Blog link found on Diallo eligibility concerns.



  • On the Bee Gees thing … when I was a kid, an older kid called them the BJs. I was like “no it’s the Bee Gees.” The older kid said “no, their gay, it’s the BJs.” Still didn’t make sense to me. And then one day it did. And once that makes sense to you, well, you’re no longer really a kid.





  • @HighEliteMajor

    I didn’t relate to the BeeGees back then. I was more of a hard rock kid. Sometimes it takes aging to recognize that other people have talent, whether it is your style or not. Plus… as you age you tend to soften up on everything that comes from your prime time youth!

    I remember cleaning out my closet several decades ago… throwing out my bell bottom pants, flaming suits and platform shoes. Wish I hadn’t done that! And what I couldn’t wear today (because of added pounds), I could always sell online or to a vintage store. That stuff is worth premium dollars today!



  • @drgnslayr love to see a pic!😳



  • @Crimsonorblue22

    Not going to happen… I’m not exactly proud of my current physical condition and it wouldn’t visually improve just by adding glitzy old 60s/70s attire. I run from cameras today! Yikes!



  • @drgnslayr I meant an old one.😉



  • @drgnslayr

    Actually it is the opposite. Most every schools have outreach programs that allow them to admit students that would not normally qualify and the only chance of succeeding in college is taking a reduced classwork with heavy tutoring. The NCAA wants to make sure that student-athletes are capable of carrying a minimum class load in addition to the time and effort required by the sport, since it is a requirement to remain eligible. Many athletes take summer classes to compensate for the reduced class load taken during the regular school terms.

    If I recall correctly, this is part of the problem at SMU where individuals that normally would not qualify were admitted by virtue of being athletes and then the NCAA said…we don’t think so…private school are free to admit pretty much any one they want.



  • @BeddieKU23

    The school has the final say on whether to admit a student or not; the NCAA cannot and does not tell schools who they can or cannot admit. However, the NCAA does have the final say on whether that student can participle in NCAA sanctioned sports.



  • @JayHawkFanToo

    I’m thinking it is the Kansas Board of Regents that determine admission guidelines for all State-funded universities… of which Kansas is a member.

    http://www.kansasregents.org/academic_affairs/qualified_admissions



  • @drgnslayr

    Yes, that is the case 98% of the time and applicable to the majority of candidates. However, all schools have outreach programs that allow student that otherwise would not qualify to be admitted under hardship conditions; many athletes are accepted under these programs.



  • @BeddieKU23 Yah! I was feeling like the NCAA is singling out KU here. How many times has this happened to us in the past 5 years?? Too many. Too many.
    How many times has Kentucky ever had a player NOT be eligible to play in that same time frame?
    None that I can remember. Speaking of that, is Skal eligible yet?



  • @Lulufulu

    There has been little word on him, almost like its just going to sweep under the rug while Diallo is making headlines not being eligible. Not that I think UK does anything illegal because they have been on the wrong side of luck before (Kanter) but Skal’s eligibility issues have been talked about a lot more but I have not seen anything recent on him.



  • @Lulufulu

    It looks that way but all schools have the same issues when it comes to student-athletes; we are just more familiar with those associated with KU. Unfortunately, not all student-athletes are like Perry Ellis, Valedictorian of his HS class. A good number of the top recruits (obviously not all) are academically marginal since they see their future in pro-sports and academics come second. The basic NCAA requirement are not particularly high at all and the average HS graduate should not have any problem meeting them.



  • @BeddieKU23 Yeah, Kanter. Almost forgot about him.
    Either way, Diallo WILL get cleared. I know it. I just hope its before October.
    We’ve had to wait on Selby,Anrio Adams, the Twins?, Ben, Traylor, did we have to wait on Embiid or Wiggs? Now we wait on Diallo. It just seems like KU is being picked on while Duke, UNC, UK and others get passes way more than we do.



  • @BeddieKU23

    Skal issues are not related to grades, they involve his guardian asking AU coaches how to make money with or off Skal. Skal’s guardian created a school where he played basketball (basically a traveling basketball team) but his coursework was done at a regular school.



  • @BeddieKU23

    With Duke they aren’t going to have a lot of acadamic issues because of their strict admission standards.

    What standards? http://blogs.mercurynews.com/collegesports/2008/11/05/stanford-vs-duke-basketball-the-difference-in-admissions-standards/



  • @JayHawkFanToo

    I didn’t know that… thanks for the info!



