Blame the NCAA

The NCAA is investigating the University of Memphis men’s basketball program, and former coach John Calipari, who left for Kentucky not long after the season.

Allegedly, a former player – sources claim it was current Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose – had an unknown person take his SAT for him, with his knowledge, and used the test to gain admission into Memphis.

The university is denying any wrongdoing, and Calipari said he’s cooperating with the NCAA on the matter. While I do think Calipari, the school and Rose are guilty of said allegations, I don’t blame any of them.

I blame the NCAA.

Why? Because the NCAA instituted a stupid rule a few years back that all players had to play one season in college before making the leap to the NBA. Let’s face it, Derrick Rose had NBA talent when he was in high school, but he was forced to play a year in college.

And cheating is just par for the course in college basketball. Calipari’s name is synonymous with cheating since his days at UMass, and Rose simply wanted to play the game. The fact is, everyone is looking out for themselves. Calipari was glad to get a top-level recruit, no matter the means, while Rose, who could have played a junior college, wanted to raise his draft status by playing for a contender.

Yet it’s the NCAA who is the biggest culprit. They realized a long time ago that players who jumped right to the NBA left the college game missing big names, so they put this rule into effect. Bigger names playing under the NCAA banner, more fans through the turnstiles and more money in the long run.

This is a mess that, down the road, will hurt the credibility for all college basketball coaches, but the NCAA brought this on.