"Bluechips" - honest commentary from journalists

Just got done watching the early 1990's basketball recruiting movie, "Bluechips" with my wife.
We are anxious to see our own alma mater in a big, in-conference home game today.
They'll televise it in these parts, so we'll be watching.

Anyway, I am interested in hearing/reading some honest commentary from sportswriters here on the subject matter for that movie.
Most of us here have tossed around the idea that big-time athletics (any sport) simply MUST involve some kind of cheating.
Paying athletes, getting housing or cars for other family members, easy coursework, etc, etc.
A few of the biggest names in college coaching were in that movie - Pitino, Knight, Boeheim, Tarkanian, - Marty Blake even made a cameo.
So, what gives. Are Coach K and Kelvin Sampson and Lavan and Fraschilla and Donovan and Tubby and Dave Odom and Calhoun (etc) all in the same boat together?
Does everyone cheat? (And let's no leave out the women's game, too. Auriemma, Pat Summit, Andy Landers, Stringer (etc) should all be part of this discussion.)
Some of you guys have been writing sports for a long time, around some big conferences and programs.
Please, can we toss this around.

 

I've said this before in a half-joking, half-serious manner: Quin Snyder learned how to cheat from Coach K. Quin just wasn't as good at it.

 

If you ain't cheatin', you ain't tryin'.

 

College basketball? At its highest levels?

What do you think?

 

I have no idea. And we might need to truly define cheating.

I don't think of myself as a law-breaker, but I do break the speed limit. For coaches, I'm sure there are equivalents that they break all the time.

 

I want you, and others, to make some honest commentary on the matter.
Too often, we as sportswriters give free passes to coaches.
Or maybe they deserve free passes. Maybe most of them aren't cheating.
Or don't choose to consort with "Friends of the Program" alum or boosters

Heck, I've heard enough "What do you think?" commentary on this type thing.
I want us to address it.
Even in the movie, that one reporter was the only guy asking any questions.
The rest of the media seemed content to writer their gamers and make plans for the standard Monday teleconference.

Let's talk about this.

 

This is not necessarily on the subject, but I think the funniest part of that movie is when Ed O'Neill pipes up at the press conference at the end and basically says:

"Coach, I've been working on this major story about cheating in your program for the last few months. Can I ask you about it in a crowded press conference and basically give my scoop to every swingin'-dick writer and TV guy in the room?"

Hilarious.

And yes, I'm sure every major college basketball program cheats at some level ... even if it's just looking the other way while AAU coaches or athletic shoe reps run wild.

 

If you ain't first, you're last.

 

See, that's what I want to see discussed here.
Shoe contracts, AAU, per diems, etc.
There various levels of activity which are/are not truly legal within the NCAA structure.
If there's something that's not legal, why aren't we addressing it.
Are there sacred cows on the college beat.

 

I broke a cheating story in the 1980s. The school went on probation for two years. The staff was not retained.

Soon after, Kentucky was caught cheating. Boss said, "If Kentucky has to cheat in basketball, everybody cheats."

 

Of the current Top 25, I have the biggest smelltest problems with Memphis, Tennessee, and Connecticut, and I'm not thrilled with Texas and Kansas State, either.

Michigan, during the years glorified by Albom? Please.

UCLA, during their relentless multiyear march? Please. Wooden is a great coach, but he had a lot of help.

Kentucky? Emery Air Freight? Make me laugh.

 

I'm sure there's something going on at UConn. Here you have a state college in the middle of nowhere, with only one godawful two-lane road leading to the campus. And they're able to land high school All-Americans?