Today's ESPN chat with Bilas

[Ricky1Moore]

Finally Bilas speaks on this APR fiasco... He toes the line a little as he doesn't want to be seen as "in Uconn's corner" but in the end he says what any educated person would, punishing retroactively is not ok. This is the reason the NCAA will have to cave on this, because we will beat them in court.

Jack (Boston)

I'm confused about the lack of outrage over the retroactive nature of the sanctions being placed on UCONN for next years tourney. Is this the first time ever that a sanctioning body went backwards in time to punish teams for a rule that wasn't in place yet?? It's absurd. They've already been punished for what was in place, loss of scholarships, and have made changes going forward, illustrated by their great APR from last year that somehow won't count yet two years later. The lazy journalism by people claiming that b/c other institutions were already penalized this way, UCONN should too is ridiculous and not helping anyone.

Jay Bilas (2:57 PM)

I do not agree with the way the NCAA deals with these issues. I am in favor of high academic standards, but I think the schools are fully capable of dealing with that issue on their own. The APR is, quite simply, a joke. There are unintended consequences to these measures, including students being encouraged to take the easy path and academic clustering. Different schools have different missions, and a one size fits all system will not work. The APR bans hurt the wrong people, and I believe any system that punishes retroactively is wrong. But, if the NCAA wants to make the APR the holy grail, fine. Whatever the bar is, people will clear it for the money. Education, however, will not be served. There is a big difference between education and graduation or APR numbers. Thanks for the question.

 

[gibhunter]

I'm confused by the person asking the question. He writes

The lazy journalism by people claiming that b/c other institutions were already penalized this way, UCONN should too...

What does he mean other institutions were penalized this way? As far as I know, no other school was retroactively banned from the post-season, or banned from the post-season due to the APR.

 

[HuskyBballFan]

I don't think Bilas is toeing the line at all. He's been on record plenty of times as being anti-NCAA.

 

[UChusky916]

Bilas is the only ESPN analyst that I actually get excited to listen to... he is honest, unbiased, and provides great insight.

EDIT: still cannot believe hes a dukie

 

[champs99and04]

As usual, Bilas nails it. Unfortunately, Bilas has become a rare breed: Somebody that knows all the facts and both sides of the story before publishing an opinion.

 

[Ricky1Moore]

I don't think Bilas is toeing the line at all. He's been on record plenty of times as being anti-NCAA.

I meant the uconn line, in the sense he doesn't say outright "what the NCAA is doing to uconn is unfair and should be changed immediately". No journalists are saying this, but they would be if it were duke, unc, etc.

Bilas is the only guy worth reading, good in game analyst too

 

[Henry]

What happens if Lamb and Drummond leave and half the team transfers if we are ineligible next year? Will the NCAA hold us responsible for that too if our APR sucks?

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

I'd go as far to say he's the best TV analyst in all of sports. Guy is as unbiased and accurate as they come.

 

[HuskyBballFan]

How can the APR be a joke? All I've heard for the last 2 weeks is how our poor APR scores clearly show that Jim Calhoun doesn't care if his kids go to class? Pat Forde told me these APR scores show that we are the prime example of what's wrong with college athletics. Bilas must not know what he's talking about.

Oh wait, he's the ONLY guy who knows what he's talking about.

 

[Inyatkin]

The APR itself is key. Penalties aside, this is a measuring stick that does not measure what they say it measures. Taking it at face value is half the problem. Glad to see Bilas went right at it.

 

[TopDog18]

It's amazing even UConn beat writer Don Amore was too scared to address the reality of the situation when he was on Outside The Lines. He addresed it on his blog today, but failed to mention how the NCAA was unfairly punnishing UConn when on ESPN. This one sided journalism is unacceptable.

 

[caw]

I'm confused by the person asking the question. He writes



What does he mean other institutions were penalized this way? As far as I know, no other school was retroactively banned from the post-season, or banned from the post-season due to the APR.

I think he meant other schools have been banned before (though due to a different standard).

 

[ruskin]

Bilas is great. Not only is he usually right when it comes to NCAA idiocy, it's too bad JC can't bring him in as a consultant on how to attack a zone.

 

[upstater]

Bilas nailed it. We should all be more outraged that a bunch of kids are being forced into a perverted public relations scheme that is anti-educational. For me, this is much more scandalous than UConn being unfairly targeted with retroactive punishment. Emmert and his cohort are saving their butts (and their massive paychecks) by cheating students.

I'm glad that Bilas see the problem. I was asked what I thought of Manuel the other day, and I responded that he doesn't go in for that "easy path" and clustering that you see elsewhere. The new APR compliance process is interesting at UConn. Such a rapid change.

 

[Ricky1Moore]

Bilas nailed it. We should all be more outraged that a bunch of kids are being forced into a perverted public relations scheme that is anti-educational. For me, this is much more scandalous than UConn being unfairly targeted with retroactive punishment. Emmert and his cohort are saving their butts (and their massive paychecks) by cheating students.

I'm glad that Bilas see the problem. I was asked what I thought of Manuel the other day, and I responded that he doesn't go in for that "easy path" and clustering that you see elsewhere. The new APR compliance process is interesting at UConn. Such a rapid change.

Upstater I think you are dead on. As a uconn fan it's sometimes very hard for me to look beyond the ridiculous and unfair damage that they are trying to do to our program... But it's true that the ncaa's idiocy is actually far worse overall. Pretending you are looking after academia through a silly formula that kentucky boosters figured ways around ages ago is a waste of time. My guess is they were briefed in advance.

Retroactive. My new favorite word. We're gonna sue the out of you NCAA