8 comments Jay Mariotti Thinks John Calipari is Wrong for Following the Rules; Advises Jabari Parker to Stay in School Because I'm Sure That's What Jay Would Choose to Do in Parker's Situation

Jay Mariotti normally knows a sleaze when he sees one. After all, when looking in the mirror everyday he sees a guy who seems to be pretty sleazy himself. So Jay writes that John Calipari is a sleaze and just generally does a hit-job on Calipari for following the rules set out by the NBA for when collegiate players can declare for the NBA Draft. Also, while doing a hit-job on Calipari he advises Jabari Parker of Duke (coached by Coach K, who by the way, has had two one-and-done players over the last three years and will probably have another this year, along with potentially two more next year) to stay in school. Why? I would have no idea. Mitch McGary, Nerlens Noel, and Marcus Smart are great examples of why staying in school as "the right thing to do" more often than not is the financially dumb thing to do.

I don't know what else I should expect from a guy who has an issue with Barack Obama filling out a bracket. It seems Obama knows more about college basketball players than Jay does, which means Obama spends most of his time talking basketball and not running the country. It doesn't annoy me that Obama fills out a bracket and then goes on ESPN to reveal his bracket. It's all a part of efforts, like appearing on "Between Two Ferns" and Michelle Obama appearing on "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Kimmel," to appeal to "the kids" and further an agenda/program they have. Obviously Obama isn't furthering a program by filling out a bracket, but I chalk that up appealing to "the kids" and trying to seem down-to-earth. Either way, it's sort of silly to get up in arms about Obama filling out a bracket. It's needless, but not a huge drain on his time.

I'll start with Jay's column about what a jerk John Calipari is. I feel like I end up defending Calipari more often than I would like to, but simply because many sportswriters seem to think it's his fault the NBA has instituted the one-and-done rule. Calipari didn't think of the rule and is on record as saying he doesn't like it. He simply plays within the rules of the one-and-done rule and that irritates writers like Jay Mariotti for some reason.

Don’t bother conducting a scientific poll. Without debate, John Calipari is the most loathed man in college basketball, primarily because what he preaches is not college basketball but something you’d have seen Kevin Trudeau hawking about college basketball on a 3:30 a.m. TV informercial (Note: Trudeau was just sentenced to a 10-year prison sentence for consumer fraud).

AND JOHN CALIPARI SHOULD BE IN JAIL FOR CONSUMER FRAUD TOO! HE SELLS TO RECRUITS THAT HE WILL GET THEM DRAFTED BY THE NBA AND THEN HE DOES THAT, WHICH IS DEFINITELY FRAUD!

Under the phony premise that his players are his only real priority as a coach — his leadership book, to be strategically released in time for the Final Four, is called “Players First’’ — Calipari is on an evangelical soapbox to prove he can point one-and-doners immediately to the NBA while they try to win a quickie NCAA championship for Kentucky.

Except for the fact Calipari has won a championship while placing his players into the NBA after one season, this definitely could be considered fraud. It's also pure speculation to state that Calipari doesn't care about his players. I can't read minds and Jay Mariotti can't read minds, but Calipari's disappointment with the performance of his 2012-2013 Kentucky team was pretty obvious when he spoke about how his team lacked discipline. I guess that wasn't sincere enough for Jay.

Of course, all he’s doing is playing to the soft academic weaknesses of teenaged hoops prodigies — “Gee, if I play for him, I can blow off school and be in the NBA the following June,’’ goes the thought process — so St. Cal can pick the players he wants and annually reload his assembly line of talent.

He doesn't pick the players he wants. He just beaten by Duke for a recruit from Ohio and he has missed out on several other recruits and he lost out on the #1 point guard in the 2014 class to SMU. Yes, recruits want to play for Kentucky to get drafted, but top recruits also choose to play for other schools who can also get them to the NBA after one season in college. Student-athletes are required by NBA rules to stay in college for a year, spend a year overseas or petition the NBA to allow them to enter the NBA Draft if they can prove they are a year removed from their high school graduation. As I've said many, many times before, one-and-done is an NBA rule not an NCAA rule.

Once he won a national championship with two such one-and-doners (Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist) two years ago, Calipari had his street cred. 

Actually, he won it with three one-and-done players, including Marcus Teague. But what are facts, even facts that could further prove Jay's point? He's got no time to look this shit up. Research is for bitches and bitches get grabbed by their hair when they are acting up.

“We don’t just play college basketball,’’ St. Cal announced as the season began. “We ARE college basketball.’’

Calipari has a lot of bravado, which may be annoying, but certainly doesn't make him a sleazeball.

No, you are a feeder system — for the grateful NBA,

Every college basketball program is a feeder system for the NBA, not just Kentucky basketball. Some colleges feed the NBA more than others, but NCAA basketball is set up as a feeder system for the NBA. So criticizing Calipari and the Kentucky program for being a feeder system to the NBA is a bit disingenuous. They aren't alone in this regard.

And until this past Sunday, a whole lot of us were delighted to see Kentucky, a season after failing to reach the NCAA tournament, struggling with maturity, cohesion and listening issues and appearing ready to exit early from this year’s tournament.

Of course Kentucky was a #8 seed, so an "early" exit would most likely the first round, unless Wichita State had gotten upset in the first round by Cal Poly.

Imagine: Only months after suggesting his team might be the first ever to go 40-0, St. Cal was taking 10 losses into the Midwest Regional. He was a walking embarassment — petulantly blowing off a post-loss press conference, complaining his team was “the most overanalyzed team in the history of sports’’ (didn’t he suggest Kentucky might go 40-0?), then complaining that his players were “counting on me too much.’’

Wait. Players First, right?

The fact Jay can't spell "embarrassment" correctly and that Calipari is sort of a hypocrite for talking about how Kentucky was overanalyzed aside, Calipari wasn't saying he didn't want to coach or care about his players, but he is commenting that his players were waiting on him to provide instructions rather than simply going out on the court and playing to their ability.

And those same players were counting on Calipari too much when they needed him most? Opinions were mounting that he was the next one done at Kentucky, eyeing the New York Knicks.

This isn't Calipari's fault. There is no indication he has attempted to pursue the New York Knicks job. Jay seems to have a double standard for head coaches, because I don't read about him criticizing Tom Izzo for having any iota of interest in the Cleveland Cavaliers job a few years ago nor the fact Izzo keeps getting connected to the Pistons job. Jay also doesn't seem to mind that Coach K has almost taken an NBA job twice (that we know of) during his coaching career. But hey, these two coaches like their players and Calipari is always looking for something better, right? That's the narrative.

Some were demanding his ouster, sensing St. Cal was much more a recruiting con man than an actual coach. His daughter, Erin, defended him on Twitter: “People saying my dad should be fired, he won 81% of his games @ UK. Coach K 79% Duke. Roy Williams 78% @ UNC. Pitino 74% @ UL … #forreference.’’

We waited for the crash.
 
Instead, Calipari’s parachute opened.

He got his team to play very well against Wichita State and the Harrison twins realized, "Hey, if we drive to the basket a lot I'm not sure very many guards in the country can stop us!"

While presumed future NBA stars Andrew Wiggins and Jabari Parker were flaming out of the tournament with eyesore performances, Calipari watched in bliss as the embattled twin brothers, Andrew and Aaron Harrison, combined for 39 points and lottery pick Julius Randle contributed his usual double-double in eliminating a 35-0 force that nearly won the national title last April.

These presumed future NBA stars are coached by Bill Self and Coach K, both coaches who have coached one-and-done players before, yet get a free pass from Jay because they haven't coached enough one-and-done players. There apparently is a limit on how many one-and-done players a coach can have before he no longer cares about them as people.

Calipari, understand, has a bad hip. It didn’t stop him from leaping and hopping by the bench as the buzzer sounded.

Clearly he is faking this bad hip. John Calipari commits consumer and insurance fraud. Arrest this man immediately!

The purists almost had their man nailed to the wall, at long last.

The idea of "purists" in the college basketball game is laughable. Nearly all coaches end up taking on one-and-done players at some point. Even Tom Izzo took on Gary Harris who easily could have gone pro last year if he had been healthy all season. It's the nature of the game. Jim Boeheim has guys who are going to go one-and-done, Roy Williams has had players go one-and-done...it's just how it is now.

“If wins are relief, it’s time for me to retire. This was great joy in seeing a group of young men come together and start figuring this out. It took longer than I’d hoped,’’ Calipari said. “This team and what people said about this team — all we’ve done all year is continue to get better. Like every team, you hit a hole when you don’t play well. But they believed in themselves.
 
“I just wish we had another month of the season, because we’re getting better every day.’’

How selfish of Calipari to say "we" as if he is part of the team. There he goes trying to take credit for what his players do on the court. It's clear by these quotes that Calipari doesn't care about his team and only wants to steal the spotlight from his players.

Remember, Kentucky rallied and nearly stole the SEC title game two weekends ago from Florida, the tournament’s No. 1 seed and clear favorite to reach the Final Four out of the South Regional. There might be seven NBA futures on this team. Nothing is more dangerous in March — and April — than pro-skilled players emerging as one with the stakes at their highest.

Imagine how good Kentucky would be if John Calipari actually cared about his players and didn't treat them as disposable goods by tossing each freshman out the door after one year so that they may achieve their goal of entering in the NBA Draft and becoming a millionaire? It's a shame Calipari puts these student-athletes in a position to achieve their dreams.

It was Willie Cauley-Stein, the sophomore forward, who said last week that Kentucky would “shock the world,’’ adding, “There’s a lot of people that don’t think we can make a run at it. And you know, a lot of people don’t want to see us make a run at it.’’

