OT - Rashad McCants says he took fake classes, tutors wrote his papers

[DOZE860]

You're right, this is about snitches. How stupid of me.

no but takes away the creditably of his claims

 

[Scoe]

like i said, what is his beef...did he feel like he was cheated out of royalties for his jersey sales and likeness on NCAA basketball video games? he had a chance to actually take the classes... As much as i would like to blast UNC for this, i would have to say to blame the university for not getting an education, when they gave you the opportunity too, and then cover up for the fact that you didnt... he just seems like a punk. sorry don't like snitches, especially when they are just as dirty as the people they are snitching on..

Good, UNC and Mccants deserve each other.

 

[uconNYC]

Not sure why people are so wrapped up on McCants motives. Obviously, it's people who have come up short in life that are going to blow the whistle. Those who succeed have little reason to go after the system that helped get them where they are.

 

[CallMeBruce]

no but takes away the creditably of his claims

How so?

 

[August_West]

During my decades of practicing law, when necessary because the message was factually accurate and damaging, the messenger was (legally) shot. I expect that the same will happen here - it's a very effective defense especially in the public domain.

Ah, the old "but the rape victim was promiscuous, how could she be credible?" defense. What a country we live in.

 

[UconnU]

Not sure why people are so wrapped up on McCants motives. Obviously, it's people who have come up short in life that are going to blow the whistle. Those who succeed have little reason to go after the system that helped get them where they are.

maybe he's broke and cant get a job now. A legit college education from a prestigious uni sure would have came in handy....

 

[Scoe]

maybe he's broke and cant get a job now. A legit college education from a prestigious uni sure would have came in handy....

but maybe he's right

 

[DOZE860]

I get the fact that academic fraud is a pretty serious deal, and how UNC is getting away with it is pretty mess up, considering what happened to us with the apr last year...however, after reading McCant's story, i put more blame on him for not taking advantage of the opportunity of getting the education, UNC tried to fake for him, which was the original point of asking, what was McCant's beef.. Either way, UNC has gotten away with fraud and i hope that they get whats coming to them..

 

[CallMeBruce]

I get the fact that academic fraud is a pretty serious deal, and how UNC is getting away with it is pretty mess up, considering what happened to us with the apr last year...however, after reading McCant's story, i put more blame on him for not taking advantage of the opportunity of getting the education, UNC tried to fake for him, which was the original point of asking, what was McCant's beef.. Either way, UNC has gotten away with fraud and i hope that they get whats coming to them..

Whether or not he's at fault (and I definitely think he's less at fault if he's being steered towards fake classes to help him stay eligible while he plays basketball full time), the school made up the classes and created the BS transcripts. They're far more guilty here, and there should be serious consequences.

 

[CamrnCrz1974]

I get the fact that academic fraud is a pretty serious deal, and how UNC is getting away with it is pretty mess up, considering what happened to us with the apr last year...

Have to agree. UConn and Calhoun were raked through the mud. With UNC, the NCAA refused to interview the whistleblower, claiming it was an academic one, not an athletic one. But the NCAA uses the Academic Progress Rate to track student-athletes and graduation. How can it simultaneously sanction UConn and turn a blind eye to UNC, when the violations at Carolina were systemic and pervasive across several sports and a number of years?

Someone in this thread posted a statement about karma. I am a Duke fan/grad, but it sure seems like the NCAA got its comeuppance by sanctioning UConn, only to have Ollie, Napier, and crew win the national title the next year. Sounds like karma to me (not to take anything away from the efforts and hard work of Kevin Ollie, the players, and the staff).

 

[CL82]

Whats not being said is during that time, UNC scored a perfect APR. What a complete joke of a system. If this happened at UConn, we would surely get the death penalty.

Wow. I just saw this. How can they not recalculate the APR in light of these revalations? I would think, minimally, the NCAA should:

1) have UNC forfiet and return all NCAA credits for the 2005 NC run. That championship should be stricten from the books;
2) recalculate UNCs APR scores in light of the academic fraud with appropriate sanctions, including loss of scholarship, shortened recruiting period and, of course, loss of tourney eligibility;
3) have a finding of "lack of institutional control" and impose the death penalty; and
4) Williams needs to have a "show cause" retriction on him.

