Report: UCLA to earn '08 NCAA Title Shot
No, not really, but if Memphis is forced to vacate its wins from the '08 season, then I guess it's only fair that we get credit for at least being the runners up :-).
Update: Well, it's official now.
An amusing note here is that two of the first four comments I saw under this article mentioned the ketchup and mustard elephant in the room, including this one:
"Just wondering, Why in the world does every other team but USC get stripped of titles and games when they are caught doing wrong? Reggie Bush has been known to have been recieving money (other benefits) during his college years but the NCAA has refused to strip them of anything. Oh yeah, I forgot they are USC! The NCAA is a joke!"
Are you paying attention, NCAA?
Update II: More Amusement. The NCAA talking about Reggie Bush Derrick Rose:
"The infractions committee said it struck hard with its penalties because the ineligible player was used the entire season."
Such admirable discipline /sarcasm
over 2 years ago
Tydides
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my Kansas friends to let them know we would have beat them if not for being cheated!
I have to admit, this really pisses me off
IMO, that was our best Ben Ball team. I feel incredibly cheated. And of course, nothing will happen to Derrick Rose or Callipari.
Totally Agree
I feel so much angst with what that team could have accomplished, although I’m just completely forgetting the rest of that Memphis team…
I wish they could punish the players or the coach, but it’ll never happen. It would make the punishments actually stick.
Devil's Advocate again.
I’m sorry, but this is no news to me. I don’t consider us as having been cheated out of a NC. They beat us fair and square. It was our best team in recent memory, but it wasn’t good enough.
I guess I take the “All’s fair in love and war” attitude. I’m sure the guys at the Alamo probably thought things weren’t fair but they went out and put up the good fight. The 300 Spartans at Thermopylae knew for a fact they were at a disadvantage. They went out and fought to the last man anyway.
Derrick Rose, Calipari, and Memphis pulled the old USC playbook out of the closet to build that team, OK. But, it doesn’t mean the NC is ours by default. If we sound that bugle, we are falling prey to the vanity which besets South Central, who believes they are the best team in the country every year despite their losses. I would not have a Bruin pull a Leinart and utter those shameful words, “I still think we’re the better team” after a loss.
A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment. John Wooden
The part about us getting a title shot is obviously tongue in cheek
Nothing’s going to happen on our end that makes history reflect any better on our season, with the possible exception of our last loss having an asterisk next to it. The results don’t even really matter much to me at this point. What I believe is important here is that corrective action is being taken. Letting these things slide is exactly how cheaters like SUC get away with brazenly flouting the rules with no consequences. You’ll never convince me that the spineless NCAA taking action against a (temporarily) high profile school that didn’t self report isn’t news, especially given the three ring circus that’s running across town.
I'm not saying we would have won the NC
It just bothers me that we lost to a team that didn’t play by the rules and that nothing will happen to the main figures.
by bruinbabe2000 on Aug 20, 2009 12:26 PM PDT up reply actions
NO, THEY DID NOT BEAT US "FAIR AND SQUARE."
If reports are accurate, they used a point guard who had a FALSIFIED SAT score to qualify for the team and school under NCAA rules.
THEY. CHEATED.
I cannot guarantee we would have beaten Kansas. We may have run in the same problems, as they also had a big backcourt and we did not have our backcourt enforcer in AA, the one who beat them into submission at the foul line the year before.
But TELL ME Memphis going with one less huge guard in the backcourt would not have made things a bit easier for us.
Memphis did NOT win fair and square. They beat us, true. But if they could use an INELIGIBLE player, then maybe we should have gotten the shot, too…
OR, and here’s a crazy thought, they could have played by the same ruels we stuck to. If they had beaten us then, FINE.
Since they didn’t, F*** MEMPHIS.
M
"In this program your passion bucket must be full to play SC." -- CRN, to Dan Patrick, 1/2008
Well, if we're going to play the "what if" game
Vacating the Memphis game does not put us in the national championship game by default. First, we would have had to play the winner of the South region in the Final Four. Without rebracketing the entire tournament, the University of Texas (who lost to Memphis in the regional finals) would have been the likely #1 seed and winner of that region. That’s the same Texas team that beat us at Pauley earlier in the season. Granted, I think the Bruins had improved quite a bit from December to March that season, but considering the Final Four was played in San Antonio, that would have been quite a battle for the Bruins.
What bugs me the most about this whole ordeal is that while Memphis does get punished both in the record books and financially, John Calipari is no worse for wear. He’s collecting millions for Kentucky now despite leaving forfeited seasons and decimated programs at TWO universities (Memphis, UMass) in his wake.
by insomniacslounge on Aug 20, 2009 1:51 PM PDT up reply actions
F*** ALL CHEATERS!
Another reason why this stupid one-and-done rule just doesn’t cut it.
F*** MEMPHIS
F*** U$C
Cheaters suck.
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
That's why
when we win our NC, it’s going to feel that much better. Thank you Coach Howland and UCLA Athletic Dept. for doing it the right way.
by mdjohns4 on Aug 20, 2009 11:34 AM PDT reply actions 1 recs
Hey we play Kansas on Dec 6th
I say whoever wins that game is the true champion :)
(Of course we would have to reunite the old team of KL, RW, LRMAM, JS, and DC, as would Kansas. But who wouldn’t want to see that!)
OK, lot's of people to respond to
I’m with Ty in that as long as corrective/punitive measures are taken; I’m not looking for anybody to hand us a ‘used trophy.’
Meriones, my point is that they beat us on the court with the team they had. Whether or not Derrick Rose was a part of the team is splitting hairs in my opinion. Much like with Reggie Bush, my belief is that he would have been a part of the team whether he was paid or not. Same with Rose. Also, As big as he was for them, we also did not play up to our level and that had nothing to do with their Behind the Scenes Shenanigans.
Insomniac brings up a good point. And Tasser cracked me up.
A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment. John Wooden
Do Rose and bu$h have the same agent?
Rose really should have been a trOJan. His response to the whole affair? In the Rivals.com story on Yahoo sports, we read this: “In a statement released by his attorney Thursday, Rose said "it is satisfying to see that the NCAA could find no wrongdoing on my part in their ruling.’”
Uh, Derrick, that statement earns you the “White Ford Bronco Low Speed Pursuit” award. It pretty much solidifies the notion that someone else must have taken your SAT. You weren’t exactly cleared. Your team just lost 38 wins, and had to give back a bucket of money.
That quote is why I think Derrick would have fit in so well on Figueroa. He cheated. He got caught. He denies it all. And everything is good.
Would you steal a million dollars
if you knew the penalty was a fine of a hundred dollars?
As long as the benefits of the crimes far outweigh the punishments, there is little to deter those “win at all cost” programs from cheating.
The NCAA is a joke.
There are lots of people who wouldn't
Coach wouldn’t. Coach Howland wouldn’t. But obviously we know there are lots of people who would. Anyone got a roster of the just$c athletic department staff? And John Calipari. That guy is toxic. He is such an absolutely perfect fit for the trOJans it’s difficult for me to understand why he’s not there already.
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