  • @BeddieKU23 Jay Bilas has been defending Diallo and ripping on the NCAA over this issue on Twitter. He was also bringing up how ridiculous it is because it doesn’t really do anything except delay a student-athlete’s college playing career by an extra year. Makes the kid pay for something that was out of his hands too.



  • @BeddieKU23 crap, I edited your post by mistake.





  • @drgnslayr

    Damn that would be fun, but I’ve tried song writing and I’m not for real. I can do parodies of lyrics easily, but my from scratch stuff leaves something to be desired.

    I would still like for you to dust the Strat off and lay down some licks on an mpeg file, or whatever is used now, and attach to a thread here so we could hear some REAL guitar playing. Too much guitar playing with empty ball sacks these days.

    We’ll call it: The 'Slayr Sessions.



  • @jaybate-1.0

    Yeah… it would be REAL… REAL BAD! Might make you forget about BAD BALL!



  • @BeddieKU23

    Way to stiff screen those pencil necks!!!

    So many people don’t get that private schools get to set their standards any way they flipping like. They can let moronic legacies in. They can let dumb jocks in. They can let the Dean’s 16 year old mistress in to keep her from spilling the statutory beans on the Dean and school.

    Nothing is sacred at these private schools, except the “appearance” of high standards.

    The reality is whatever they want it to be.



  • I accidentally edited Beddie’s post and dogged Duke. Sorry again, @BeddieKU23. I’m on phone today and screwed the pooch on that one.

    @jaybate-1.0 preach on, brother. It’s imperative to dispel the holier-than-thou Duke myth whenever it’s presented as matter of fact.



  • @approxinfinity

    Let me hear an AMEN!



  • @approxinfinity

    done it before no problemo



  • @BeddieKU23 Nice find! Holy cow, I could get into Duke with my eyes closed. Those testing requirements are a joke. Here I thought that Duke was pretty close to an IVY league school…guess I was wrong.



  • @Makeshift I saw one of Bilas’ tweets about Diallo. Thought it was cool coming from a Dookie and someone with a huge bias towards Nike and the east coast.



  • @jaybate-1.0

    “Let me hear an AMEN!”



  • I want to stay positive about Diallo. Since he is from Mali, since he likes to BALL, Change Miss to Mister and we find out that Little Richard is a Jayhawk fan.



  • Could Mickelson be this year’s Rodrick Stewart?

    Let me explain.

    In 2007-2008, Rush comes back but needs time to complete recovery from an ACL injury. Instead of shifting his best remaining players around, Self just plugs Rodrick Stewart into Rush’s place in the rotation.

    Sure, Stewart is no Rush and will not shoot lots of 3s, but he allows Self to keep his basic offensive and defensive schemes and keep the other players in their normal roles.

    When Rush comes back, Self unplugs Stewart and plugs in Rush with minimal adjustments.

    Now this year, Self expects / hopes that Diallo will be available to play this year, but maybe not right away. In case there is a delay in clearing Diallo, how can Self avoid having to prepare two different teams: the one with Diallo and the one without?

    The “Stewart method” would be to plug in the player who can best substitute for Diallo, while keeping everybody else in the same roles. Enter Mickelson, a guy who can block, keep the ball alive on both ends and score cleanup baskets.

    Mickelson can play the Diallo role better than Lucas, whose strength is knowing Self’s system, and Traylor, who is more of a stretch 4 (or shrink 3).

    The bad news for Mickelson in this comparison: when Rush came back, Stewart went from starter to deep freeze - I mean completely out of the rotation.



  • @Lulufulu said:

    It just seems like KU is being picked on while Duke, UNC, UK and others get passes way more than we do.

    There appears a cascade effect involved.

    KU signs with Adidas.

    Adidas reputedly has fewer power summer league teams and Adidas leaning players to recruit.

    Adidas KU signs a few top players, but not as many as top Nike programs.

    Self moves toward signing guys that have gone to multiple high schools due to the phenomenon of closing schools; this leads to more delays in NCAA and B12 clearance; top Nike programs can sign fewer of these, because of larger recruiting base.

    Self tries picking up more transfers and also some OADs from imploding programs. This works for a time, but then the NCAA appears to shift away from disciplining programs and toward using delayed “clearance” process to deal with recruiting abuses. At the same time, more coaches engage in Self’s transfer signing tactic so transfers to KU plateau. Further, OADs from imploding programs dry up, as rising reliance on clearance process lessens frequency of programs imploding from NCAA infractions. And later disciplined programs like Syracuse hardly appear to skip a beat in recruiting, nor suffer wide spread transfers, as a result of infractions. Further more coaches appear to embrace OAD signing. Net Self has fewer transfers, fewer OADS from imploding programs, and more competition for fewer nonNike OADs.

