Originally Posted by
JasonEvans
True, but that is an impossible flaw to get past when your have dominion over institutions but not individuals. I doubt that any of the kids at USC today have even met Reggie Bush, and yet he is the guy keeping them out of a bowl game. There is no way for the NCAA to punish a player, so it has to punish the institution. It may seem unfair but doing nothing and allowing "cheaters" to get away with nothing by constantly saying "well, the kids who did it are not here any more," would not be fair to the many schools who follow the rules.
However, I would take this one step further. The NCAA has always been very clear that it is the responsibility of the university/program to police its players/coaches for infractions and to ensure that the players are acting like "real students." It is convenient to blame a few players who failed to go to classes for something like this, but the blame really lies with UConn in not ensuring that these guys were a) capable of doing the school work and b) going to class and actually putting some effort into their classes. UConn is being punished not because Dyson and Robinson did something wrong, but because UConn did something wrong.
And I would add one more thing about the current crop of UConn players who will feel the sting of this punishment next year. They went to UConn with their eyes open. UConn's historically poor graduation rate and its history of running right up to (and sometimes crossing) the line of NCAA rules were both well-known. A kid who goes there has to know he is taking some risk that the program will run into trouble with the NCAA and suffer some kind of penalty. I am not saying UConn is some evil, dark stain on college athletics, only that it is one of those programs that seems to operate in the gray ethical area much of the time (there are many other prominent programs like this-- Kentucky, USC, and others). I doubt many of us were surprised that UConn found itself under the NCAA's hammer.
So, it may seem unfair, but I would feel a lot worse for kids at -- for example -- Michigan State, UNC, Duke, Notre Dame, Vandy, or Stanford if they found themselves in a position like this. Those programs have a rep for "doing it right" and are far less likely to be NCAA victims.
--Jason "the above graph is one reason why I found the Penn St scandal so horrifying and am glad it appears the NCAA will not be taking action against the kids currently playing there" Evans