So now we know. Or do we?After all of this time, and all of this back an forth, and all of this waiting to see. Now we know. That Bledsoe made up work and got a better grade. Anyone else had to do that in High School? Anyone shocked? Well, you shouldn’t be. And neither am I.
Someone find me Pete Thamel and his big mouth so I can release some frustrations.
Can we please now clear Enes Kanter and get this season started??
So, after all of that, let us segue into some of the real issues surrounding this. Is Jay Bilas right? Is it time for the NCAA to step aside and relinquish it’s role as the be all to end all in academic guidelines and enforcement? I have to admit, in Bilas’s exact form the schools would have the opportunity to “run wild” as suggested here by Glenn Logan over at A Sea Of Blue. Glenn writes;
"Let’s use a real-world example. Let us say that Jay Bilas’ suggestion was inplace when Derrick Rose’s test was suddenly declared invalid. Memphis could, forexample, simply state that that ETS had not proved its case to theirsatisfaction, Rose had passed his classes in college, and therefore there was nological reason why he should be declared ineligible or that Memphis should haveto vacate a thing.He then follows that with this statement:I have often complained that there was no critical examination of the processthat ETS used to invalidate the exam. ETS has not really offered any explanationother than the lack of a timely response by Rose to its queries and thehandwriting expert’s testimony, but that seems rather arbitrary and capriciouswhen what you really have in the end is just the word of a handwriting expert.But the fact of the matter is, Memphis would have required a passingentrance exam score as well as a certain minimum GPA to qualify for admission.By inserting itself into ETS’ place as a judge of something they are unqualified to certify, i.e. the validity of a test result, they would have failed to enforce their own standards and rationalized away ETS’ concerns as invalid. Why have ETS if their word means nothing? The NCAA arguably gave ETS’ word too much weight, but I argue they deferred to the expert, which is, I think, a good thing. So as Glenn put it, this leaves the school with far to much leeway and far too little oversight from any other party. And Glenn is not alone in his assessment either, as John Clay has also fed his 2 cents worth in with this statement:Bilas’ solution is throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Yes, the NCAApractice of after-the-fact deeming players ineligible and punishing schoolsfor playing those players the NCAA Eligibility Center deemed eligible in thefirst place, is a problem that needs a reasonable solution. But droppinguniform eligibility standards is not that solution.So is there a way to give the schools control over who they want to have come to them as an athlete who competes in NCAA competition, who meets their specific standards, and still does not have to depend on a broken down, inadequate, NCAA system to approve them? I think that there is. And it may be as easy as tweaking a program the NCAA already has in place to do it.Anyone remember the APR? Yes, the Academic Progress Rate. It is how the NCAA currently determines if schools are meeting their academic goals for their student athletes. The formula calculates grades in the classroom, graduation rates, difficulty of classes taken, and core content class mandates, and multiplies all of that into a formula which determines a score by which schools know how many scholarships will be legal to have. How do we do this? Here is my version.The NCAA first establishes a mean entrance GPA for all athletes coming into college. It is established by an average of all schools in the NCAA and their entrance requirements. We include everyone from Harvard to the lowest school in the land. The SAT becomes a thing of the past, unless the school requires the SAT as a part of their admissions requirements for regular students. Or you can flip that, require the SAT and throw out the GPA, again, assuming that the schools allow this for admission to their regular students. Then if your school’s entrance requirements are lower than the mean average for the country, your APR takes a hit. However the formula will be tweaked to allow for the school to get that back by having increased graduation rates, as well as higher grades in the core content courses for college. Some schools including UK already use a variation on this formula for academic scholarships that they give out, as well as music and other areas of study. Will it take an Einstein to develop the formula? No, but it will take some thought and common sense.So what is to keep the schools from just letting athletes have A’s and B’s in all courses just to get them through while they are in college? Nothing other than what they have in place right now. However, you can tweak that formula to allow for higher points for students taking higher level courses that only graduating students