These people are better known as "Jay Mariotti." And what is this? A highly-recruited player who is a sophomore at Kentucky and didn't go to the NBA Draft? I thought Calipari kicked all of his freshman out so new freshmen could take their place? My world is spinning.

“Here’s what happened with my team,’’ Calipari said. “They now are putting themselves in a position where they’re accepting roles how they have to play. So we’re becoming a better team. Individuals are losing themselves into the team, so they’re playing better and more confident.

Hence what Calipari meant by stating his players were counting on him too much. They were waiting for him as the coach to put them into a certain role or worried about Calipari correcting the issue of not playing as a team when it is only the Kentucky players themselves who could correct this.

We love most March stories because they are embraceable, charming. Nothing is warm and fuzzy about St. Cal and the rise of his one-and-doners.

It doesn't have to be warm and fuzzy, but the high level at which they play the game could be appreciated. It was pretty cool to see the Harrison twins finally seem to understand they could dominate if they wanted to. Again, it's unfair to blame Calipari for recruiting the players he does. He is looking for a recruiting edge and his edge is that he coaches for a highly publicized school where he helps these basketball recruits get drafted into the NBA. Calipari wouldn't have to recruit these players if they could go straight to the NBA, but they can't. I recognize it's fun to hate Kentucky and hate Calipari, but let's put the blame where it belongs. Calipari isn't abusing the system any more than he is following the rules set out by the system. But of course writers like Jay Mariotti hate the one-and-done rule and naturally Calipari is a villain for not educating these players (and obviously if Calipari had not recruited him then Anthony Davis would have stayed in college for all four years, right?) and then dumping them into the NBA...which just so happens to be where these recruits want to go anyway.

Do not forget that he is the only coach who had to vacate two Final Four appearances because of NCAA rules violations, the first at UMass because Marcus Camby took money from an agent, the second at Memphis because Derrick Rose allegedly had someone else take an SAT test for him.

Calipari doesn't have a clean history. This is true.

At the center of Calipari’s self-righteous rampage through the sport is a familiar question:

I don't understand how Calipari is being self-righteous. If anyone is being self-righteous it is Jay Mariotti for claiming Calipari is the devil for taking advantage of a rule that nearly every other college coach would take advantage of if given the opportunity.

Should college athletes be paid? Again, they are being rewarded with full-ride scholarships that, if they chose to stay the full four years instead of one, are worth beyond $200,000 at many schools.

Yeah, but if someone decides to stay one year and enter the NBA he has the chance to earn much more than that in real money in one year, not over four years.

Should they also be paid a stipend out of the disgustingly mammoth pot now shared by the NCAA, the TV networks and the programs themselves? Certainly. But that won’t stop the cries of 21st-century slavery.

It may not stop those cries, but it would certainly feel more fair. A stipend also probably wouldn't stop John Calipari from recruiting one-and-done players nor prevent these players from choosing to go to the NBA after one year in college if they feel they are ready.

And that won’t stop “heroes’’ like John Calipari from swooping in and protecting these kids, Players First,

I'm not sure Calipari has ever claimed he is protecting his players. He claims he is teaching those student-athletes who enter his program how to play defense and succeed at playing the game of basketball. If this leads to the NBA, then so be it.

even when you know and I know that he’s another scam artist trying to win in a filthy sport.

Other than his past vacated Final Four appearances I fail to understand how John Calipari is a scam artist. In fact, he delivers on what his players want him to do more often than nearly every other college basketball coach. Players enter his program wanting to play in the NBA and Calipari puts them in the NBA.

Now Jay talks about how Jabari Parker can set a grand example by choosing to stay in school for one more year as opposed to entering the NBA Draft. I think Marcus Smart, James Michael McAdoo, and Mitch McGary have already set the example by choosing to stay in school. Nerlens Noel has set the example of why an athlete that has a chance to get drafted should do so. Get paid, that's the best example, because the longer you stay in college the more chances scouts get to pick you apart.

If this isn’t how Jabari Parker wants his college career to end — breaking down in tears, trying to explain the unexplainable — then he does have an option. He can stay in college.

And then wait another year for scouts to pick apart his bad defense or suffer an injury? No thanks.

He can defy the one-and-done expectation, remain at Duke for his sophomore season, tell the NBA and the agents and the TV networks and the shoe companies that they can wait until he’s good and ready.

Because we wouldn't want Parker to be chewed up and spit out by shoe companies and evil agents. He needs to stay in school where he can continue playing basketball for free and have his image marketed without any compensation in return, all while having nothing to gain in terms of his draft position from staying one more year. That sounds like a much better plan. 

Does he realize what a glorious statement that would be, rejectng immediate millions and saying yes to one more year of the college experience?

I do, because other college basketball players have done it. Jabari Parker would in no way be the first college basketball player to reject going to the NBA to come back and play another year in college. Harrison Barnes did it, Marcus Smart did it, Mitch McGary did it, as did Perry Jones III, Isaiah Austin, Terence Jones (from evil Kentucky!), Willie Cauley-Stein, Alex Poythress, James Michael McAdoo, Gary Harris, Glen Robinson III, and other players over the past decade have done the same. What's interesting about this list is that of those players that have already been drafted few actually improved their draft position by staying in school longer (except maybe Terence Jones). I don't know where Cauley-Stein/Harris/Robinson will go or if they will declare, but I already know from mock drafts I've seen that Robinson doesn't appear to be going in the first round like he may have last year.

“Incompletion,’’ he told ESPN when asked to reflect on his Duke career, after the stunning loss to Mercer in his first and maybe only NCAA tournament game.
Is it possible such a bitter disappointment will impact his decision on whether to enter the NBA draft, where he could be the No. 1 pick? “I don’t know what I’m going to do. I don’t know what I’m going to do,’’ he said, adding that he “didn’t care about the rankings’’ of draft projections.

Then Parker admitted that the emotion of the moment may be affecting his decision-making, which is a small little point that Jay cares to leave out. What could be gained from coming back to school that could not be gained from playing in the NBA? All that Parker can do is improve his stock to where he is definitely the #1 pick, with the trade-off of possibly suffering an injury or having a down year that causes his stock to fall. Just look at where Marcus Smart is now. He made the "right" decision to stay in school and now he's a guy who can't lead his team to an NCAA Tournament win and the incident at Texas Tech has his maturity called into question. Can he make his teammates better? Can he shoot the three-point shot better? The "right" decision hasn't helped him reach his goal of being drafted early and playing in the NBA.

There is no set mandate that a gifted basketball player must turn pro simply because he might be drafted first. It’s clear Parker’s game and confidence level need work, dogged as he was by 4-of-14 shooting, four turnovers and four personal fouls while continuing to have well-scrutinized defensive issues against a Mercer team showing no mercy.

And if Parker stays at Duke then NBA scouts are going to see those defensive lapses and question whether Parker can defend at the NBA level. That's assuming Parker stays healthy of course. Parker had a horrendous NCAA Tournament and he doesn't have to turn professional, but the risk-reward and examples of past players who have come back to do the "right" thing by staying one more year show that Parker may not have anywhere to go but down. I firmly believe if a college basketball player is projected to go in the Top 5 of the draft, then 9 times out of 10 it is in his best interest to enter the draft.

If he looked like a polished NBA product only two weeks ago against North Carolina,

And you know, he looked like an NBA product most of the entire college basketball season as well.

he since has faded into a funk, perhaps feeling the burden of trying to lead Duke at least into the Final Four.

Or perhaps he is simply hitting the "freshman wall" that freshmen tend to hit, especially freshmen who are expected to be the best player on their team on a nightly basis. Or perhaps Parker was tired from having to play the power forward position (and some center) during most of the season when his natural position is small forward. Besides, the burden that Parker may have felt has nothing to do with whether he should go to the NBA or not.

The best player since LeBron James is Kevin Durant, right? About a dozen other post-LeBron standouts come to mind, right? Yet that didn’t stop the ridiculous hype for Parker and Andrew Wiggins, who avoided his own second-round exit as he and Kansas fended off Eastern Kentucky.

Then Wiggins and Kansas lost in the next round to Dayton. Was it due to Wiggins being in a funk and trying to carry the burden of leading Kansas to at least the Final Four? Well, Wiggins better not go to the NBA until he can carry the burden of leading an entire team to the Final Four.

Just the day before, Parker had spoken about winning a national title. “The only way you can leave a legacy and you can leave behind memories is by winning a championship,” he said. “I know we just came up short (in the ACC tournament). I’ve got to try to do something big now.’’

Has to do something big now? He has been hearing, no doubt, the comparisons to Carmelo Anthony in terms of their offensive machinery and identical 6-8, 235-pound frames. Mike Krzyzewski, his coach, tried to temper the link before the Mercer game.

And the only way Parker can no longer hear these comparisons is to stay in college for more than one year. After that, there will be no more Carmelo Anthony comparisons ever.

Here is the most annoying part about Jay Mariotti encouraging guys like Jabari Parker to stay in school and to state that's the "right" thing to do. That annoying part is I don't believe Jay Mariotti or any of these other sportswriters would have passed up a big payday in the same situation just to stay in school and do the right thing. If ESPN had called Jay while he was in college (assuming ESPN was big when Jay was in college) during his sophomore year and said, "If you skip the last two years of college we will hire you now," does anyone really think Jay would have stayed in college for two more years? I highly doubt he would have. This same thing goes for these other sportswriters who encourage college athletes to pass up a payday in order to stay in college for one more year. Does anyone really think if the roles were reversed that sportswriter would pass up making money in order to stay in college?

