
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I like Muffet as a coach. She knows her stuff.

But you cannot throw out that statement of hers ala lobbing a grenade and then running away while the fallout causes all others to run around wildly ....

Have to add some meat to it Muffet. Come forth with what you know and let the NCAA investigate.

I could say Notre Dame is a cheating program that breaks many NCAA rules to the detriment of others.... would be terrible if I came hard with that accusation .... but did not want to expound at all. True?
 
RSHERMVIKES said:
In CT, private schools, parochial or the such should not be in the same League/brackets with public HS's as they draw from a wider area than public schools can draw! There should be a private school league and a public school league.
When I coached Wrestling at East Lyme HS, St. Bernards had wrestlers from all over eastern CT and 2 kids from Westerly, RI, I had East Lyme and Salem CT to draw from! Not the same starting points!
And St. Bernards said they never recruit but doesn't the Priest want kids to get a "Catholic Education?" and talk to them about attending that Catholic HS? That's recruiting in my book!
The Day's Mike DiMauro had an article on this about a week ago.
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Absolutely agree with you about separating private and public schools! If they dont let the kids pick the school they want but if out of district the parents pay tuition and this is for all schools, public and parochial. Time to even the playing field.
 
Alydar said:
I've wondered whether there are AAU coaches who attempt to steer their players to certain schools and if they have an incentive to do so. I have no knowledge of any wrongdoing but it wouldn't be difficult to figure out a way to funnel money to an AAU program without any direct connection to a school. I'm not even sure there is any rule prohibiting an AAU coach from accepting money.

It seems like the whole process of recruiting is done for the most part behind a cloak of darkness as far as the public being involved. There are always the usual reasons given by a recruit when they announce their school. "Perfect fit". "My dream school". But there are some odd things that puzzle me. One for example is the apparent pattern of elite Oregon-based players going to Tennessee. The LV fanbase refers to it as a "pipeline". Russell, Nared and now Westbrook. I am in no way accusing anyone of any wrongdoing but I am at a loss to explain why Tennessee has this apparent attraction for players from one specific area so far from Knoxville while their longtime recruiting strength in Georgia specifically and the rest of the south generally has weakened considerably. I can understand players on the west coast wanting to get away from home but I would think that there are a number of elite college programs from which to choose. And yet they all seem to end up in Knoxville. Again, it may just be that Tenn does a better job than any other program, but if so I would expect to see them having the same success in other areas of the country.

Maybe the whole process of recruiting would be better served if there was more openness on the part of the media. Once in awhile one of the writers covering wcbb drops a hint about an AAU coach having a feud with a wbcc coach but for the most part they keep what they know to themselves. It just reinforces my opinion that journalists in sports are in large part part just public relations specialists for the sports they cover, more concerned with protecting an image than in reporting the truth.
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This Tenn "pipeline" should never be confused with UConn's "pipeline" to California, with the likes of Taurasi, Crockett, Houston, Englen, KML and recently KLS. (have not gone through rosters prior to Taurasi). In the end it's how you "refine" this crude oil whether it becomes jet fuel or asphalt. :D
 
mbr33ct said:
This Tenn "pipeline" should never be confused with UConn's "pipeline" to California, with the likes of Taurasi, Crockett, Houston, Englen, KML and recently KLS. (have not gone through rosters prior to Taurasi). In the end it's how you "refine" this crude oil whether it becomes jet fuel or asphalt. :D
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I can understand players from any region being attracted to an elite and successful program, where ever that program is located. But Russell, Nared and Westbrook are probably the three top players to come out of Oregon and all decided on attending a school whose glory is in the distant past as far as any 17 year old is concerned. While UConn has signed several players from California they have lost out on a number of them too. If we assume that recruits are attracted to any one school in part as a result of things they hear from adult role models, parents, HS coaches, AAU coaches, etc. then when they are attracted to a school over 2000 miles away that isn't in the picture as far as a national title contender and whose head coach has a thin resume in that position it is reasonable to assume that someone in Oregon is doing a good job of talking up the LV's. And it might be just that and there is nothing wrong with it as long as that someone has no ties to Tennessee. And let me be clear. Unlike the fans of Tenn who, when a certain Georgia recruit decided to go north instead of to Knoxville, I am not assuming any cheating. But while there is relatively little money in wcbb coaches for the most part earn more money than they could ever earn outside basketball and assistants who want to be head coaches have to be at least tempted to use any means to sign players, thus gaining a reputation for being a great recruiter. And someone looking to land an assistant's position could be tempted to try and steer a player someplace.

I think the system works pretty well. To make it 100% above board the NCAA would need 1000 investigators.
 
Alydar said:
I think the system works pretty well. To make it 100% above board the NCAA would need 1000 investigators.
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I'm guessing Triad and our other Duke friends would beg to differ, from the perspective that even if the NCAA had 10,000 investigators, there are some favored schools that would get a free ride no matter what their transgressions. And I would be in agreement with them.
 
Exactly Alydar. If every top recruit out of California picked UConn it would be eye opening. They've gotten some very notable players, but Cali produces a ton of talent and plenty of them stay on the West Coast, or pick other further away schools that are not in Storrs, CT. It's apples and oranges compared to Tennessee and recruiting out of Oregon. While she wasn't as highly regarded as the others they also had Jordan Reynolds recently. Oregon produces relatively few really top notch players and a surprising number of those have become Vols. I certainly hope they don't get class of '20 recruit Cameron Brink.
 
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McGraw claims cheating going on in WCBB. I would ask one of the most success recruiter's, over 30 yr's assoc. coach, Chris. Daily. She would know. Would she answer that difficult question ? For various reasons, I would not.
 
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