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Fran Fraschilla calling out Bill Self?

CTTB78

CTTB78

Well-Known Member
Apr 7, 2006
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From the Detroit Free Press......

"Fraschilla made the point that cheating "is not a victimless crime" because it means "a coach that doesn't cheat gets fired."
"When a coach gets caught cheating, they ought to throw the book at him," Fraschilla said. "Because there are a whole lot of other coaches out there, and I'll give you one example: The reason Tom Izzo doesn't have a great team right now is because he has not, quite frankly, he has lost some guys, at times, to schools that he wasn't willing to break rules for. And coaches who don't cheat will get fired if they don't win, and that's part of the problem I have with the NCAA. They ought to throw the book at all these guys that cheat."

Izzo suffered several high-profile recruiting losses in the 2013 and 2014 classes, including Kansas freshman forward Cliff Alexander, who is being held out while the NCAA reportedly investigates whether his family received impermissible benefits from an NBA agent.
MSU reportedly was the longtime leader for the Chicago big man, but Alexander abruptly cut off contact in the fall of 2013 and committed to Kansas."
 
That's pretty round-about to make the link that he is calling out Self.

I would agree with Fran though, if you don't want them to cheat, make the penalty harder. If it is a slap on the wrist they will keep doing it.
 
Self sure does seem to go through a lot of assistant coaches. It's not his fault if they just happen to be a recruit's dad.
 
Coaches like Self don't make it to where they are without plausible deniability.

If he doesn't know about it, it didn't happen. Basically they look the other way and let the "middle men" break all the rules. But often the person talking to the middle man is a school booster.

Just watch the movie Blue Chips. Friends of the program will take care of things. If the coach has no idea what happened then they can't be caught in a lie.
 
This is why Fran continues to be my favorite college basketball analyst.


However I don't think he was directly targeting Self in this statement.
 
farminclone said:
That's pretty round-about to make the link that he is calling out Self.
Click to expand...

Calling out only Self? No, but he is the main antagonist in the comments IMO, given the context, particularly if you followed Alexander's recruitment. After Izzo and Co publicly bowed out, it was just a matter of seeing which program they were referring to. Everyone knows what coach was able to say Alexander, and that Alexander is now suspended.

If it had been RV suspended and the Tribune published such an article, would it be a stretch to say it was Rice being called out?
 
Most of the time coaches know something is going on but turn a blind eye. Chizik at Auburn.
 
Knownothing said:
Most of the time coaches know something is going on but turn a blind eye. Chizik at Auburn.
Click to expand...

I'm guessing Chizik knew plenty and it was much more part of the culture than I am guessing at KU. Self doesn't need to cheat to win. I don't know if there is cheating going on or not, but although they get breaks on eligibility and make choices that are questionable ethically (hiring a player's dad), I don't know they actually are cheating and wouldn't make the accusation.
 
swarthmoreCY said:
Calling out only Self? No, but he is the main antagonist in the comments IMO, given the context, particularly if you followed Alexander's recruitment. After Izzo and Co publicly bowed out, it was just a matter of seeing which program they were referring to. Everyone knows what coach was able to say Alexander, and that Alexander is now suspended.

If it had been RV suspended and the Tribune published such an article, would it be a stretch to say it was Rice being called out?
Click to expand...

I think the writer made the Alexender connection, not Fran. The writer is calling Self out and making the connection for Fran, who was making a more general comment.

BTW I agree with both Fran and the writer's comments.
 
Knownothing said:
Most of the time coaches know something is going on but turn a blind eye. Chizik at Auburn.
Click to expand...

I think Chizik was hired specifically because they knew he was a good ole boy and would look the other way. They targeted him when he was an assistant coach there and told him to get some kind of head coach experience anywhere (ISU) and they followed through on their handshake deal and hired him despite his terrible record.

Magically all the recruits poured in and SCam Newton picked Auburn.
 
farminclone said:
I think the writer made the Alexender connection, not Fran. The writer is calling Self out and making the connection for Fran, who was making a more general comment.

BTW I agree with both Fran and the writer's comments.
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Agreed. I heard Fran on Sirius radio yesterday, and he made the same comments about Izzo when discussing the punishment for Jim Boeheim. It may have been the writer trying to connect the dots to Self.
 
LindenCy said:
I'm guessing Chizik knew plenty and it was much more part of the culture than I am guessing at KU. Self doesn't need to cheat to win. I don't know if there is cheating going on or not, but although they get breaks on eligibility and make choices that are questionable ethically (hiring a player's dad), I don't know they actually are cheating and wouldn't make the accusation.
Click to expand...

It may be more a criticism of Selfs willingness to recruit guys who are likely to break the rules.

Sounds like Izzo is willing to bow out when things get shady.

Bill might not do ANYTHING wrong, but his players seem to have issues at times. Whether it's taking an impermissible loan or sex scandals with married women.
 
swarthmoreCY said:
You don't think Alexander came up when Fran was making those comments?
Click to expand...

I have no idea. I am only dealing with the following quote from Fran:

"When a coach gets caught cheating, they ought to throw the book at him," Fraschilla said. "Because there are a whole lot of other coaches out there, and I'll give you one example: The reason Tom Izzo doesn't have a great team right now is because he has not, quite frankly, he has lost some guys, at times, to schools that he wasn't willing to break rules for. And coaches who don't cheat will get fired if they don't win, and that's part of the problem I have with the NCAA. They ought to throw the book at all these guys that cheat."

He doesn't mention Cliff or Self but if you want to make that connection I don't think it is wrong.
 
This was hardly Fran calling out Self.

Personally, I have no issue with Bill Self. I think he's a great coach and good for the Big 12. He doesn't need to cheat because he's got tradition, facilities, and an established record of guys in the NBA on his side already... The only problem he has is that he's recruiting guys with huge egos. Watch the Cliff Alexander "decision" video again and watch both Cliff and his dad. He knew exactly what he was doing, and he was doing it because he knew he was hot ****. Guys like that can poison a team quickly, so the fact Self manages this just reiterates his ability as a leader... Travis Ford/Marcus Smart, not so much.

Personally, I'd take humble and hungry 4 star guys over arrogant 5 star McDs All Americans any day. I love being able to watch our guys for more than a year and see how they get better under Fred. If we're going after 5*s, I'm good with it as long as we don't sell our soul to get them. I want these guys to want to be at ISU and be a part of the team. (Which is why I wasn't that disappointed about RV last year).
 
Fran coming up on 810am WHB around 5. Going to be asked about Self and Alexander.
 
Fran obviously does not mention any coach by name, and I'm sure he never will. The only tie to his comment are recruits that Izzo lost out to another school because "he wasn't willing to break rules". The DFP writer mentions Alexander as an example, but it would interesting to know what other guys MSU bowed out on late in the last 2-3 years?
 
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