This is bad. Really bad. I think the NCAA loses whatever shred of legitamacy it has if it does not pursue this. I feel really badly for legimate student athlete at UNC. There is a now a presumption that the their degree is a crock hanging over their heads.

 

[SWHuskyFan]

I get the fact that academic fraud is a pretty serious deal, and how UNC is getting away with it is pretty mess up, considering what happened to us with the apr last year...however, after reading McCant's story, i put more blame on him for not taking advantage of the opportunity of getting the education, UNC tried to fake for him, which was the original point of asking, what was McCant's beef.. Either way, UNC has gotten away with fraud and i hope that they get whats coming to them..

McCants was a kid, the people in charge of the AFAM studies department and the Athletic Department at UNC were not kids. He's now a man and as was said above, he'd probably like to have gotten an education. I'd be mad if I was him too. Sure he carries some of the blame but not nearly as much as UNC. Who really cares what the other UNC players think of him? Everyone always hates the whistleblowers, he's making them all look bad. That's why they require special protection.

 

[RoderickSpode]

Wow. I just saw this. How can they not recalculate the APR in light of these revalations? I would think, minimally, the NCAA should:

1) have UNC forfiet and return all NCAA credits for the 2005 NC run. That championship should be stricten from the books
2) recalculate UNCs APR scores in light of the academic fraud with appropriate sanctions, including loss of scholarship, shortened recruiting period and, of course, loss of tourney eligibility.
3) have a finding of "lack of institutional control" and impose the death penalty, and
4) Williams needs to have a "show cause" retriction on him.

This is bad. Really bad. I think the NCAA loses whatever shred of legitamacy it has if it does not pursue this. If feel really badly for legimate student athlete at UNC. There is a now a presumption that the their degree is a crock hanging over their heads.

That's one of many reasons why the APR is a joke: phony classes don't count against your APR score.

 

[CL82]

Mike Lupica made this exact same point regarding the NCAA and their nickel and dime penalties and is just waiting to see how NCAA handles this NC violation. Perhaps we can expect Lupica column or mention on this in NY daily News or ESPN sports reporters. You can bet the rats @ NCAA and NC are scurrying around ....luv it

It would be nice to see the horde take it on. I can't understand why the haven't already.

 

[Edward Sargent]

http://m.espn.go.com/wireless/story?storyId=11036924
I'm sure that UNC will be suspended from postseason play any day now.

Actually this will finally force Emmert's hand to investigate similar concerns at UCONN that he has had ever since his time spent here and thus free him from the perceived bias that he has for our program

 

[intlzncster]

Someone in this thread posted a statement about karma. I am a Duke fan/grad, but it sure seems like the NCAA got its comeuppance by sanctioning UConn, only to have Ollie, Napier, and crew win the national title the next year. Sounds like karma to me (not to take anything away from the efforts and hard work of Kevin Ollie, the players, and the staff).

Hey, we'll take it any way we can get it.

 

[mcs333]

My daughter graduated from UNC in 2005 with a degree in business. She took several AFS courses. Everyone knew it was an automatic A if you could get in. Most of the students in AFS were athletes. There were very few open slots otherwise.They had no classes just had to write a paper an get an A.

 

[ASweet3781]

Regardless of McCants character or lack of, his transcript backs him up. He got all C's, D's, and in every non African American studies class. In every African American studies class he got A's and B's. He took 18 of them. That is what kept him eligible.

 

[tzznandrew]

The system starts long before college--this is what people forget. You show promise as a high schooler in the AAU circuit, you immediately get attention of handlers: some good, some not so good, none with your best interest truly at heart. Right then and there, these players start getting pressured to focus more on athletics and less on academics, and there's a certain logic to that: the whole idea that a player should have to attend college to be a great player makes little sense when you think about it. But regardless, many of these kids come from inner-cities with families that are themselves either fractured or uneducated and have no idea of how to protect their kid.

