Thoughts on NCAA Memphis Ruling: What This Means for UK?

Today the NCAA announced that it is forcing the University of Memphis mens basketball program to vacate 38 wins and a Final Four appearance from the 2007-08 season. This ruling was on the basis of the NCAA investigation into the Memphis Tigers, which found freshman guard Derrick Rose's test score to be dishonestly obtained by having a stand in take the test for him, ensuring that he would pass with the correct score to be admitted to the University of Memphis and be ruled eligible by the NCAA. The NCAA Committee on Infractions also ruled that the Memphis program was negligent in its own oversight when it allowed Rose's brother to ride on a team charter, a trip at a value of over $2,000, without compensation. In these events, our very own John Calipari hold the stigma of being the first coach to have two Final Four appearances vacated, first at Massachusetts in 1996 on the basis of the Marcus Camby/agent scandal.

The question is, what does this hold for the University of Kentucky and our beloved mens basketball program. As before mentioned, there is a dark blot over our celebrity coach as John Calipari becomes the first coach to have two Final Fours vacated, enough said. In my honest opinion, he is a target of the NCAA's eye. Even though he's never been named in any of the previous two investigations into his programs, Calipari will forever be a target of NCAA scrutiny because of the previous sins of his last two programs. This means Mitch Barnhart needs to expand the UK Athletics Compliance Department, pay compliance director Sandy Bell for overtime, do something to make this a focal point of the department as a whole in a loud way. UK needs to keep a short leash on Calipari and make sure due diligence is taken to conduct background research on the entourages of high ranking recruits. Check every single contact, every single AAU connection, coaches, friends, friends of family, friends of friends, any and all large financial transactions. Corey Maggette can get away with accepting $2,000 at NCAA poster child Duke; ten years have come and gone since Maggette donned the Blue Devil uniform and made the Final Four in 1999. At UK, we'd have the Eddie Sutton era nightmare all over again. In the world of the NCAA's selective justice, it must be a fact of life that Duke basketball and USC football can get away with some things that other programs can't. We at UK must adapt, adjust, be ahead of the curve in our compliance legwork. All it takes is one little "something" for the NCAA to open a can of worms in Lexington. We must be our own NCAA Clearinghouse, checking the test scores and scoring history of our players. We must be careful what we give to our players in terms of favors, don't even let the family dog aboard a UK chartered aircraft. UK must look over its own shoulder and do it often, or else Big Blue could be next.