I sure hope they get hammered. But I have this sneaking suspicion they're going to skate.
Good summary from ESPN as to where things stand and how they got here:
http://www.espn.com/college-sports/s...e-panel-friday
Jay Bilas has combined two thoughts into one. (1) The NCAA as a regulatory body is deeply flawed. (2) Roy Williams is an honorable guy.
Those two objectively reasonable separate thoughts have been combined in Jay's mind to reach a non sequitur: The NCAA's investigation of UNC-CH is unjust.
It doesn't follow. I'm a Bilas fan. He's just wrong about this.
I can (swallow) agree with Jay that Roy is a nice guy. And I do agree with him that the NCAA is flawed in a lot of ways.
But Roy and UNC-CH deserve to be hammered by the NCAA on this crap. And neither NCAA flaws nor Ol' Roy's being a good guy makes it not so.
I was a Cubs fan growing up, because I watched the games on WGN and liked the music between innings when they cut to commercial! Everyone around me pulled for the Braves and jumped on the bandwagon in the 90s. But not this guy!
I'm no longer a baseball spectator, but was happy to see the "W" flown after the WS. My apologies!
If the cheaters skate, then there should be a lot of GPA improvements at universities all over the country in the coming semesters. The precedent will be set. Cheat away!
I have not read the entire thread so if this thought has been mentioned please ignore this comment.
UNC may already have a response ready that states they are appealing the penalties based on...the various arguments they have already made public. This type of response immediately after the NCAA sends out its announcement will be enough for UNC fans to still enjoy LNWR and Homecoming.
Of course if UVA beats UNC in football they will want to count this year as one of the years that the football team is banned from posts season play.
UNC is going to claim they're exempt from double jeopardy, because they've imposed self-punishment by hiring Larry Fedora.
However, penalties should reflect when the infractions were committed, so vacating wins and giving back money are directly tied to the time of the infractions.
I also think that giving up scholarships does not hurt a program that much. Let's say UNC has to give up 3 scholarships a year for the next 5 years. Who is not going to get the scholarship? The next 5 star recruit or the manager who is a senior and is given a scholarship for his commitment to the program? UNC could still field a team with 10 highly rated players.
Post-season bans are also a deterrent but if I were a one and done and UNC was on TV during the regular season enough, I could still showcase my talents even if there were a post-season ban. That means no NCAA tournament may not reduce the talent pool either.
This is not to say that these punishments shouldn't be in play, its just that they may not reduce a teams talent pool that much.
I wish that banning UNC from TV were a possibility.
I must admit, the Friday the 13th/Haunted house just fits right in!