would take, just to add incentive for the schools to graduate their players.Simple example. Using a 5 point scale per course for students you could allow as follows. English 101 gets you 3 points, assuming you make a C or better. Less than that gets you 2 for a D and 0 points if you do not pass.It is a core content course. English 401 ( yes this is a made up number, I don’t know what they would call the most advanced English course anymore) would get you 5 points for a C or better etc. A student must maintain a certain point level for three semesters minimum per year, or during any semester in which they are enrolled should they decide to try and graduate early, I.E. Patrick Patterson. And by the way, someone like Patrick gets you extra points for graduating in less than 4 years. Anyone taking 4 or more to graduate only earns you standard points.Worried about one and dones? You should be. Any student not staying for a minimum of 2 years should cause a reduction in points under my guidelines. Wrong to penalize a John Wall? maybe, but you either get your points one way or the other. It is a system of checks and balances. You want to recruit a kid who has questionable grades but makes it into your school by the skin of their teeth? Fine. But if your school is below the mean average, they have to work their tails off while they are in college to make up the point hit you take for bringing them in. Give the student-athletes credit for their work. For instance, John Wall only stays three semesters. But he gets all A’s and B’s and takes a required minimum of 6 core content courses in his 1 year of time at UK. Points are lost for his not staying 2 or more years, but they are gained by his GPA and his core content participation. You can recruit the one and done athlete if they do all of their required coursework and complete real college courses. Kids will not be able to take Sports History for every grade.Now the flip side, you want to bring in a Brandon Knight with GPA out the roof and SAT’s to match? You get extra points. But he also has to maintain core content classwork while in school. Reward the kids for doing extra work in high school. You have a kid come in who has already taken 1st year college English and math while they are in high school? Extra Points. You have a kid who has to take remedial courses to get up to speed once they get to college, loss of points.The biggest thing in this system is that unless someone has proof of academic fraud at the college level, you cant have any of these back up and punt penalties from the NCAA. You want to play college ball? You take your SAT’s ( if necessary) at an NCAA approved facility, staffed by NCAA approved personnel, using NCAA guidelines. You submit all of your particulars 30 days in advance of your test, so that all of them can be verified, and off you go. No mystery men walking in and taking people’s SAT’s. But again, that is only if the SAT was determined to be necessary by the NCAA for their formula. Could the Bledsoe situation show up again? No, because the formula makes it unnecessary to do so. Even if a kid got in by some miraculous way of cheating his high school, it will catch up to him in college when those core content courses come up. And schools will know every semester if a kid is cutting it. If the school (or any one of it’s athletes)does not make their required minimum score that year, guess what? No NCAA tournament for you baby…..or bowl game….or whatever postseason is in your sport. And you will know BEFORE you play. track the scores every semester, not every year. High Schools have to now, why can’t Colleges?The head coach gets the semester’s point scores, and his star point guard does not meet standards that semester, he sits. No playing ineligible players. Nothing to have to go back onKeep following www.http://wildcatbluenation.com for the best in Kentucky basketball and football news, rumors, and opinions. By Kentucky fans for Kentucky fansPublished on 09/24/2010 at 10:30 PM EDTLast updated on 10/21/2016 at 6:40 PM EDT He then follows that with this statement:I have often complained that there was no critical examination of the processthat ETS used to invalidate the exam. ETS has not really offered any explanationother than the lack of a timely response by Rose to its queries and thehandwriting expert’s testimony, but that seems rather arbitrary and capriciouswhen what you really have in the end is just the word of a handwriting expert.But the fact of the matter is, Memphis would have required a passingentrance exam score as well as a certain minimum GPA to qualify for admission.By inserting itself into ETS’ place as a judge of something they are unqualified to certify, i.e. the validity of a test result, they would have failed to enforce their own standards and rationalized away ETS’ concerns as invalid. Why have ETS if their word means nothing? The NCAA arguably gave ETS’ word too much weight, but I argue they deferred to the expert, which is, I think, a good thing."