“Jabari’s going to be an outstanding pro, but he’s right now in the process of development,’’ he said. “To compare the two now, there is no comparison. But in three, four, five years, Jabari, I think, will be a franchise player. He’ll be a 25-points-a-game scorer in the NBA. But he’s still developing.’’

Just because Parker is still developing doesn't mean the best place for him to develop is in college basketball and not the NBA. It's fun to get paid while developing. It's no fun to do it for free, unless Parker really cares that much about an education. Which in that case, he can always come back to Duke to get his degree anytime he wants.

The most responsible decision he could make would be to stay.

Is it though? Ask Marcus Smart how being "responsible" paid off for him. Ask Mitch McGary how being "responsible" and coming back for his sophomore year when his value was at an all-time peak after the 2013 NCAA Tournament worked out. In terms of finances, it is not responsible to stay in school. If Parker is projected to go in the Top 5 of the draft he should definitely go to the NBA. I have a hard time seeing how staying in school and potentially hurting his draft stock is responsible.

I could think of no worse fate than Parker turning pro, being drafted by the god-awful Philadelphia 76ers and being expected to lead that franchise to the promised land in an overly demanding sports town. Just 19, he surely would struggle at times in his rookie season, whereas another season at Duke under Krzyzewski would better prepare him for the NBA — 

Yes, but declaring for the NBA Draft would mean Parker is actually in the NBA and he would learn to lead a franchise by actually leading a franchise that doesn't have any other leaders, where the team can be built around him and Michael Carter-Williams/Nerlens Noel. If anything, having Noel back there would do wonders to offset Parker's defensive deficiencies and help ease his transition to playing defense at an NBA level. Yeah, I bet Jay didn't think about that did he?

and give him a chance to redeem himself in March.

And how much money does redeeming himself in March make for Parker and his family again?

That also would be a gift to Coach K,

Because the one thing Coach K needs more of is gifts. He already has four Top-50 players in the 2014 class committed to Duke and has one Top-20 recruit for the 2015 class committed to Duke. Who will be around to save Coach K when Jabari Parker is gone?

He had a health scare earlier this month, not the first time, and maybe the best plan is to coach two more seasons at Duke, coach the U.S. Olympic team to a third gold medal in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and retire.

I don't understand why Jabari Parker shouldn't go to the NBA because he needs to give Coach K a gift and be around for Coach K's final years as a basketball coach at Duke. This doesn't make sense to me. Why does the impending retirement of a head coach mean one of that coach's players has a responsibility to stay in school? I don't see how this is relevant to the discussion at hand.

It wasn’t his best coaching performance this season, with his players lagging defensively and lapsing on fundamentals.

And of course if Coach K isn't teaching his players the fundamentals and how to play defense why wouldn't Jabari Parker stick around to take advantage of this shitty teaching when he could be in the NBA making money? Come on Jay, you say Parker will learn more staying in college and then state you don't think Coach K did a good job coaching this year. It can't be both ways. Parker isn't very good on defense yet, so why would he stick around if Coach K let his players lag on defense? That's not going to help Parker improve.

Besides Jay is wrong, Coach K didn't do a poor job coaching the entire season. There wasn't a quality center on the roster, the three seniors were disappointments or non-contributors, and the two players he built the team (Hood/Parker) around were weak on defense and had to play out of position too often. Part of the reason these two players were so weak on defense is they played out of position for most of the season (especially Parker). Either way, if Jay thinks Coach K did a shitty job coaching, then I don't see how it is responsible at all for Parker to come back for his sophomore year.

Is it time for to wonder if Harvard’s Tommy Amaker, one of his many protegees, is the best man to replace him?

Remember when this column was about Jabari Parker setting an example by not leaving for the NBA? What ever happened to that?

Everyone knows Chris Collins is going to be the man to replace Coach K. Collins is a great recruiter and just has to prove he can coach. So far, he's done a pretty damn good coaching at Northwestern.

Soon enough, he will be visiting another young man to discuss the future. If he tells Jabari Parker to follow his heart, that artery will lead him back to Durham.

Unfortunately, this is a case of the heart leading Parker wrong. If he's projected to be a Top 5 draft pick then Parker should absolutely enter the NBA Draft. Just take a look at recent players who have chosen to stay for their sophomore year and where they were drafted the year after. It's not a list that tells me it is responsible to stay for another year in college if the ultimate goal is to be drafted as high as possible in the NBA Draft. This is just another example of a sportswriter unconscionably encouraging an amateur athlete to hold off on getting paid when this isn't the same decision this sportswriter would make in the same situation.

Jay Mariotti sucks and it would be responsible for Sports Talk Florida to not allow him a forum to give his trolling opinions. 

If this isn’t how Jabari Parker wants his college career to end — breaking down in tears, trying to explain the unexplainable — then he does have an option. He can stay in college.
Read more at http://www.sportstalkflorida.com/parker-would-set-grand-example-by-staying/#pyL4E7hLjsXRQtOa.99

Don’t bother conducting a scientific poll. Without debate, John Calipari is the most loathed man in college basketball, primarily because what he preaches is not college basketball but something you’d have seen Kevin Trudeau hawking about college basketball on a 3:30 a.m. TV informercial (Note: Trudeau was just sentenced to a 10-year prison sentence for consumer fraud).
Read more at http://www.sportstalkflorida.com/nothing-admirable-about-the-calipari-way/#HyFb5ltwwGFkuBIb.99

0 comments Bleacher Report Tells Us Jabari Parker is a Turning Point for Duke Basketball, Except He Isn't

Bleacher Report is always an interesting to read. There are tons of unpaid writers who are looking to write something that gets attention for themselves. So I often read things that aren't especially well-written, but take a strong stand against/for something. Attention is what it is about. Then you have articles that are supposed to be well-thought out and not attention-grabbing, but they are just wrong. We have an article like that today. The author of the column says Jabari Parker and the hype around him presents a unique challenge for Duke basketball and Coach K. I think other recruits have gotten more hype and I also think any hype around Jabari Parker isn't anything Coach K hasn't seen before. He was the coach of the Men's Olympic Basketball team twice and has coached for over 30 years at Duke, but for some reason the author thinks Jabari Parker changes the Duke basketball program permanently and presents a change in the direction of the program.

There aren't many things left on Mike Krzyzewski's professional bucket list.

Outside of back-to-back-to-back national titles (which will never ever happen again) there isn't anything else he could do at Duke. Yep, he's a good coach, moving on...

He's won four national championships, been to 11 Final Fours and coached tens of future NBA standouts.

"Tens of?" Just say dozens. Also, Arizona Wildcats fans say Duke has won three national championships because the 2001 National Title Game was an officiating abomination and the Wildcats should have won that national title.

The list of accomplishments is long enough to write a second Declaration of Independence. This season, he'll be trying to add another: managing the hype of incoming prep star Jabari Parker.

For those of us paying attention, which I include myself among them, the hype machine for freshmen so far appears to be in this order:

Andrew Wiggins
The Kentucky recruiting class
Jabari Parker

So really, there is hype, but not more than most other talented freshmen are receiving. Austin Rivers and Kyrie Irving had a ton of hype coming into college well and Coach K managed the hype very well. He managed Austin Rivers, who wasn't exactly loved by his teammates, very well during Rivers' year at Duke. So managing Jabari Parker is going to be much easier than that. That's where this entire column falls apart. The author acts like Parker is the type of player Coach K has never seen before when this could not be further from the truth. Parker is low maintenance, talented, and by all accounts a good kid. There is nothing Parker presents that Coach K hasn't seen before, no matter how much the author wants to make it seem like there is. Jabari Parker, as we have seen, is a great player. Still, managing the hype of Parker doesn't seem like something it would be difficult for Coach K to do. I'm sure he has had bigger expectations and hype to manage during his coaching career.

As the Blue Devils prepare for their season-opening clash against Davidson on Friday night, the conversation is fixated on Parker, as if his mere presence is that of an endangered species.

I can't speak for Duke fans everywhere, but most Duke fans I know wanted to see Rodney Hood play as much as they want to see Parker. The conversation really wasn't as fixated on Parker as much as the author wants to make it seem like. 

Everyone wants to know how he's playing, what his role will be and how this quiet young man will deal with the smoldering spotlight.

Yep, it's not the first time Coach K has had to handle an incoming freshman who has some hype surrounding him. Coach K has coached an Olympic team that had Kevin Durant, Dwayne Wade, Chris Paul, LeBron James, and Carmelo Anthony on it. These guys have egos and were only being coached in the short-term by Coach K, so other than pride in their country, they had no reason to buy into what he was teaching and subjugate their egos. So while Parker may not have the maturity of these players, the author is stretching it a bit in acting like finding a role for a talented player is unfamiliar territory for Coach K.

Kansas star Andrew Wiggins' reclassification took the entire onus off Parker a bit. Wiggins is the can't-miss superstar whose expected presence in the 2014 NBA draft is causing Tankapalooza around the Association.

Exactly and that's why there isn't as much pressure on Jabari Parker at Duke. He's surrounded by a talented supporting cast and he isn't expected to carry the entire load of the team.

Remember, though, it was Parker—not Wiggins—who earned the moniker "the best high school basketball player since LeBron James" from Sports Illustrated.

