Self Reported Recruiting Violation

[wbs2455]

Chris Collins was at John Wall's game this weekend at the GSK tournament, and since this weekend falls in a dead period, that would be a no-no. Duke has issued a press release and will apparently self-report the violation, which I suppose is better than letting someone else call you out on it. They claim ignorance on the dead period, which is a little sad, IMO. I hope Collins knows better from now on at least...

http://blogs.newsobserver.com/accnow...port-violation

[CameronBornAndBred]

Good to hear we reported it, but the ignorance plea is really wrong. The Devils are gonna catch tons of grief for this, if not worse. Especially sad that the infraction was from Collins, a coach at the top of the Duke heap.

[Coballs]

On the other hand, since there has been little recent noise on the recruiting front, at least we know that the staff continues to be involved with or, at least, is still interested in him. Hopefully, this foolish slip-up won't hinder our recruitment of Wall.

[JasonEvans]

This kind of thing happens with some degree of regularity to many programs. It is rare at Duke, sure, but is not a huge deal. My bet is that Duke will do something like limit the number of visits Collins takes to events in the coming year or something like that and it will be all taken care of.

That said, it is a pity he did not pay more attention to exactly when the "dead period" was so he could avoid this somewhat embarrassing mistake. The interesting thing will be to see how much attention this gets. Had it happened to West Virginia or Clemson or Illinois or Texas it would not be that bug a deal. But, Duke is the white knight of college basketball and this will get more attention as a result, I suspect.

--Jason "lets see how high this gets on ESPN's college basketball page" Evans

[speedevil2001]

On the other hand, since there has been little recent noise on the recruiting front, at least we know that the staff continues to be involved with or, at least, is still interested in him. Hopefully, this foolish slip-up won't hinder our recruitment of Wall.

ok, i understand the whole dead period for recruiting, but why is a dead period of 3 days dec 24-26 such a big deal? christmas is on the 25th. if kids are not playing basketball and need the days to spend with family and friends, then i get it, but kids play basketball on those days too and coaches should be allowed to watch the games.

btw: does anyone know how kelly and wall performed in the game?

[CathyCA]

GRRRRR. . . how hard would it have been to have X'd out those days in red on the coach's desk calendar?

This mistake was completely avoidable. I hope it doesn't cost Duke too dearly.

[BlueintheFace]

There won't be much in the way of punishment, but come on Chris. This really was avoidable. I'm glad we are self-reporting though, really glad.

... maybe the Duke staff just wanted to make a statement to John Wall about how committed they are to making him a priority

[Wheat/"/"/"]

Like Jason said, somewhat embarrassing mistake, but nobody really cares about it but nit picking fans.
All he did was watch a game, right? There was no direct contact...correct?
Whatever...

Wheat/"/"/"

[KenTankerous]

It doesn't make sense that Collins didn't know this was a dead period. I mean, I'm a newby to the ways of K, but his ship is much too tight to allow this type of thing. Then again, purposely violating NCAA recruiting violations to impress a potential point guard makes even less sense. Now a big man? Maybe. (I kid, I kid!)

I find the best way to gauge the heaviest fallout for any Duke bad news is InsideCarolina. The thread there argues between the two opposing ideas but most agree that Duke fans' reactions are the best part of this story. They are enjoying the squirming. That is, they were for about a half a page until, like most threads over there, they devolved into "I know you are but what am I!" name calling.

The DBR, like most things Duke, is so smart and civil.

[wilko]

It sends a message all by itself...

Maybe Collins had those dates blocked off and knew exactly what he was doing. A calculated risk to make an attention getting impression.

We want this wall guy so bad that we will push the envelope everyway we can... Risk exposure of a minor violation to get some attention...

If the penalty is a restriction in visits or something of that sort by Collins, well then, I can sort of see it as a calcualted risk to land the top player in the class.

To let him know how badly he is wanted..

[Kimist]

I have a very hard time swallowing the "Collins didn't know about it" excuse.

Heck, the Iron Dukes mails me a brochure each year listing all of the permissable activities for contact with any potential Duke athlete. Certainly the information and rules available to the Duke coaching staff would be far more comprehensive.

And, as noted earlier, to prevent any "oops" just draw a line through the Christmas dates on your calendar - paper or electronic.

Finally, you know the Duke haters are going to have an absolute field day with this item, even though it is a "minor" infraction.

k

[CameronBornAndBred]

It sends a message all by itself...

Maybe Collins had those dates blocked off and knew exactly what he was doing. A calculated risk to make an attention getting impression.