    Self appears to resort to signing still more players from multi high school backgrounds, which means longer clearance times.

    Running out of moves to end run a shrunken recruiting base coinciding with signing with Adidas, Adidas appears to get more aggressive about signing top endorsement talent in the NBA with huge deals; awareness of these new huge deals appears to filter down to Nike lean recruits and encourages some to shift brand leans and consider Adidas college programs to better position for post college shoe deals.

    Adidas-KU and Adidas-Self sign certain superstar and reputed early Nike lean Wiggins away from Nike programs AND sign potential superstar Embiid–a reputed foreign Nike lean to Nike Florida and Nike Donovan.

    These signings of Wigs and Embiid might be viewed as an Adidas program poaching Nike leans–two potentially huge future endorser-type players.

    Apparent Nike long stacks start.

    2-3 OAD/TAD Adidas program rosters suddenly then at competitive disadvantage with 4-10 draft choice stacks.

    Rick Pitino reputedly notes agent and agent runner mechanism for channeling some players toward some schools with some brands, as well as some reputed asymmetry in recruiting pools related to brands.

    Self appears to counter apparent long stack strategy with pursuit and signing more foreign players with complicated school backgrounds. More clearance delays.

    Apparent Long stack strategy quickly modified to apparent medium stack strategy apparently perhaps to get broader stack coverage of conferences and lower profile of stacking strategy and reduce appearance of unfairness.

    Adidas-KU struggles more and more to sign top players. KU’s reliance on recruits from complicated academic backgrounds rises. More clearance problems.

    The above is speculation and opining and hypothesizing on appearances by a layman fan without insider knowledge of actual recruiting. No conspiracies are expressed or implied. All is assumed to be legal, or part of regulatory grey areas. Your take may differ and be just as possibly correct. More and more we need credible pro journalists with resources to dig in.



  • @ParisHawk

    “Now this year, Self expects / hopes that Diallo will be available to play this year, but maybe not right away. In case there is a delay in clearing Diallo, how can Self avoid having to prepare two different teams: the one with Diallo and the one without?”

    Great insight!

    The good news for Mickelson is that every minute of PT he gets, it helps build his stat line. He really needs to pen in some numbers on the stat line for his attempt to jump to the next level after Kansas… Int’l ball.

    I think he definitely opened up some doors after his performance in WUG. Foreign players and coaches will remember him, and he has some prime footage for helping him get noticed in other countries.

    And who is to say that he couldn’t be a positive if Cheick never qualifies?



  • @drgnslayr Just listened to a podcast with Jesse Newell and Jason King from B/R. Spoke on this very topic. Self shouldn’t have to vary his approach too much, Mickelson can fill in nicely for Diallo and it is still too early in the season to worry about it. Jesse also spoke on the significance of Bilas’ support for Diallo to get cleared. Thats basically it in a nutshell.

    I agree. I think its still too early to be concerned. Coach can still plan ahead for both teams, with and without Diallo. Mickelson is the better option if we dont have Diallo to start the season, Which We Should!! Its madness. I hope Bilas continues to push for Diallo to get cleared.



  • @drgnslayr He’s gonna qualify.



  • @Lulufulu

    I don’t know what to believe in the news…

    But… I believe YOU! He is going to qualify!



  • I have seen some recent chatter on Kobie Eubanks being ineligible again to attend Alabama because of his credits from Our Savior not being accepted… Jerry Meyer has “reliable” source that this is in fact what is the problem for him. And further commented on how this doesn’t look good for Diallo. While I believe he’s assuming the part of Diallo from Eubanks situation with the school ties he doesn’t offer any direct knowledge of Diallo’s current situation other than assumption by association



  • @BeddieKU23

    Uh-oh.



  • The scariest part about this is that KE did an extra year of HS because of the uncertainty at that time and STILL was not cleared. He originally was part of the 2014 class and reclassified to 2015 because of the eligibility concerns. Yikes.



  • @RockkChalkk

    If KE is in fact ineligible again there really has to be some incompetent people that haven’t steered this kid to right avenues to be eligible. Missing 1 year happens, but missing another after going to prep school and not being eligible just seems unfair. The guidelines for getting his eligibility should have been clearly layed out for this kid by both the NCAA & whatever school he attended to work on these issues. I know I would be upset if this happened to my child/me.