Well, Parker "earned" that moniker in May of 2012. Andrew Wiggins was a sophomore at that point and it was really too early to say he was the best high school basketball player since LeBron James. Parker was a junior and it's not like Parker and Wiggins were on the same grade level at that point, so it would not have been an even comparison. A high school athlete coming off his junior season is much different from a high school athlete coming off his sophomore season. So basically Parker and Wiggins weren't being compared at this point, so it's not like Parker "earned" the moniker over Wiggins.

Parker represents something of a test case for Krzyzewski.

No, he doesn't. Not really.

When Parker, at the time neck and neck Wiggins for the top player in the Class of 2013, decided to attend Duke, it signified a slight changing of the guard at Duke.

It doesn't really, but I guess it's fun to pretend.

By all accounts, Parker is expected to play just one year in college before leaving for the NBA.

Really? By "all accounts" Parker is expected to play just one year in college before leaving for the NBA? I guess by "all accounts" the author isn't including what Jabari Parker has said himself.

I'm don't entirely expect Jabari Parker to stay in college for more than one year, but it's absolutely untrue that by all accounts he is expected to play just one year in college. Parker has gone out of his way to state that he would consider staying in college for more than one year. Maybe he's lying, but even the "Sports Illustrated" article stated he wasn't your typical one-and-done college basketball player.

Schools that recruited Parker did so on the basis of preparing him for the pro game.

That isn't something that Krzyzewski takes lightly.

Especially since Krzyzewski has coached one-and-done players like Corey Maggette, Luol Deng, Kyrie Irving, and Austin Rivers already. He knows what these one-and-done guys are looking for during their one year in college.

Remember, this is the same Coach K who has spoken out multiple times about the one-and-done rule, which forces players to be at least one year removed from high school before entering the NBA draft.

If this author would do his research he would know that most college coaches hate the one-and-done rule. They do two years of work to recruit a player they only have on-campus for less than eight months? What college coach would actually like the one-and-done rule? So in typical Bleacher Report fashion the author is confusing liking the one-and-done rule with being willing to recruit college athletes who are probably going to be one-and-done. There is a difference.

SEC coaches don't like the one-and-done rule. The poster boy coach, unfairly, for the one-and-done rule doesn't like the one-and-done rule. Calipari has been willing to work his program around college basketball players who are willing to be in college for one year only and not every coach has wanted to do this. Traditionally, Coach K doesn't like to do this, but he has made exceptions. So most college coaches don't like the one-and-done rule because it ruins their hard work and makes it more difficult to keep talented players on the roster for longer periods of time to be coached by them.

His exact phrasing, according to USA Today, was that the NBA "controls college basketball."

Which is absolutely true in my opinion.

It was as curmudgeonly as one would expect from the decidedly old-school coach.

Yes, I guess Coach K is old-school. I don't know how many old-school coaches who appears to be in favor of changing the definition of "amateurism" and indicating the NCAA system isn't working like it should be though. He is old-school, but much of his success as a coach has come from learning new ideas and adapting the Duke team to those new ideas. So if Coach is a curmudgeon because he doesn't like the one-and-done rule, then a lot of college basketball coaches could be considered curmudgeons.

But even if Coach K doesn't love the one-and-done rule, he's slowly coming to embrace it. Kyrie Irving and Austin Rivers both entered the draft after one season. Parker will be his third one-and-done in four seasons.

Maybe Parker will be a one-and-done. If you have done any type of research into Jabari Parker you would know he isn't your typical college basketball player who will be a high draft pick. Most people thought Harrison Barnes would be a one-and-done. There is a list of college players who were considered one-and-done over the last few years that really weren't one-and-done. Cody Zeller was thought to be a guy who could be one-and-done, so was Perry Jones III, Isiah Austin, Marcus Smart, Willie Cauley-Stein (just based on the fact he went to Kentucky, it sort of profiles him to be a one-and-done), Kyle Anderson, and Alex Poythress (again, recruiting profiling). My point is you never know what kids will do, so saying Parker is going to be one-and-done is presumptive.

These are changing times at Duke. Irving was considered a one-and-done possibility, but not a guarantee.

This is revisionist history. Kyrie Irving was always considered a one-and-done by most people and only his foot injury really set him back. Plus, there is rarely such a thing as a one-and-done guarantee, so stop writing things like that.

I'm still scratching my head over Rivers' decision to turn pro, as it seems are the NBA teams who have watched his career already go up in flames. 

This is just shitty writing. Rivers' decision to go pro wasn't a head-scratcher of a decision. He appeared to be ready for the NBA after his one year at Duke. His decision to go pro wasn't the problem and shouldn't cause anyone to scratch their head. It is his ability in the NBA that should make you scratch your head and wonder what the hell happened to him. So this writing seems to indicate it was Rivers' decision to go pro that should be questioned, when that's not true. He appeared to be ready to at-worst be a guy who could score points off the bench as a combo guard, so his decision to go pro is a head-scratcher only in wondering why he is so terrible in the NBA.

Parker, by all accounts, is the first player Coach K has recruited and landed during this era where the John Calipari wink-wink agreement was in place.

Rivers was going to be a one-and-done, Irving looked like a one-and-done and if Shawn Livingston had come to Duke (as he had committed to them) then he was going to be a one-and-done. Also, the idea of a "wink-wink agreement" being in place is stupid. There's no winking involved because college basketball players can go to the NBA after one season in college. It's perfectly within the rules and there's no need to act like it isn't.

Krzyzewski must work to manage the Parker hype, while accentuating the young man's talents in a way that engenders his school to more one-and-done type talents. 

You mean sort of like how (in hindsight) he got everything out of Austin Rivers' talent and then Parker committed to Duke after that and Rodney Hood (another guy who is looking at the NBA after this season) transferred to Duke? Parker isn't the test-case for Coach K's new love for the one-and-done rule. The test case(s) already occurred.

There's no turning point here, there's no fork in the road and there is nothing for Coach K to deal with that he hasn't dealt with before. It's all been done and there's no need to be dramatic about Parker committing to Duke.

“I’m not surprised about Rodney,” Krzyzewski said, via the Charlotte Observer's Laura Keeley. “Rodney, every day last year … he handled that situation unbelievably well and many times was our best player.

Again, to nitpick the author...Laura Keeley works for the Raleigh News-Observer mainly. Her columns are farmed out to the Charlotte Observer because both papers are owned by the same company, but she really works for the Raleigh paper. Both papers do seem to like "observing" though, almost as much as I like nit-picking.

It's telling that, rather than give the young captaincy spot to Parker, as one might expect for a player with such considerable hype, Coach K gave it to Hood.

What in the hell is this telling of? Rodney Hood is a redshirt junior and Jabari Parker is a freshman. Coach K will never, and I mean never, give a freshman a captain spot. In fact, 90% of college basketball coaches would not give a captain spot to a freshman. So it's only telling of the policy against naming freshmen as team captains when there are older players who have been in the program longer and been better leaders.

The author never does tell us what Parker not being named a captain is telling of.

Traditional positions are for your stat sheets only. Parker could oscillate between the 3 and 4 all season.

Actually, he will oscillate between the 3, 4, and 5 position on the court. Small details...

The Blue Devils come into the season ranked fourth in the nation. When Krzyzewski spoke at the school's Countdown to Craziness ceremony, he instructed the fans to look up in the rafters of Cameron Indoor Stadium, where his numerous accomplishments hang down like ghosts of the past. There were the national championships. The Final Fours. The ACC crowns...telling them that each senior class has left with something to hold on to since he's arrived in Durham.

Well, not EVERY senior class has left with something to hold on to since he's arrived at Duke. Just the ones that he has recruited, which isn't any less impressive.

He instructed them that nothing had changed. That they'd get to leave with a lasting memory hanging from the hallowed arena.

But everything has changed...at least for the purposes of this article where the author is insisting everything has changed even though it hasn't.

That may be true. But for Krzyzewski to make sure nothing changes, he needs to realize that everything already has.

What? This makes not of sense. To make sure nothing changes, Krzyzweski needs to realize everything has changed? But if everything has changed then he can't make sure nothing changes because everything has already changed. This is what happens when a writer tries to play around with deep thoughts. They write something that sounds deep, but in fact could very well be gibberish.

Starting with Parker.

Not at all. Parker hasn't changed anything. He is just a recruit who committed to play for Duke and may only stay at the school for one year. Coach K has dealt with these types of recruits before and will deal with them again. Don't be dramatic in order to churn out a column. The nature of college basketball is that teams change from year-to-year, but let's not be so dramatic about what Jabari Parker supposedly represents to the Duke program.

0 comments Dick Vitale Will Be Glad to Chat With You, Just Don't Criticize Anyone He Likes

Dick Vitale seems like a nice guy. He drives me batty though. I can't listen to him call a college basketball game because he is constantly talking, yelling and generally straying off topic. I am sure he has some sort of college basketball knowledge based on the fact he works for ESPN as a basketball analyst, but he mainly serves as a sideshow during the game and refuses to step out of the way of a game when something remarkable happens (see: Gonzaga v. Butler game earlier this year). The game quickly becomes about Dick Vitale and what stories he has to tell during a broadcast. I rarely watch a game Vitale broadcasts and rarely feel I learn more about a coach/player than his parent's name and whether they are good people or not. The game is all about Dick, pimping out the next thing Dick is doing and Dick name-dropping those people he knows, so his tangents will often conflict with the game action being shown. So Dick does weekly chats for ESPN where he sort of, but not really, answers questions in a vague manner. He also feels very strongly about defending his friends from any type of criticism. His schtick got old a decade ago and you can feel him yelling at you through your computer. But hey, he does seem like a nice guy.