We want this wall guy so bad that we will push the envelope everyway we can... Risk exposure of a minor violation to get some attention...

If the penalty is a restriction in visits or something of that sort by Collins, well then, I can sort of see it as a calcualted risk to land the top player in the class.

To let him know how badly he is wanted..

Why on earth would you willingly go to a school that willingly breaks the rules? You would potentially be on a team that is going to have it's postseason taken away. I'll swallow ignorance before I swallow we did it on purpose. Neither should happen though.

[buddy]

If Collins "forgot" then shame on him, but if he "didn't know" then shame on K and the program administrators. There is no excuse for "not knowing" a recruiting rule. I too get the Iron Dukes mailing about permissible and impermissible contacts. (When my daughter was a student athlete I even checked with the program about whether I could take her teammates for a meal.) My guess is that Chris "just forgot", but even that is inexcusable.

[Indoor66]

I note in a prior post that he attended the game with his dad. Maybe it was a holiday season outing for father and son and nothing to do with recruiting. Maybe a simple (though foolish) error.

[watzone]

Before some of you hang Chris out to dry, consider the "Holdaze" and ask youself if you have ever gotten mixed up with times and dates. I know some folks who have made a mistake around this time of year in their job.

No Duke Coach would ever willingly break any rule. And BTW, this happens a lot. Schools are constantly reporting infractions to the NCAA, but this being Duke makes it national news and or headline fodder for some.

It was a human mistake involving miscommunication and it happens. So save the venom and research how often this happens in college athletics. This is the case of a media member making it out to be bigger news than it really is.

[cascadedevil]

Does anyone have any data on how often this has happened at Duke, and when? Or how often and when it has happened at Carolina or at a school like Bucknell (just trying to pick a school that I believe has a reputation of doing things the right way)?

This does not seem like a big deal. However, if it is the first secondary violation under Coach K (or if there has not been a secondary violation at Carolina since before Dean Smith), then it is really a shame for such a silly mistake to give up even a small part of the higher ground from which Duke has been able to view college basketball recruiting.

[Gunnar Kaufman]

Can't blame this on media muckraking or on forgetfulness.

Chris Collins broke a rule. Collins and Duke have admitted and reported as much. If there are consequences to bear, so be it.

You can't break the rules and then call them irrelevant, and Duke knows that.

[watzone]

Does anyone have any data on how often this has happened at Duke, and when? Or how often and when it has happened at Carolina or at a school like Bucknell (just trying to pick a school that I believe has a reputation of doing things the right way)?

This does not seem like a big deal. However, if it is the first secondary violation under Coach K (or if there has not been a secondary violation at Carolina since before Dean Smith), then it is really a shame for such a silly mistake to give up even a small part of the higher ground from which Duke has been able to view college basketball recruiting.

Let me reflect on the situation which happened with Roy at Kansas. He gave his graduating seniors a parting gift which is a violation and did not self report it. It later came out. It's one of many examples of rule infractions be it silly or not.

The problem with tracking these incidents down is that most of them never make it to ESPN. As Jason Evans stated, it'll be interesting to see how far this climbs in the news in a day when little things be made to seem so juicy.

Chris and his Dad seemed to be there simply watching the event as Father and son.

The rules are as such where coaches can converse with say, Mason Plumlee and Ryan Kelly in that they have signed letters of intent. They can in no way make contact with a prospect which has not committed, like John Wall, save a friendly nod.

Nobody has inferred that they did anything like the latter.

I can see that some fans desire to discuss this for they find it interesting. OTOH, I feel Duke is being held to a higher standard than many would hold themselves in their job. It's a case of a mistake and it's too "Enquirer" like for some to avoid.

Still, if one wants to research this further, you will find that a whole lot of mistakes happen at all schools from time to time.

[Bluedog]

--Jason "lets see how high this gets on ESPN's college basketball page" Evans

It still hasn't made it to ESPN.com as far as I can see...Definitely surprising to me!

We want this wall guy so bad that we will push the envelope everyway we can... Risk exposure of a minor violation to get some attention...

I don't think that's the case considering we haven't even offered Wall a scholarship yet, as far as I know. It seems that the holdout is for academic reasons, though, and not basketball-related. But you can't say we want him so badly if we haven't even told him he'd have a scholarship.

[wilko]

I don't think that's the case considering we haven't even offered Wall a scholarship yet, as far as I know. It seems that the holdout is for academic reasons, though, and not basketball-related. But you can't say we want him so badly if we haven't even told him he'd have a scholarship.

Yer prolly right, just trying to look at it from a different perspective. Nothing more nothing less.