That's a good point, but those guys are a minority. Most of the top 10 recruits aren't going to schools like that.

2015 was admittedly a very weird class though (13 different schools represented by the top 16 recruits per ESPN for simplicity), but in 2016 Fultz is the only guy in the top 10 that didn't go to a traditional power.

The 2017 class has 2 guys in the top 11 who aren't going to traditional powers and we know for a fact that Michael Porter Jr.'s dad is getting paid so that explains one of them.

And I'm not saying that these programs are 100% clean. I am sure they are all guilty of buying kids dinner or giving them sweats that they couldn't do per NCAA rules, but that's a far cry from paying out cash even though it is a clear violation.

I remember a story from an old acquaintance whose dad was a huge Oregon booster, was well connected, knew Phil Knight etc.

He said that one year back in the early 00's, every guy on the basketball team was getting paid in some way or another. They went 0-16 in the Pac-10 that year. So if the guys who are going 0-16 are getting paid, what the hell are the guys getting paid who actually win things?

I'd even grant that they may give a kid a few hundred bucks for a flight home or whatever but that's also different from paying them tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars to come play. It doesn't make it a lesser violation but it's a different thing than paying a recruit simply to come to your school.

So you're saying no more shots of Pitino in a white suit (w/a red tie) sipping on a mint julep on Derby Saturday?







CDL you need to find someone in one of the poorest zips in the biggest ghetto in the the biggest metro of the state you live in and ask to change lives w/ them for a month. They move into your place and drive your car and eat your food and you move into their place and get their bus pass and their aunt's Popeye's Chicken address (for free food duh). Walk in their family's shoes for a month and ask yourself if you'd leave 100k on the table. You really don't have a clue what it means to be dirt poor.

If a gimmick called Side Hustle suddenly appears it's most likely a drunk me

If they didn't claim it on their taxes watchthe****out

lol yep

Bama getting hoops probation over a single recruit when they've basically sucked since Wimp Sanderson yelled at someone he shouldn't have would be tilting yet unsurprising

Players and their families don't do the calculation you are describing, and more to the point, **** happens. How many high school seniors in any given year do you believe have a >75% chance to be an NBA lottery pick? Maybe two or three? Certainly never more than four or five.

And football, forget about it. If I told you that I would give you even money if you could pick three high school seniors that would go on to be first round picks in the NFL draft, would you take that bet? If so, PM me.

So true. It's paying a kid to go away from your school.

Not only do families not do that calculation, but you'd have to be a complete ****ing idiot to pass on $100k from LSU or Washington or whatever. Like what exactly are you getting from Duke when you're a one-and-done tier player that you wouldn't get from anyone else? Huge ****ing LOL at thinking Coach K and Duke resonate THAT much with these kids. Not everyone thinks and acts like Greg Paulus and Marshall Plumlee and CDL afaik

I also didn't know that guys like Lonzo Ball were dirt poor. Is Shareef O'Neal also dirt poor? I bet he grew up a lot better than (almost?) everyone posting itt.

Not all basketball players are dirt poor and its pretty racist to assume they are. I know for a fact that I grew up in a family making less money than the median Duke basketball player when I was there.

Auburn is offering refunds to its men's hoops season tix holders.

the median duke basketball player is literally marshall plumlee

Football isn't the discussion here. I absolutely believe more football players get paid than basketball players if for no reason other than the sheer number of players and boosters who care.

And I do believe that lots of basketball players get paid. I also believe lots of programs pay players. I just don't think they ALL get paid nor do I think EVERY school does it. The issue isn't whether it happens its whether or not it involves every school and every recruit.

I would bet my life savings that Shareef O'Neal nor his dad got paid for him to go to Arizona despite the fact that Arizona has been implicated in this scandal.

do you think he was paid to come to Duke?

So 17 refunds?

don't forget Jon Scheyer and Brian Zoubek.

Things do change, though. That's why I was surprised Fultz wasn't the #1 prospect of his class. I had forgotten he wasn't #1 going into the summer because, by December 2016, he was already the lock #1 draft pick.

He was somewhere between the #3 and #7 HS recruit going into the 2016-17 season depending on the list (and he was #24 going into his senior year). What changed so fast for him (and Jackson and Ball, I guess)?

lol u. was Brandon Ingram living the high life in Kinston growing up?

Idk but his dad was a semi-pro basketball player and later a police officer so he probably wasn't too bad off. He was also a mentor/friend to stackhouse.

How much did unc pay Michael Jordan to go there?

so what?

He probably gambled on it so I'm guessing they paid zero dollars and got his commitment to settle the debt.

b/c cops make so much $$$. amirite?

re: MJ... whatever it was, best value in cbb recruiting ever right? i mean he WAS Nike at the very beginning... and now Brand Jordan is synonymous w/ UNC and elite programs across multiple sports.

"academicgate" has kept UNC from getting the elites the past 5+ years. maybe this was a blessing in disguise (heck we're still putting up ships even w/ all the negative recruiting tactics from K, the wolfpack, etc. it's incredible really what Roy has done w/ other coaches pumping recruits full of lies and innuendos about UNC... but i digress).

what is laughable is you think dook is some beacon on the hill when it comes to cbb recruiting. Corey Maggette was paid $85k by dook. that is one example for you. dook and UK have dominated the one-and-done market for the last several years. is there a reason why? well we're about to find out over the next year or so. strap your seatbelt on b/c it is going to be a wild ride.

So what? My point is it's not every player and every school. Not one person has been able to offer evidence that I'm wrong despite asserting that I am.