Dick Vitale (11:04 AM)

Good to be with you this morning for another chat...Meanwhile, I had a great game earlier this week as Michigan edged Ohio State in overtime. I am looking forward to going to South Bend this weekend to see Louisville against Notre Dame.

Tell us more about your schedule this week. That's all we really care about anyway. Did you talk to Rick Pitino this week. Does he have diaper dandies? Speak up and yell at us because we are all deaf.

Nick (Indiana)

Mr. Vitale,Last week you stated Oladipo has the skill set of MJ. How well of a player do you think he can be in the NBA.

Well Nick, he will be a very well player in the NBA. He does basketball good and makes good dribbles of the ball to get into basket with ball in his hand as crowd cheers go basketball player man!

Also, don't listen to Dick Vitale when he compares Player A to Player B. He's not always paying attention to what he says and you shouldn't either.

DV: Let's not worry about the NBA.

The question was about the NBA, so saying "let's not worry about the NBA" is basically saying, "I choose not to answer your question that I specifically chose to answer for the purposes of this chat."

I said he is a mini version when Michael was on the collegiate version. He exploded when he went to the NBA scene. I want people to understand that. 

True, but Michael Jordan was the #3 overall pick behind Hakeem Olajuwon, so it's not like he was a late-first round prospect. He was a very, very good college player.

Matthew (Omaha)

Who is your pick for Player of the Year right now, Trey Burke or Doug McDermott?

DV: Today I would go with Trey Burke. He has had such an impact on the Michigan team. McDermott is right up there despite the loss to Indiana State. You can see my super seven on my page on espn.com

What? You mean Dick answered the question by hedging and then attempted to do some self-publicity? You don't say.

Matthew (Los Angeles, California)

What is the best game that you have ever seen?

DV:  The one that was most dramatic was watching my buddy win the national championship because of what was at stake and the underdog role in the eyes of people, Jimmy V. vs. Phi Slama Jama in Albuquerque.

You see what I am talking about? Everything is very Vitale-centric. The most dramatic game wasn't NC State v. Houston, but Dick watching his "buddy" win the national championship. This game was seen by Dick through the prism of how HIS friend won the game. It's how he broadcasts games as well. There may be good action going on or something that needs to be explained and Dick Vitale will instead be off on a tangent about the Tampa Bay Rays or talking about what a great job a coach at another school has done. Don't even get me started, even though I sort of already am, on how he can't ever be quiet and leave a exciting moment alone. He has to yell through that moment.

Tom (Virginia)

Did you think ODU should have fired Blaine Taylor during the season? I know they are 2-20, but why not let him finish the season, they were not going to the conference tournament anyway.

DV: I don't buy coaches being fired druring the season unless it is a moral situation.

Well morally, Old Dominion was tired of their basketball team losing and wanted to make a change. There's nothing to "buy" in this situation because no one is being convinced. ODU was terrible and the school wanted to make a change so they could turn the situation around as soon as possible.

Don't fired him over wins and losses until after the season. I especially don't like it when a guy has given so much to the university as he did.

Yeah, I hate how him got fired. It's about results though and why wait until after the season to fire a coach that was going to be fired anyway? Get a jump on recruiting and finding a different head coaching candidate now. 2-20 is a miserable record anyway. A team doesn't go 2-20 by accident.

seth (ohio)

It's obvious you like Aaron Craft. Do you really think he can go to the next level? I know he can facilitate offensivley but does't he need to develop an outside shot?

DV: I said he can be a role player and make a roster. If he ever improves his shot, watch out. He is a tough, competitive winner who is unique and special.

Step back everyone, this is some analysis going on here. Aaron Craft is special, unique and he's a winner. Does it help he is surrounded by good talent on the Ohio State team? No, it doesn't. He's a winner. Also, Aaron Craft needs to improve his ability to shoot the basketball, but that probably doesn't matter because he is a winning winner who is very unique and special.

Dan (THE U)

Who do you think is National Coach of the Year at this point? Can anyone stop Jim Larranaga?

DV: Larranaga is certainly in the mix. There are a lot of good candidates. What about the job Krzyzewski and Duke given Ryan Kelly being out.

Absolutely Coach K should be given consideration. When Ryan Kelly went down with a foot injury, Coach K then had to rely more on a Top 50 recruit (Alex Murphy) and two McDonald's All-American freshmen. What a burden! What other coaches in college basketball have an injury to a player and then HAVE to turn to two McDonald's All-Americans to fill the void? Give the poor guy some options. I'm just surprised with the lack of talent on the Duke bench they aren't a .500 team right now.

There are a lot of guys in the running and it is still early. Does anyone realize the job Larry Eustachy has done at Colorado State? 19 wins already and they may be ranked soon. It is still early.

As Joe Morgan used to say, it's too early to tell. Has Larry Eustachy done a good job? Maybe, it's too early to tell. Is ice water cold? Perhaps, but it's too early to tell.

Terry (Detroit)

Can Michigan State make the Final Four

DV: Yes, Tom Izzo's team can certainly win the Big Ten again, they are right there knocking on the door. Izzo is a fierce competitor who got another good win last night. He would battle you in checkers and chess. I am looking forward to going to East Lansing to sit next to Magic Johnson, who is one of my favorite players of all time.

This answer is very indicative of what is it like to hear Dick Vitale call a game. He starts discussing a topic, brings the topic around to himself and finally...

What he has done with his life after basketball is an amazing success story and he is so special.

...he is completely off topic and there is a game going on and the viewer is having a non-game related story being thrown at them while on-court action is taking place.

Evan (Kentucky)

Dick, what's your take on many of the top 10 teams having legitimate struggles recently, Duke, UL, KU, etc. Do you think it's a legitimate possibility that about 30 teams have a shot to win it all this year due to the mediocrity? 

DV: I will tell you, I would say about 15 that could win it all. It is as wide open as ever. When you are talking about winning six game sin a row, you separate some teams out of there.

So Dick Vitale says that 15 teams could win it all, but then says once you talk about those teams that could win it all, there are teams separated out. To win the NCAA Tournament a team has to win six games in a row, so doesn't that mean there aren't 15 teams that could win it all?

Cosmo (Anytown, USA)

What job is Coach K doing without Kelly? They are flawed and lost by more than any #1 ranked team ever - and they will not challenge the better teams from other conferences. The ACC sticks right now. Keep up the good work.

Minus the misspelling about how the ACC "sticks" right now, Cosmo is coming after Duke which is an egregious error that will not stand for Dick Vitale. He will smite you for such an obvious affront.

DV: Bottom line is he has done an amazing job. They did get blown out of a game and that happens. Carolina got blown out by Florida State and then went to win the title.

Both good points. But then Dick Vitale just can't help himself...

Kelly is a key guy and obviously you are a Duke hater and are absolutely thrilled when Duke comes up short. 

Yes, clearly by looking at a college basketball team and using his knowledge to form an opinion that Duke is a flawed team Cosmo isn't simply giving an opinion, but being a "Duke hater." Pointing out Duke struggles to win on the road without Kelly and that 99% of the coaches in college basketball would love to have the quality depth of talent behind Kelly for when he got injured and this needs to be factored in when determining the great job Coach K has done is irrelevant to Vitale. Not many college basketball teams can throw a McDonald's All-American like Amile Jefferson on the court when an injury to a starter occurs.

To knock Coach K is an absolute joke; we should all do what Coach K has done in his career. He is an outstanding hmanitarian who is so dedicated to help raise money in the battle for cancer at the V Foundation.

THIS is part of the problem I find with Dick Vitale. He's so busy defending his friends and talking about all the great things they do off the court that he doesn't have the time or inclination to objectively look at the situation when calling a game. The fact Coach K is a humanitarian is irrelevant when it comes to criticism of him and the job he does as a head coach. If Dick Vitale can't understand that, then that's a negative mark on him. Questioning the job Coach K is doing is not criticizing him as a person. It's business, not personal. I think Coach K has done a good job of adjusting the offense and defense without Ryan Kelly, but I also acknowledge it is a lot easier to do when you have really good (though young) players on the bench. Criticism of a coach isn't making it personal and Vitale makes the error in believing it is.

Obviously anything he does will not please you.

Just a note for future broadcasters, when you are confronted with criticism of a person you like and decide to respond to said criticism with righteous anger and indignation at this person being criticized and cite his "humanitarian" efforts then you should probably go ahead and retire. I say this because you have gotten to the point where you are no longer capable of being a neutral observer and are taking criticism way too personally.

He has done a great job this season and his team is in the top five, with wins over the likes of Louisville and Ohio State. Give me a break.

But he (and Duke) did this WITH RYAN KELLY HEALTHY! That's not what Cosmo is talking about. Cosmo is saying that without Kelly, Duke has almost lost to Wake Forest and Boston College on the road. He's saying Duke was blown out by Miami and handily beaten by N.C. State on the road. It's a fair criticism and to respond to it with "Yeah, but look at their wins against Louisville and Ohio State" completely misses the point of the question and the criticism. Again, this is indicative of how Dick Vitale calls a basketball game. He will ignore the action on the court in order to describe what Coach K (or another coach) is doing for the community. It's great to hear, but not when these stories are being told at the expense of the action of the game being analyzed.

I am sure Vitale would say I am just being a Duke hater and nothing Coach K does will please me. I'm also pretty sure that's incredibly incorrect.

Bill (Toronto)

have you seen VT's Erick Green play this year? If so, do you think his play relates well to the NBA?

DV: Green is a talented player who has the potential to make it in the NBA. He has a scorer's mentality.

Clearly Dick Vitale hasn't seen Erick Green play because he just gave a generic, computerized answer to the question.