One their shuttled off into this AAU circus, they land at a school like UNC: but a player like McCants (obviously) would never have been able to get into UNC, and the amount of time they are expected to work on basketball means they really struggle to get the remediation they need...and because they struggle off the court, they know their only real chance is to further focus on sports.

It's exploitative to wrangle these kids in at such a young age, and make them go through these ridiculous farces that only enrich institutions, but very few care because a small portion will end up as millionaires, and a small but larger portion will be able to make a living off of it. And, for the select few who both have academic acumen and/or weren't caught up in the AAU circuit too early, there really is a meaningful college degree for them. But the Okafors (and others on different teams--every team has some) are few and far between.

So yeah, I guess all this ends with me agreeing with @Inyatkin : a player like McCants was caught up before he was old enough to really figure out what was happening, and imagining he was going to take Engineering or Biomedical classes or whatever rather than the sham classes is insane. Is there some culpability there--I guess, but am inclined to think it unimportant and an unrealistic standard to hold a young man to. The blame lay with UNC, and they should be punished severely.

 

[CallMeBruce]

The system starts long before college--this is what people forget. You show promise as a high schooler in the AAU circuit, you immediately get attention of handlers: some good, some not so good, none with your best interest truly at heart. Right then and there, these players start getting pressured to focus more on athletics and less on academics, and there's a certain logic to that: the whole idea that a player should have to attend college to be a great player makes little sense when you think about it. But regardless, many of these kids come from inner-cities with families that are themselves either fractured or uneducated and have no idea of how to protect their kid.

One their shuttled off into this AAU circus, they land at a school like UNC: but a player like McCants (obviously) would never have been able to get into UNC, and the amount of time they are expected to work on basketball means they really struggle to get the remediation they need...and because they struggle off the court, they know their only real chance is to further focus on sports.

It's exploitative to wrangle these kids in at such a young age, and make them go through these ridiculous farces that only enrich institutions, but very few care because a small portion will end up as millionaires, and a small but larger portion will be able to make a living off of it. And, for the select few who both have academic acumen and/or weren't caught up in the AAU circuit too early, there really is a meaningful college degree for them. But the Okafors (and others on different teams--every team has some) are few and far between.

So yeah, I guess all this ends with me agreeing with @Inyatkin : a player like McCants was caught up before he was old enough to really figure out what was happening, and imagining he was going to take Engineering or Biomedical classes or whatever rather than the sham classes is insane. Is there some culpability there--I guess, but am inclined to think it unimportant and an unrealistic standard to hold a young man to. The blame lay with UNC, and they should be punished severely.

This, exactly.

 

[Inyatkin]

And, for the select few who both have academic acumen and/or weren't caught up in the AAU circuit too early, there really is a meaningful college degree for them.

This is key. There's so much emphasis rhetorically on a degree, but if you've got players going through some sham of a system thinking that the degree they earn is going to give them a backup after college, they're going to be in for a rude awakening. You need some skills to go with that, and a degree doesn't necessarily mean you have them.
It's basically a sham start to finish. And yet I love college basketball, and am therefore part of the problem.

 

[elduderino]

That NCAA investigator cartoon is kinda hot...

I'd pixelate her, all over her face. I mean she's no Lois Griffin, but if she had a nice personality and no gag reflex, why not right?

 

[J187Money]

You can bet the rats @ NCAA and NC are scurrying around ....luv it

That's actually the problem. The NCAA doesn't scurry. They are accountable to no one. They do what they like.

 

[Frank06830]

Here's something I thought ironic: the UNC scandal article is front page feature on ESPN.com. When you read the article it lists Goodman, along with Katz as one of th contributors.....

 

[chapwilvaug72]

mccants could really shoot the j/ jan. 04 he couldn't miss at unc vs UCONN & outdueled rashad/no wonder unc would do anything to keep mccants eligible/unc figured if they would ever be exposed they'd just blame UCONN for causing their odium