LSU Basketball in Trouble

[Sam]

Vice Chancellor and Athletics Director Joe Alleva has suspended Will Wade indefinitely over the purported story of an FBI wiretap catching Wade admitting he paid Devonte Smart to attend LSU.

 

Now, in Louisiana and other SEC states some fans believe it is OK if you pay a player to play football. Ask Auburn fans about the $80,000 payoff supposedly given to Cam Newton and also ask the Alabama football fans about it.

 

But basketball? Paying someone to play SEC basketball? That is a far reach but it does not look for good for Wade.

 

If Wade is convicted the NCAA has the power to walk in and have LSU forfeit all games and to tell Smart that his college career is over.

 

In Baton Rouge the seasons are football - gymnastics - crawfish - baseball - fishing. We were hoping that basketball could be added to the list. Does not look good right now for that to happen.

 

The hearing is set for April 22nd, way after the NCAA tournament. So it will be interesting to see how far LSU can go in the SEC tournament and the NCAA playoffs without Wade.

 

Stay tuned sports fans, this should be a good one to follow.

[GReb]

As a butthurt Ole Miss fan I hope everyone else burns after the NCAA took us to the woodshed over an unproven payment of $11k and a proven incentives worth $3k. 

 

But get real. Everyone pays and the players deserve to receive the incentives. Other basketball programs are paying much more $$$ than LSU is. Ben Simmons received a buttload but Kansas, Duke, UNC, Louisville, Kentucky, etc are paying big bucks. 

[volzfan59]

Best of luck LSU, you too Sam.

[Sam]

7 hours ago, GReb said:

As a butthurt Ole Miss fan I hope everyone else burns after the NCAA took us to the woodshed over an unproven payment of $11k and a proven incentives worth $3k. 

 

But get real. Everyone pays and the players deserve to receive the incentives. Other basketball programs are paying much more $$$ than LSU is. Ben Simmons received a buttload but Kansas, Duke, UNC, Louisville, Kentucky, etc are paying big bucks. 

A past LSU basketball coach told me that when Roy Williams was at Kansas, before he went to UNC, he was dirty.

 

The players need to share the profits of their game. They need to be paid the same amount by each school in their conference.

 

Alabama still hates Tennessee because Coach Fulmer turned them in for cheating.

 

And I remember an excellent running back from New Orleans that LSU and the other SEC schools passed on and he ended up at Tulane. He was driving a big SUV that he said belonged to his father.

 

Mississippi State is supposed to have caused Ole Miss to have the football problems it faced with the NCAA.

 

And everyone thought Joe Paterno ran a clean ship at Penn State and looked what went on at that school.

 

Stay tuned. It could get nasty when everyone bails on each other.

[Gundog]

What I hate about the coverage of this is the twist ESPN and its spawn have put on it. The argument is if you would just pay the players a salary this wouldn't happen. It doesn't matter how much you pay college athletes there will always be a coach/booster/alum who is willing to break the rules and pay that special (unproven) kid money or give him a car or "help" his parents. If you want to stop it don't let LSU hold the investigation. They are just stalling in hopes that they can make it through the tourney without getting kicked out of the tourney. 

[roadwarrior]

Well, this quote is usually attributed to NASCAR, but it seems fitting here, too:
"If ya ain't cheatin', ya ain't trying."

 

[deaknh03]

almost everything in life with results being tied to monetary incentives has ties to cheating, including i would bet 90% of sports teams, pro and college.

[TnRiver46]

The list of college hoops coaches that have payed players is basically the hall of fame. John wooden, Adolph rupp, calipari, pitino, Roy Williams, bill self........ will wade is just trying to get himself to elite status 

[jbsoonerfan]

Everyone cheats in college sports, Nick Saban just happens to be the best at it.

[Sam]

What is troubling is where did the money come from? Not the university. Not Wade. A crazy alumni? A business? Something's don't add up. If Wade did in fact pay Smart or his family then why did LSU suspend him and not fire him? I am sure the Louisiana State Police have been asking questions of all involved and telling the Chancellor what they found out.

 

Plus the fact that Smart was allowed to sit on the LSU bench for the Vandy game. If the kid did take a bribe I don't think this would have been allowed.

[Gundog]

39 minutes ago, Sam said:

 If Wade did in fact pay Smart or his family then why did LSU suspend him and not fire him?