Teddy (NY)

How excited are you about calling the national championship game?

DV: I am thrilled to be calling a national semifinal and the championship game for ESPN International. It will air in some 10 countries.

Well then we are very impressed with your achievements Dick. You know those people who try to be humble when they are talking about their achievements, but because they always bring up how lucky they are to be in the position they are in, you get the feeling they aren't really being humble? That's how I feel sometimes about Dick Vitale. He poses this answer as something he can't believe he is privileged enough to participate in, but I get the feeling he is more bragging he is calling the national semifinal and championship game that will air in 10 countries.

I just hope my buddies in Italy will hear me!

That probably won't be an issue. You won't even need a microphone.

It will be special and I am very excited about this. I have never called the final game and it will be so special.

I'm glad you are impressed with yourself. Just be sure to bring up how special it is when there is 8 minutes left in the Florida-Kansas national championship game. That's the perfect time to go off on a tangent and talk about yourself.

Skip (Oregon)

Can my Ducks make a deep run in March--if they get Artis back soon?

DV: He is an important piece of the puzzle.

Translation: "I don't know who he is. Is he a Diaper Dandy? Does he know Coach K? If not, I don't care who he is."

They are a different team without him. Again, it is so wide open it is hard to dismiss anyone at this point among the top teams in the polls.

Oregon is ranked in the Top 25, but they aren't a top team in the poll. In fact, on his site Vitale didn't have Oregon even ranked in his own Top 25 for the week he did this chat. So I don't know if he means to refer to Oregon as a "top team" but it is clear Vitale doesn't believe Oregon is a top team. I think the questions Dick answers should be limited to questions such as,

"On a scale of 1-10 is Coach K a great humanitarian or a super-duper humanitarian?"

"Tell us more about some of your achievements."

"When calling a game, do you find 1% of people enjoy your yelling, or do you find 95% of people wish you would stay on topic?"

"Is UNC-Duke a good rivalry? I've never heard your opinion on this matter."

DV: I have my seven impact players posted on espn.com/dickvitale.

There is also a picture on the site of Dick Vitale with his mouth wide open yelling at us and "Your awesome baby!" written beside it, so I think it may be better to avoid this site completely. I find it shocking who ESPN chooses to give exposure to among their talent. Doris Burke is an excellent analyst who actually points out what happens on the court and why it happened. Sure, she sometimes gets caught up in the coach-worship, but at least she pays attention and analyzes the games. It's taken her a while, but ESPN is finally giving her a shot at calling games that aren't Division II title games or women's basketball games.

I can't wait for Louisville-ND as six of the last eight meetings have been decided in overtime or double-overtime.

And the Louisville-ND game went into five overtimes.

Louisville is starting to get things together. Rick Pitino belongs in the Hall of Fame, period.

And really, isn't that what this Louisville-ND game is all about? It's about Dick Vitale getting a chance to talk about how Rick Pitino needs to be in the Hall of Fame. After all, when Dick has a forum like that, there's no time to analyze and talk about the game going on. It's better to stick to meaningless catchphrases that further your own brand while spending time normally spent analyzing the Louisville-ND game to tell us what a great guy Rick Pitino is. Actually, I should just be happy he would be spending time talking about a head coach who is currently coaching in the very game he is calling.

5 comments Bleacher Report Writers Troll Us Yet Again

I am sure many of you have read the article about Bleacher Report that was in "San Francisco Weekly" last month. It essentially stated Bleacher Report uses algorithms to determine what topics for articles their readers will be wanting to read in the future and encourages their writers to overstate or understate their opinion when writing a column on these topics. So basically Bleacher Report is a site that writes articles with the sole intent of trolling their readers. Clearly this isn't a shock to anyone who has read any of the Bleacher Report articles I have ever posted on this blog. We've seen quite a few examples of the type of "journalism" some of the Bleacher Report articles embarrass themselves with. What makes matters worse is Bleacher Report seems to be gaining in popularity and credibility, which is a terrifying prospect. There are good writers at Bleacher Report, but to me, most of the writing appears to not meet the standard of interesting, intelligent or well-thought out writing that I would expect from a site that large. I guess that is what happens when you troll your audience.

Today I have two articles from Bleacher Report which exemplifies my issues with the site. The first one is entitled "Are Coach K and Duke Basketball Losing Their Luster with Recruits?" I find that Bleacher Report basically re-writes the same damn article every other week, so to none of my surprise we have seen this question asked before and I answered it with a resounding "no." This is a famous Bleacher Report method of writing. The title is used to troll the audience and get pageviews and then the content completely refutes the title. It's like if I wrote a blog posted entitled "Is President Obama Spreading Sexually Transmitted Diseases Through His Handshake?" or a more sports-relevant blog posting titled "Is Robert Griffin III Now the Best Quarterback in the NFL?" These titles are simply meant to get a reaction from readers. It's ridiculous and the site has no shame at times.

Let's start the slideshow!

It's undeniable—players who go through the Duke Blue Devils basketball program come out as better players.

Unless you want to count those players' performance in the NBA! (high-fives the nearest UNC Tar Heels fan)

However, Duke's inability to recruit with the other top programs in the country begs the question:

My question being how the hell do you think Duke can't recruit with the other top programs in the country?

Duke has the 12th ranked recruiting class for 2012 according to ESPN.

Duke has the 11th ranked recruiting class for 2013 according to ESPN.

I was going to rank Duke's class in Scout.com's rankings, but they have made their site almost unnavigable to my small little brain. The point is Duke still recruits with the big guys and the 2013 class is going to be in the Top 10 before all is said and done because they have 3-4 targets still uncommitted and they will probably land one of those guys. 

The bottom line is this statement isn't true. Duke doesn't have an inability to recruit with other top programs. No one is recruiting as well as John Calipari and Kentucky are right now, but Duke has no issue recruiting with other top programs for players they want. But no, seriously, write an entire slideshow based on an opinion that is dressed up as a fact.

Here are a few ways the Blue Devils are losing their luster with recruits.

Remember this sentence. "Here are a few ways the Blue Devils are losing their luster with recruits." The argument is Duke IS losing luster with recruits. This is important to remember since the author refutes this statement very shortly.

Coach K's Tough Reputation

It's worth asking at this point if there are times when Coach K's hard-nosed reputation catches up with him in the recruiting process.

It loses the recruits who wouldn't fit the Duke system anyway. It's the same way Tom Izzo's reputation for tough defense and rebounding loses him some recruits, while the fact Syracuse plays zone defense costs them recruits. Even the best coaches can't be everything to everyone.

There's no way to prove it, as recruits rarely cite reasons for choosing against certain schools. But it's worth asking if Coach K is willing to pander to recruits to the extent that other schools do.

But fuck it, let's ask the question anyway and then create an answer that not-so-coincidentally fits the point the author wants to prove.

"Does Mitt Romney have genital herpes? There's no way to say yes or no, but the odds are good since he hasn't been caught in an affair with another woman."

Other Schools' Emergence

I've covered this before. How would other schools' emergence only affect Duke? It wouldn't. Other schools emerging affects the recruiting of all high-profile basketball programs. Since it is a college basketball-wide issue, this a Duke-only issue and therefore should not be included in this discussion.

The Kentucky Wildcats, UCLA Bruins, Baylor Bears and Arizona Wildcats have each done an exceptional job recruiting top high school basketball talent in recent classes,

How old is this author? Seven years old? UCLA, Kentucky and Arizona aren't emerging teams. They are historically good basketball programs. So the entire topic is not only ridiculous, but the author chooses the worst examples possible of emerging college programs.

It remains to be seen if bringing in this talent will translate to conference titles, but it looks as if these schools will be loaded for now and the future.

Other than the National Championship that Kentucky won last year and the Elite Eight the Baylor team made, it all remains to be seen how this recruiting of talent will work out for these teams.

"How will drafting Tom Brady work out for the Patriots? We'll see in the very near future!"

Are They Really Losing Their Luster?

From earlier in the slideshow:

Here are a few ways the Blue Devils are losing their luster with recruits.

So the author writes an entire column telling us why Duke is losing luster with recruits and one of his reasons for how Duke is losing their luster is "Are They Really Losing Their Luster?" Of all things holy, please explain to me how the hell this makes any sense. The author writes a hypothesis that Duke is losing their luster to recruits and then uses the opposite point of view as a reason why the hypothesis statement isn't true, but doesn't seem to have enough self-awareness to notice he just contradicted himself.

The Blue Devils will integrate freshman Rasheed Sulaimon into their guard rotation this year. Sulaimon was the 18th-ranked recruit in the nation in 2012 by Rivals.com, and as high as No. 12 by ESPN.com.

The Blue Devils also landed freshman Amile Jefferson, who Scout.com ranked as the 21st overall recruit in the country in 2012. Jefferson will also step into Duke's rotation as a freshman.

Despite not landing a top-10 recruit in 2012, Coach K still found two players in the top 25 who fit the Blue Devils' disciplined style.

(Bengoodfella bangs head on his desk repeatedly ) 

This is Bleacher Report everyone. The authors don't believe what they write and then aren't even good enough writers to not contradict their own point. So Duke is losing its luster to top recruits as long as you don't count the Top 20 recruits that are still committing to the school.

How Much Does it Matter? 

I don't know, but you are the guy writing an entire fucking article about this, so it obviously matters to you in some way.

The Duke Blue Devils were hoisting the national championship trophy no less than three years ago, so it's worth asking if losing their luster is going to cost them in the all-important win column.

