UCLA Basketball Could Be In Hot Water With Pending NCAA Investigations
So remember that vaunted 2012 UCLA basketball recruiting class we were going crazy for? The one that saw us reach our peak of excitement for Bruin hoops back in April, when Shabazz Muhammad committed?
Yeah, well, consider it in total jeopardy. Because apparently, an unnamed university has turned in evidence that could render UCLA freshmen Kyle Anderson and Tony Parker ineligible. Evidence that, if proven accurate, could damn the program.
"UCLA’s incoming class was ranked as the nation’s best by some recruiting analysts, but the Shabazz Muhammad, Kyle Andersonand Tony Parker have been the subject of probes by the NCAA the past few months, according to the report.The NCAA is investigating the relationship between Anderson and agent Thad Foucher, who works for Arn Tellem and the Wasserman Group, according to CBSSports.com. The NCAA is also looking into whether Parker’s family received improper benefits."
Welp, there you go.
In case you weren’t aware, Casey Wasserman is a prominent UCLA booster, one that’s involved at every level of the administration, it seems. So while the entire thing needs to be taken with a wait-and-see approach, the pieces of the puzzle seem to fit.
The ramifications from the NCAA? Who cares?
If this is a legitimate thing, UCLA needs to impose harsher restrictions on itself than the NCAA normally would. UCLA shouldn’t have to tolerate this kind of crap, nor should we excuse it. When the topic of South Cal comes up, we know we have (or had) the argument that U$C is just a dirtier school with cheating in its tradition. We also like to poke fun at Calipari up at UK for the same stuff, since he is really damn skeevy.
That’s not UCLA, though. UCLA has a rich tradition of respectable athletics that have dominated eras without having to resort to committing recruiting violations.
Of course, this entire thing could be a fluke. Since it was another university that sent in the evidence, it’s entirely possible that this was done out of jealousy (most notably, Villanova fans were bitter that they lost out on Kyle Anderson, coming to the conclusion that UCLA had earned his commitment in a dirty manner).
We’ll see what happens. For now, you have every right to be pissed. Or confused. Or sad.