That would be awesome. I hope that it is that simple
@nswan I was putting it out there as a possibility, not making an assumption that it actually happened. Given that Arizona is involved in his recruitment it is not unreasonable to be concerned. If I were to bet money on it, Iâd bet that heâs clean because the NBA is a foregone conclusion for this kid, he has a sophisticated, presumably financially secure Dad guiding him and really nothing significant to gain by being on the take.
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Thatâs fair and my fault for misunderstanding your post. I do agree that I believe Barrett is clean for the exact reasons that you mentioned
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Itâs not always about the kid being clean, and sometimes not about his parent. The dirty little secret of college basketball recruiting is that the money, or at least the big money, usually goes to someone other than the kidâit goes to his AAU program, prep school, âadvisor,â etc., who then steer him to the place making the deal. And the fact that kids will get their money in a year doesnât stop anyone whoâs playing the game from wanting theirs nowâyou never know whatâs going to happen, and thereâs no reason not to âdouble dipâ if thatâs what you want to do. Iâm NOT saying that Barrettâs recruitment is dirtyâI have no ideaâbut other than Michigan, the players, including Oregon, do not bode well.
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I donât know much about Barrett as a kid, but itâs irking to hear people call a teenage kid who takes some cash (if he does) âdirtyâ. Is it better to be, say, Denard Robinson who has hundreds of thousands of jersey sales, video game and magazine coversâŚand gets $0, in pursuit of a career that ends in 4 years and $2 million pre-tax later?
As was mentioned - the crime here, explicitly, is the coaches who pocketed money from apparel companies.
I think itâs worth remembering who actually did wrong.
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Letâs be real, poor kids are more likely to get taken advantage of than middle class or rich kids. Theyâre more likely to have handlers that influence their parents to do unsavory things. Theyâre more likely to pick the advisor that the handler steers them towards because their parentâs donât have the knowledge or resources to figure it out on their own. Theyâre more likely to think $10k, even $100k, is too much to turn down. Counter-example: Cormac Ryan, our recent target, son of an investment banker, picked Stanford. Do you really think his dad is going to get suckered or seduced by a bunch of street hustlers?
Breaking clearly defined rules is absolutely something that can be considered dirty, especially in basketball where top recruits have several other options besides college ball that still lead to the NBA draft.
Also, this isnât âsome cashâ, this is $100,000+ being used to give certain schools an inherent competitive advantage.
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Thatâs fair about using the word âdirtyâ pertaining specifically to a kid. More precisely the situation is âdirtyâ and out of laziness I think that when people are calling a kid dirty, they are more speaking about his entire recruitment, which the player in question may not have any idea is even happening.
As for the Denard situation, that just points to a broken system. Because a system is broken, it does not give a player license to break the rules of that system in which that the same player willingly engaged in the system knowing full well what the rules are. The system should indeed be changed though
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Ah but the cash, at least in this story, isnât even being given to the kids - itâs being given to coaches. I think itâs weird that people have pivoted from a story about the corruption of the established adults and to all of a sudden talking about which kids âgot paidâ. The kids getting getting paid isnât the story here - itâs adults who are titularly responsible to be the playersâ advisors and mentors.
In a story about apparel companies paying coaches to steer players to specific brands and agents, why are we discussing recruits getting duffels of money? It seems like a redirection.
Did you read the report? Brian Bowen very clearly received a $100,000 bribe to attend Louisville and represent Adidas in college and then to sign with them in the NBA. Thatâs not in any way debatable.
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One quick correction, Denard was assuredly paid for the NCAA 14 cover because he was no longer in college when he appeared on it. That is the case for all NCAA covers, they always featured former college athletes (usually from the previous season).
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We arenât calling him dirty. We are calling his recruitment dirty.
This is funny to me.
If youâre a Louisville fan, was Brian Bowen worth the risk?
If we have solid information that Barrett comes with baggage, Iâd have no problem taking a pass, especially after yesterday.
But who knows, Iâve seen no solid information even confirming his visit is off. But the analysts I trust have said all along, âno chance.â
The story is all of it - players, agents, âadvisors,â street agents, shoe companies, coaches - all part of a very corrupt system.
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The NBA was a foregone conclusion for Chris Webber, OJ Mayo, Stephon Marbury, and Josh Jackson - among many others. Yet they and their families took money.
Who the heck knows what Barrettâs financial situation is?
And much of this is about the entitlement, not need.
I have no idea - on way or another - on Barrett. Iâm confident weâre approaching it as a clean recruitment until we learn otherwise.
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Interesting note on a group chat, partly led by Barrett:
The last card Oregon has working in their favor is a group chat currently being carried out among multiple Oregon targets. Barrett is one of the main prospects leading this chat. The others? Five-star power forward Emmit Williams and five-star small forward Louis King. Five-star Bol Bol has also been included in it recently. They talk teaming up together we are told. They discuss various schools as a potential landing spot, but the one common theme among all four prospects is Oregon. Does that mean they are a lock? No. But it is worth monitoring. Barrett, King, and Williams became close while going to elite camps for Nike, NBA Top 100, and other events this summer and itâs sort of become Oregonâs good fortune.
We are also told that four-star commit Miles Norris is part of this group and has been a huge help as a peer recruiter.
I wonder what else they discuss in this group chat.
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In the past ---- and by past I mean last weekend ---- references to a schoolâs âgood fortuneâ in recruiting tended to be code for things that were exposed yesterday.
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Bowen was certainly not worth any of it. That wasnt my point. If Barrett comes with baggage it is an easy decision to pass. My point was that if the only thing that is spooking Michigan is the firestorm that started yesterday and the fact that he is the #1 guy in the country, that is soft.
Not disagreeing about the likelihood that we were ever going to land him. I still thing it is worth pursuing until you have a definitive answer based on the reasons that i discussed earlier
maybe some FBI field agent is interested in it too
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