Because three years is an enormous amount of time to go between winning national titles. That's like decades. Will Tom Izzo EVER win another National Title? Isn't he so overrated as a coach?

Coach K has built the program up enough to sustain its level of dominance, even if the team isn't recruiting top-10 talent every year.

But you never answered your own question. Is Duke losing its luster with recruits? Answering your own statement that you believe Duke isn't getting quality recruits anymore with reasoning like "How much does it matter?" and a statement that Duke isn't losing luster doesn't qualify as a deep thought or any type of quality writing. It's simply writing a hypothesis and then directly contradicting it.

The author based his entire column around a statement, contradicted this statement and then asked if the statement even mattered. It's unbelievable this got posted on the Internet.

The next Bleacher Report article (it's not a slideshow, so here is a Kleenex for your tears at not being able to view a slideshow) is on how LeBron James needs a second NBA Title more than he needed the first one.

LeBron James finally got the monkey,

Racist. 

better known as his first NBA title, off his back.

Now that that accomplishment is in his rear-view mirror, it's time for LeBron to focus on something that is going to have much bigger impact on his legacy—his second NBA title.

And here LeBron was thinking about just coasting for the rest of his NBA career. He has a new plan initiated after reading this article, he is going to try to win another NBA Title.

But to be the best of the best, and to enter into the realm of legitimate Jordan comparisons, he absolutely has to repeat this season.

Apparently this is a realm where two NBA Titles are now equal to six NBA Titles. In this realm, Derek Fisher and Robert Horry are both Hall of Fame-bound.

Almost every player that is considered a truly elite player repeated as an NBA Champion.

Sorry Tim Duncan, you aren't elite. You may have won four NBA Titles, but you may not be considered an elite player because they weren't back-to-back.

Sorry Larry Bird, you may not be considered an elite player either. You should have won back-to-back NBA Titles. 

Magic Johnson did it in 1987 and 1988. Hakeem Olajuwon did it in 1994 and 1995. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1987 and 1988.

Kobe Bryant did it twice: First with Shaquille O'Neal in 2001, 2002 and 2003 and most recently by himself in 2009 and 2010.

Apparently the realm where this article was written is a world where Kobe Bryant won two NBA Titles by himself and Pau Gasol doesn't exist. 

The point is the best of the best in the NBA win back-to-back titles, and LeBron needs to add that to his resume to continue to climb the mountain of the best ever.

Yeah, not really. LeBron could just be like possibly non-elite players such as Tim Duncan or Larry Bird and win multiple titles, but none back-to-back. I wonder what other arbitrary standard LeBron has to meet in order to be considered an elite player if that ended up happening? 

If LeBron wants to truly be the king of the NBA, he has to start winning back-to-back titles, and his best chance at doing that is right now.

His best chance at winning back-to-back titles is right now mostly because to win back-to-back titles a player has to have first won one NBA Title. So yes, he doesn't have a very good chance of winning back-to-back titles during the 2013-2014 season if the Heat don't win the NBA Title this year. It's kind of hard to repeat as NBA Champions if you haven't won an NBA Title the year before.

The last thing LeBron needs is to win a title and to have the talent he played against be called into question. Winning a title when there are no teams to stand in your way lessens the value of that title.

And yet, this author puts Hakeem Olajuwon out there as an elite player for winning back-to-back titles in 1994 and 1995 despite the fact the greatest basketball player of all-time, Michael Jordan, was retired. So apparently winning a title when the competition is weaker lessens the value of that title unless the author decides it doesn't lessen the value of the title. It's sort of a floating standard which can be adjusted to meet whatever point the author wants to prove.

In the East, the Boston Celtics reloaded with Jason Terry, Courtney Lee and Jeff Green.

And nothing strikes more fear in the heart of opponents than seeing Courtney Lee about to check into the game for the Celtics.

And the Brooklyn Nets transformed from a perennial lottery team to an obstacle to a Heat repeat almost overnight.

Exactly how again? They added Joe Johnson to a team that went 22-44 last year. I don't get how adding Joe Johnson to this team all of a sudden means the Brooklyn Nets are even close to the same class as the Miami Heat. The Nets are probably a playoff team, but they still have a center who can't rebound surrounded by Kris Humphries and Gerald Wallace in the starting lineup. They aren't a Top 3 team in the East.
 
The L.A. Clippers have a new look with Lamar Odom, Chauncey Billups and Jamal Crawford.

Damn, if it was 2005 I would be really impressed with the Clippers adding these three guys.

Now, more than ever, there is steep competition standing in the way of LeBron and a possible repeat. If LeBron can pull it off against the teams standing in his way, a second title will mean much more than his first one did.

Let's ignore the whole "LeBron has to win a title or else he is a piece of crap basketball player" narrative we have been fed for the past 9 years. Now LeBron has to win back-to-back titles for his career to mean anything.

A dynasty isn't easy to establish, and it's even more difficult when you have a target on your back because you talk about winning "not one...not two...not three..." NBA championships.

Again, that was a glorified pep rally. While the comments were stupid and good for a laugh now, I'm not sure they should be considered anything but bravado.

But his foolish statement two years ago will make a repeat and subsequent establishment of a Heat dynasty that much more sweet.

Well until someone at Bleacher Report writes the inevitable "LeBron James has to prove he can win back-to-back-to-back NBA Titles for his career to mean anything" article once the Miami Heat repeat as NBA Champions.

If he fails to repeat in 2013, the focus will shift from his greatness to his inability to do what other great players have done before him.

Or the focus will shift to the fact Larry Bird and Tim Duncan never on back-to-back NBA Titles and perhaps Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant, or the superstar with whatever team wins the NBA Title this year is also an elite player. It is possible for an elite player to not win back-to-back NBA Titles. There are logical narratives that can be drawn if LeBron James and the Miami Heat don't repeat as NBA Champions outside of this being a sign that LeBron James isn't an elite player. It's not fun to be logical though. Logic doesn't get you pageviews.

If the 2012-13 season ends with the Larry O'Brien Championship trophy in his hands, though, he'll be well on his way to entering the realm of Jordan comparisons and legitimate greatest-of-all-time talk.

No, he won't. He will have two NBA Titles, which is far behind Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. James is going to be in the "greatest-of-all-time" discussion by the end of his career no matter whether he wins another NBA Title or not. I do appreciate the effort to troll the audience by putting the words "LeBron James" in the title and making a bold statement. That will really help this column get hits through Google searches. That's what it is all about isn't it? Quality and consistent writing doesn't matter, pageviews and a strong reaction to the column is all that really matters.

5 comments Drew Sharp Finds Himself a Boogeyman for the One-and-Done Rule

I know many of you don't like John Calipari. I don't like John Calipari, though I dislike Rick Pitino and anything related to UConn basketball more, and I don't especially like Kentucky. I'm not here to defend Calipari or Kentucky (though maybe I will a bit), but I am getting a bit peeved at Calipari being blamed for the one-and-done rule. He recruits players who want to be one-and-done, that's his niche in the recruiting market, but he has come out and said he doesn't like the rule and prefers a different rule. That's not enough for some people and it leads to lazy journalism when writers blame Calipari for working within the rules. I don't like the rule, but I also am not who is naive enough to believe if John Calipari didn't recruit Marcus Teague, John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist to Kentucky they would all be four year players. The complaint is Calipari has too many one-and-done players on one team. I'm not sure how it is better for college basketball if these players were spread out among different teams. They would still be one-and-done, they just wouldn't be on the same team. Maybe that makes some people feel better about the one-and-done rule.

As I have said like a broken record, the one-done-rule is a rule created and enforced by NBA Dictator David Stern. If you want someone to blame for the one-and-done rule and players leaving college after one year, blame Stern. Dictator Stern and the NBA union created this rule, leaving high school seniors who want to play in the NBA the choice of playing overseas for a year or going to college for one year. Few college basketball fans and coaches seem to like this rule, but there is nothing to be done as long as the NBA doesn't care enough to change it.

I am a fan of the two-and-through rule, but it is clear the NBA has no intention of changing the one-and-done rule...because the NBA cares. The NBA cares about pretending to care about players entering their league and whether they went to college or not. Players coming to the NBA after high school created bad press for the NBA (Eddie Griffin, Eddy Curry...pretty much anyone whose name begins with "Edd-", Sebastian Telfair). Then there were players who exposed the shady underworld of NBA agents who promised them high draft positions only to let these kids down when they got drafted later than expected. Remember these names?

Korleone Young
Leon Smith
Ousmane Cisse
James Lang
Ndudi Ebi
Ricky Sanchez

So rather than continue allowing the world to see the shady agent dealings and improve their public image, the NBA told the NCAA "You keep these players for a year, market them endlessly and THEN they will be ready for the NBA." This had two advantages for the NBA. The first advantage was they got better public relations from pretending to care about their player's education, and the second advantage is it gave the public a chance to see these players on college rosters before they played in the NBA. So Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and Anthony Davis became a household names with built-in fan bases before the NBA Draft. So not only did the NBA get a chance to enforce a rule on the college basketball establishment where idiot sportswriters would blame the NCAA for the rule, but the NBA got to use the NCAA as a marketing tool for potential NBA players AND the NCAA still gets to use the athlete's image and jersey number to make money for the college. It's a win-win-lose proposition!