  • @BeddieKU23 Just saw this.

    The Crimson Tide’s going to have an interesting and challenging 2015-16, and now we know the journey will commence without four-star 2015 prospect Kobie Eubanks, who was not cleared in time for the start of the academic year. As such, he will not play hoops in Tuscaloosa. Eubanks, who was the best incoming freshman Alabama had, did not get the go-ahead from the NCAA after it reviewed his transcripts from Delray Beach, Fla.'s Elev8 Sports Institute in addition to his previous marks at prior stops in high school.

    Eubanks originally was a Baylor commitment, then backed off that last November because initial issues with his transcripts prompted a reclassification from the class of 2014 to the class of 2015. In mid-June Eubanks pledged to Bama under its new, Johnson-led regime.

    Prior to playing at Elev8, Eubanks was a student at Our Savior New American School, which is based in Long Island, N.Y. A fellow 2015 prospect, Kansas five-star big man Cheick Diallo, also attended the school. Diallo has yet to be cleared by the NCAA to play at KU.

    Eubanks’ time at American Heritage High School, in Plantation, Fla., has also been a big factor in precluding the prospect from gaining eligibility.

    This guy had MANY places that were at play in his eligibility.



  • So, did Avery Johnson know, or should he have known?

    Perhaps the lengthy and misguided discussion on the Diallo foreign schooling now would appear irrelevant.

    Diallo attended American Heritage, which is causing Eubanks trouble. And Diallo’s recent school, Our Savior, is having its coursework reviewed by the NCAA.

    Knew or should have known. It’s like a contractor securing scaffolding on a construction site – he either knew the set up was bad, or he should have known (based on his expertise in the area). If there was no way to know, that’s one thing. But when you’re involved in recruiting – at its very core – it’s your job to know.

    If we lose Diallo the world does not come to an end. Far, far from it. We are still a national title contender. But now we can expect bad news, prepare for it, but be surprised by good news. Either way, we’re a bad ass team.



  • @HighEliteMajor

    Diallo went to American Heritage? was that a typo?



  • @BeddieKU23 Yes, typed fast and brain cramped … Eubanks went to Our Savior, where Diallo went, and that coursework is being reviewed by the NCAA. Thanks for noting my idiocy.



  • Apparently they were not able to get him admitted to Alabama, regardless of the wait for the NCAA to clear him…which it has yet to do; Diallo on the other hand has been admitted to KU and has already taken classes in the Summer and is currently enrolled for the Fall. Looks like two different situations. If I recall correctly Eubanks attended Our Savior only one year and there is chance that those his only good classes and his previous school, where he did the bulk of ho work, is more likely the culprit.

    Having said that…it is not that simple…

    A prospective student-athlete must complete his or her core-curriculum requirements not later than the high school graduation date of the prospective student-athlete’s class [as determined by the first year of enrollment in high school (ninth grade) or the international equivalent…]. Graduation from high school or secondary school shall be based on the prospective student-athlete’s prescribed educational path in his or her country.

    This generally means that a prospect must have finished the NCAA’s 16 require core courses by the time he or she finishes high school. A prospect’s GPA is also more or less locked in based on classes completed before graduation.

    There is one exception. An athlete may take up to one core course after graduation, provided he or she graduates on time and completes the extra credit within one year. That could be one year of a course or one semester each of two courses. Athletes who do not graduate on time are not allowed to use this exception.

    So, and as I understand, the additional year will get you only one more NCAA required core class and as I read, students that stay the extra year do it to raise their GPAs to compensate for low SAT/ACT score.

    The link that @HighEliteMajor provided before lists the NCAA approved classes for every school; if a student chooses to take courses not approved, he has no one to blame but himself. Any prospect that does know this is the equivalent of a smoker that claims he does not know smoking causes cancer.



  • @JayHawkFanToo probably the ho work! Couldn’t resist!!



  • @Crimsonorblue22

    LOL. Good thing I was not drinking coffee otherwise I would need a new keyboard, 🙂



  • @HighEliteMajor

    I was getting confused that I had missed something with Diallo’s schooling. It was in no attempt to call you out we all have brain camps from time to time.



  • Regardless of the slow paper shuffling of the NCAA I wonder how the Big 12 will rule on Diallo’s transcripts. The league did not rule in favor of incoming freshmen McLemore, Anderson and Traylor.



  • @REHawk The big 12 only rules if Diallo is a “partial qualifier”, meaning either ACT or GPA was not OK.


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