Yeah I love it I just wish Kabongo would have left for the NBA last year like Jacovan Brown did. He is not a very good point guard who is extremely overrated and can not shoot at all. Rick Barnes needs to quit recruiting one and done players and get some guys who will stick around for a few years. Barnes is the 5th highest paid coach in the country and has not won a National Championshio or even his own Big 12 title in what 10 years.
Kabongo would have been gone if he played even halfway up to his potential. He was obviously flirting and trying to see where he would have fit in the draft had he come out. Plenty of guys do that, but they don't have an agent do it on their behalf (if there is any truth to the probe). Barnes has been able to avoid this potential pitfall of bringing in the one (and two) and dones, to date. We'll see what happens here...
You play with snakes and eventually you are going to get bit. This appears to all have taken place after the end of last season, but once the NCAA goons get into any aspect of your program, the entirety is suspect.
This isn't a program issue because UT had nothing to do with it. If Kabongo snuck up to Cleveland on the agent's tab, do you think Barnes or anyone in the program knew of or approved it? No way. If Kabongo accepted $ from the agent in any form - cash or travel benefits - he will be suspended if not bounced. If he paid his own way and the agent was acting on his own when he called the league, not an issue.
If Rich Paul paid for the trip he needs to have his *** kicked, and when I say "*** kicked" I mean his teeth need to be knocked down his throat
When are these "kids" (esp college basketball players) going to learn to keep their distance from street agents, "authentic" agents, AAU coaches / "mentors", and pushy family members? Those people are not interested in what's best for the kid, only what's in it for them. RB's "we're here to help the kids get to the pro level and whatever they can contribute to the UT program in the meantime is good too" is why I don't get too excited abt the program.
Kabongo looks like a gifted athlete who's entire basketball experience came from playing one-on-one. Not that he's a ball hog, but he doesn't appear to understand strategy, plays and team skills. He seems to not know what he's doing in games.
Schools should be able to guide players through this process and help them along the way in choosing reputable agents, financial planners, tax attorneys, etc. It should all be open, transparent, and regulated by NCAA bylaws that keep it all on the up-and-up. Right now, there's this pervasive culture of "wink-wink-look-the-other-way" with regard to these underground black market agents who take advantage of kids. Just open it all up to daylight to disinfect the system, and you'll have fewer unscrupulous, unethical influences around the college programs.
Was anything heard through the grapevine on this? Even with repayment, it's still an NCAA issue (regardless of what T. Thompson says). I have a feeling we might be without the services of Myck for the fall semester (kind of like Balbay) if they can pinpoint a paper trail. That said, he's not as terrible as people are making him sound on this thread. Sure, he needs to work on the turnovers and stuff. But it's not like we're throwing Willie Clay out there.
LOL @ Willie Clay. At least Myck is coming back to improve his game unlike some of the other guards we have had that foolishly left early and are either enjoying time in the NBDL or overseas.
"Uh, Thompson and Kabongo had a relationship before Thompson became a "booster" and before Thompson stepped foot on campus, so that's not an issue" Really? NCAA rules don't agree with you. Per the website: Once an individual is identified as a “representative of the institution’s athletics interests,” the person retains that identity forever. Boosters are not precluded from continuing established friendships with families who have prospective student-athletes. However, boosters may not encourage a prospect’s participation in university athletics or provide benefits to prospects that were not previously provided. In other words, Thompson is a booster. Having the prior "relationship" with Kabongo doesn't mean he can provide benefits that was not previously provided, i.e. tickets to Cleveland and basketball games.
Don't be so naive. On the same exact page, it lists the things that boosters are allowed to do for currently-enrolled athletes (in spite of the fact that they're still treated the same as "prospects"): 1. Make contributions to university programs and other gift-in-kind arrangements. 2. Attend university athletic events. And since Thompson is not Kabongo's "employer," he also cannot give services that are intended to be repaid. It's obvious that Kabongo maybe got a couple hundred bucks worth of swag, and it was repaid (so says the family friends), but it still falls under that same gray area that Reggie Bush got in trouble for. Oh, we'll give you stuff that you will repay. I don't care about how much gray area this dips into... I want a clean program at all costs. Including cutting ties with that hellhole of a "school" in Nevada.