This is where John Calipari comes in. He doesn't mind recruiting players who are one-and-done and this makes Drew Sharp of the Detroit Free Press dislike him. This is lazy journalism to look past the creators of the rule and blame those who work within the framework of the rule. That doesn't matter to Sharp, when he has the opportunity to do a hack job he takes advantage of that opportunity. I fail to see the point of rooting against John Calipari (other than for basketball reasons) simply because you don't like how he works within the rules the NBA has set out. I'm not cheering for Kentucky to win, but not because of the makeup of Calipari's roster. Calipari is not a great guy or a demigod, but making him the face of the one-and-done rule ignores those who created and enforce the one-and-done rule (the NBA) in favor of lazily creating an easy villain (John Calipari).

Rooting for John Calipari to finally win a national championship is like cheering for the head of the IRS to get a tax refund.

I would cheer for the head of the IRS (or the "Commissioner" as those who do research would say) to get a tax refund if someone owes him or her a tax refund. Great analogy anyway. It took what 5 seconds to think of this one?

Both institutions feign shock at the villainy attached to them, arguing they're merely following the rules as prescribed.

I don't know much about the IRS Commissioner, it appears he does prescribe rules for the tax code. I do know about John Calipari and he is really following the rules as they are prescribed to him. Calipari in no way has anything to do with the creation or enforcement of the one-and-done rule. It takes a special kind of an idiot to know the NBA created and enforces the one-and-done rule and then blame a Division-I coach for following the rules. This special kind of idiot acknowledges these players that Calipari recruits aren't in college to receive an education, but insists on judging Calipari based on the sham these recruits are attempting to receive an education.

Calipari has had two Final Fours vacated, I can't defend him on those. Overall, for Drew Sharp to pretend Calipari isn't just following the rules is pure idiocy. John Calipari isn't the one who created the one-and-done rule and he isn't the one who enforced the one-and-done rule. He is an easy mark for a lazy sportswriter to blame as a villain because he has no qualms recruiting high school kids who may not want to stay in college for more than one year. Don't hate on Calipari because it is easy to do, hate the system that doesn't allow a high school athlete to go directly to the NBA.

Wherever Calipari has walked during his coaching career, the NCAA has followed right behind, usually with a pooper-scooper.

Well, this is somewhat true. Marcus Camby accepted gifts and money from sports agents ($28,000), which later turned out to be partly money for his brother's groceries. And yes, that is a lot of groceries.

Derrick Rose had someone else complete his SAT and his brother (keep family members away from the basketball team!) traveled with the team for free, which was another violation.

Of course John Calipari wasn't involved with either of these violations, but it is suspected Calipari knew of the violations.

Both programs had their best seasons stripped from history because of serious transgressions under Calipari's watch.

This is true. It is also true Calipari took five UMass teams to the NCAA Tournament, while achieving an Elite Eight that wasn't vacated (what an accomplishment!). Calipari took Memphis to two Elite Eights that weren't vacated and has taken Kentucky to an Elite Eight and two Final Fours in the time he has been at Kentucky. So it is not like Calipari hasn't had other successes as a head coach.

You would think that Kentucky would worry considering the man's track record, but I doubt that Big Blue cares as long as the big victories keep coming.

Kentucky is like every other major NCAA basketball program.

Kentucky is no different than most big programs and fan bases.

I said it first!

Kentucky serves as both the Final Four's biggest star and villain.

Only because Duke isn't in the tournament anymore. Otherwise they would be the villain. Also, here is a dirty little secret about Duke and Coach K...he recruits one-and-done players as well. In fact, Coach K has had two players be one-and-done over the last two seasons and if Duke lands Tony Parker, Shabazz Muhammad or Amile Jefferson over the next coming weeks that could be three or four (depending on scholarships) players who are one-and-done over the past three years. So it isn't like Calipari is the only coach who recruits one-and-done players, it is just he recruits too many one-and-done players. Whatever that means.

How about Harrison Barnes? He only came back for his sophomore year at UNC-Chapel Hill to help extend his "brand" before he goes to the NBA. Is Roy Williams or UNC a villain because they recruited a kid who clearly cared more about his "brand" than getting an education? Of course not.

Why don't people go after Jim Calhoun like they do John Calipari? Is it because he doesn't recruit one-and-done players? Calhoun does recruit one-and-done players. Calhoun has run up a few NCAA violations himself and his players don't have a sufficient academic performance in the eyes of the NCAA. Why not go after Jim Calhoun, especially since he is the spawn of Satan (I have no proof, but I am working on it)? I think lazy sportswriters like Drew Sharp go after Calipari only because of the one-and-done issue, which as I have stated before isn't any of Calipari's doing. Calhoun recruits one-and-done players, but not too many of these players, so he isn't put in the same class as Calipari.

The Wildcats are the most talented, most explosive of the remaining teams. But they also embody what frustrates so many about the maligned future of college basketball.

Talk to the NBA about this issue. They have created and enforced the rules for when high school athletes can enter the NBA Draft. College basketball purists hate the one-and-done rule and create Calipari as the villain because it is much easier to do this than taking the time to understand Calipari plays within the rules set out by the NBA.

Calipari rents freshmen.

Any college basketball team rents their players. Would Drew Sharp rather the school own the players?

He wants a program with a constant revolving door,

You can tell from this quote that Calipari wants a constant revolving door:

“I can’t stand the rule,” Calipari said. “One year is not what this should be about”

Or when he said this:

“It needs to be changed,” Calipari said. “It’s not a good rule.”

Clearly, Calipari loves the one-and-done rule.

a steady parade of McDonald's All-Americas using Lexington as a one-year way station until the NBA Draft rolls around.

Which is how the one-and-done rule has set it up for high school basketball players who don't want to go to the NBA. Calipari has the option of not recruiting players who could be drafted in the NBA Draft, but he doesn't choose this option. Not choosing this option doesn't make him a bad person and it is fine if you don't like his method of recruiting. Just don't make him the villain and try to give him a bad name because you don't like how he recruits. It's his niche in the recruiting market, it doesn't mean we have to like it, but the NBA is the creator of the rule.

Calipari denies being the bad guy. His pat answer is: Don't blame him. Blame the NBA. He's only following the law as it's written.

This is absolutely true. In fact, Calipari has hit the nail on the head when it comes to why the NBA even made the rule.

Calipari said that the NBA will never allow players out of high school to come into the league, because they couldn’t evaluate the talent and blew a lot of money.

These are facts and it is lazy to blatantly ignore these facts in order to have a ready-made villain. I don't like the one-and-done rule, but I have a hard time blaming a head coach who lets the rule work for him.

But it's ridiculous believing one year of playing college ball has made these guys more mature than when they could qualify for the draft a year earlier.

Then complain to the NBA and to the Player's Union. That's the source of the rule.

It has turned the college game into even more of a sham. If you're only to stay for one year, you only have to attend -- or pretend to attend -- classes for one semester.

So if I am following this...Drew Sharp doesn't like the one-and-done rule, he has absolutely no reasoning for why John Calipari is to blame for this one-and-done rule, but he still blindly thinks Calipari is more than following the rules prescribed? Basically, it isn't Calipari's fault, but let's blame him anyway.

The smart policy would be something comparable to what Major League Baseball employs. You're eligible to sign a professional contract immediately following high school, but if you enroll at a college, you must wait until after your junior year before you're once again eligible for the draft.

I don't think that's the smart policy. I think two and through would be plenty. Forcing college basketball players to stay in school for three years would cause players who are 50-50 on whether they want to go to the NBA or college to go to the NBA after high school. That's my belief. Players grow from their freshman to sophomore year and I see no reason why if a player believes he is good enough for the NBA he can't leave after two years of college. I think three years is too many.

History tells us that it's only a question of time before NCAA investigators chase Calipari's scent at Kentucky...Both times Calipari walked away unscathed, leaving for a better opportunity and a fatter paycheck.

Again, this is true. If this is why you want to root against Calipari because of his past and how he recruits then more power to you. I won't be cheering for Calipari, but don't hate him because you don't like the one-and-done rule. Don't look down on him for the violations around his program if you cheer for a major college basketball program. Your naivety to college basketball recruiting is cute and I hope one day the realization that most big-time basketball programs cut corners in one way or another doesn't slap you directly in the face when your school gets suspected of a violation.

Being elusive enough to stay one step ahead of the NCAA posse doesn't make a coach deserving of a national championship -- even if he has corralled the biggest assortment of basketball talent.

Arguable. I still say UNC has the biggest assortment of basketball talent in the NCAA Tournament in terms of depth. Of course they aren't in the NCAA Tournament anymore.

We joke about Calipari staying one step ahead of the NCAA posse, but if he was found to have done any wrongdoing at Memphis or UMass the NCAA could impose sanctions on him if they chose to while he is at Kentucky. The NCAA is all-powerful...except when it comes to forcing the NBA to change the one-and-done rule. Dictator Stern won't allow that rule to change at this present time.

I see a Kentucky-Ohio State final a week from tonight.

Ohio State? The school which since 2007 Greg Oden, B.J. Mullens, Mike Conley, Kosta Koufos, and Daequan Cook enter the draft after their freshman seasons at Ohio State? Thad Matta is everything that is wrong with college basketball for taking on these one-and-done players.

If it means keeping the national championship door shut in Calipari's face, I'll certainly be rooting for that.

Anything to make sure a program that doesn't have a bunch of one-and-done players, so Sharp probably shouldn't cheer for Ohio State. I'm tired of coming off like I'm defending Calipari. I don't like the guy, but he isn't the villain of the one-and-done rule and it is intellectually dishonest to believe he is any way responsible for the implementation and continuing use of the one-and-done rule by the NBA. It's easy to pin the blame to point him out as the villain than it is to take the time to see Dictator Stern and the Player's Union are responsible for the rule. They own it.