The University of Memphis will hold a press conference around 10:00 this morning and it is expected they will announce the vacating of all wins from their 2007-2008 season, as well as their Final Four appearance, according to reports from ESPN.com and the Memphis Commercial Appeal. Back in May, the NCAA accused Memphis of several infractions during the 2007-2008 basketball season, including a crooked SAT score involving Derrick Rose (even though the NCAA Clearinghouse approved it) and over $2,000 in free travel for Rose’s brother.
Coach Cal, this is not the time to raise the roof
Obviously, this is news due to the coach of the 2007-2008 Memphis Tigers is current UK basketball coach John Calipari. Being a UofL fan, I’ll leave this for Guy or Nickev to comment in regards to how this could/will affect University of Kentucky basketball, but from my perspective, vacating two Final Fours just looks bad. Here are the stories, the first from ESPN.com and the second from the Memphis Commercial Appeal:
SOURCES: NCAA MAY ‘VACATE’ MEMPHIS TIGERS VICTORIES
SOURCE: MEMPHIS TIGERS TO FORFEIT RECORD 2007-2008 SEASON
Update: The NCAA will release its report at 3:00 pm and Memphis will hold a presser shortly afterwards.
4 Responses to “Memphis to vacate 2008 Final Four, 38 wins”
Nothing will happen to UK as of now, down the road considering the coach they have now, who knows. The NCAA as many other sources are saying have shown the two headed monster that they really are. This is absolutely a ridiculous ruling, what about Kansas with Darrell Arthur, or Roy Williams at Kansas, or the constant transgressions committed by USC or Alabama? Memphis isn’t a major player in football but if you look at their past in basketball they can be considered a power. And if anyone brings up oh well this isnt the first final four they have had to vacacte, UK if I remember under Eddie Sutton had some issues as well so no program is squeaky clean. Considering the NCAA clearing house had cleared this kid and if you look at this past season at Memphis, they had two players under question whom the held out, I don’t see how this is an acceptable punishment. Again, I have posted on here before and as I have stated I am not a Memphis fan nor am I a calipari fan, but this is a travesty. Why to muck up another situation mr. brand… you sir are a true leader. Oh and this does look like a trend UK fans, I know I’ll catch grief for it, but it’s only a matter of time… It happened at Umass and then he scurries off to the NBA, it happens at memphis and then he scurries of to UK. You can say he wasn’t implicated but these are his players and it happened “under his watch.” You can blame it on the AD as well, RC Johnson at Memphis is a moron reading about his past, and hate to say it but your guy Mitch, well i’ll leave that one alone.
Whether it be the UofL contributors (myself, P Crush, or Rohrer) or the UK contributors (Guy, NickEv), everyone here at the Pinkie agrees the NCAA and the majority of their rulings are garbage. In regards to Mitch, I am starting to think he’s willingly clueless at best and an absolute moran at worst.
IMHO, The NCAA can make the rules say what they want to, when they want to… the NCAA clearinghouse gave Rose a “thumbs up”. That is what coaches and schools look for. In this case, if the same NCAA provided Memphis and Calipari the OK with Rose… how can they come back later and say differently? Why is not Rose, the substitute test taker and even the NCAA held responsible instead of Memphis and Calipari. It’s time to stop pointing fingers and put the blame where it belongs.
The thing that sucks most about all of this is the fact the NCAA has no one governing it. Once the NCAA makes a ruling, thats it. Sure you can utilize the appeal process, but the NCAA is not going to admit fault. The only thing that will change the NCAA is a united uproar from the largest fan bases in the country (Kentucky being one of them) in the high revenue sports.
That being said, here’s the problem. Rose is in the NBA and the stand-in test taker (whoever it is) likely does not play a NCAA sanctioned sport, therefore the NCAA cannot punish them. Again, they will not admit fault of their own, therefore the only punishment can go to the school, or the coach if its proven the coach had a role in the situation. So while the NCAA is still garbage, they are somewhat handcuffed in this situation.
And did I mention the NCAA is garbage?
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