 

Plus the fact that Smart was allowed to sit on the LSU bench for the Vandy game. If the kid did take a bribe I don't think this would have been allowed.

Question 1 and 2 could be one answer. Lawsuits. I'm sure Wade has a contract that demands he gets paid. If they fired him without a thorough investigation that could lead to legal retribution. The same with Smart. That is a bad can of worms they would be opening up. 

[Log Catcher]

3 hours ago, Gundog said:

Question 1 and 2 could be one answer. Lawsuits. I'm sure Wade has a contract that demands he gets paid. If they fired him without a thorough investigation that could lead to legal retribution. The same with Smart. That is a bad can of worms they would be opening up. 

I believe the schools should change the contract. If the the coach is involved in something illegal or an NCAA violation there are fired and don't get paid another penny. If they know they are going to get rich even if fired they aren't going to care about rules or ethics.

[Sam]

College coaching contracts have clauses regarding cheating, honesty, integrity, and infidelity. Ask Ole Miss and Penn State about it.

 

But nothing was said that Smart or his family was actually paid, given jobs, given cars, or received other remuneration.

 

Maybe Wade was acting like a big shot when he told the other guy that he had bought players in the past. Just a bunch of baloney that went no where. Wade, a short, small guy, acting like a the big Mahoola to impress the other guy.

 

Will be interesting to see what happens.

[Sam]

It was reported in New Orleans that the reason Wade did not want to meet with the LSU administration is that the LSU administration was going to have the NCAA in on the meeting via conference calling. Wade's attorney told him to back off and not meet with the school officials.

[Fishing Rhino]

On 3/9/2019 at 11:41 AM, roadwarrior said:

Well, this quote is usually attributed to NASCAR, but it seems fitting here, too:
"If ya ain't cheatin', ya ain't trying."

 

Or, if you don't get caught, it ain't cheatin'.

[jbsoonerfan]

I don't know if Devonte Smart and Ja'vonte Smart are the same person or not. But Ja'vonte needs a bigger top and I have no idea what is going on with his shorts.

[Sam]

6 hours ago, jbsoonerfan said:

I don't know if Devonte Smart and Ja'vonte Smart are the same person or not. But Ja'vonte needs a bigger top and I have no idea what is going on with his shorts.

JB, I think it is Ja'vonte. My bad.

 

As for the shorts, they wanted shorter ones for some unknown reason. And if you watch the games some of the other team's guys have done the same thing. Looks like the athletic staff did the tailoring work and not a pro tailor.

 

Regarding the LSU-Will Wade "scandal" my Louisiana contacts tell me that the governor and LSU Board Chairman are getting involved and want King Alexander (president) and Big Nose Joe Alleva (Athletics Director) gone. What is interesting is why don't they want Wade to go? Do they know something that we don't know? I am sure that if the governor and Board Chair know Wade is dirty he would have been long gone.

 

And you know the SEC knows what is going on and they have not stepped in. Wonder if we have Alabama and Auburn implicated even more than we know and the Birmingham SEC office is protecting them.

 

Alleva is supposed to be a "basketball" athletic director, coming over from Dook after he mishandled the lacrosse scandal. There are rumors to bring Skip Bertman back to get the athletics department back on track and then hire another AD. After all, since 2008 LSU has had four basketball coaches (not counting the current interim head coach) after John Brady was let go which does not let the basketball coach and team have a strong long-term track record and stability.

 

My friends think Wade knows a lot of big time coaches, assistant coaches, boosters, shoe companies, athletic apparel companies, AAU crooks, and players who can be charged and on the advice of his attorney, Wade is keeping a low profile. And remember, the FBI doesn't fool around and if they had Wade he would have been charged by now. The feds want his testimony at the April trial.

 

The NCAA is just buying their time, waiting for the trial.

 

Stay tuned, this is going to be a fun ride no matter how it turns out.

[jbsoonerfan]

7 hours ago, Sam said:

JB, I think it is Ja'vonte. My bad.

 

As for the shorts, they wanted shorter ones for some unknown reason. And if you watch the games some of the other team's guys have done the same thing. Looks like the athletic staff did the tailoring work and not a pro tailor.

Hahahaha!!!! That's what I thought.