Eric Bledsoe Saga

[tornado]

Week after week we hear that the investigation into his altered grades and phony transcript is going to be released...and each week goes by, and still nothing...

Until now..finally a little breaking news....and it is NOT good ---
as now they are saying the records clearly show major discrepancies hinting someone hacked in and changed his grades to get him eligible....although it's too late to stop the kid from playing as he's already in the NBA.
But how many times does John Calipari get away with this...it's the same as the Derrick Rose scandal...


Eric Bledsoe is the kid who went to Kentucky and then jumped to the NBA but lots of people wondered how he could raise his GPA by such an enormous amount in just one semester..
After his first 3 years in high school - his GPA was about 1.7, and he needed to get it up to 2.5 to be eligible...a virtually impossible task even if he got straight A's...and how likely is it a kid who is a career D+ student can ace every course for a year??
Suddenly - Bledsoe changes high schools and his grades are phenomenal and he's qualified!!!
On top of that...the course that got him over the hump was an "A" in Algebra 3 - which Bledsoe took even before he ever took Algebra 2 (he took that later and aced it, too!)..
Bledsoe had previously NEVER gotten a grade above a "C" until suddenly getting all these suspicious "A"'s...
The ex-principal said it isn't even ALLOWED for a student to take those courses out of order!!!

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2010/09/records_differed_on_bledsoes_p.html

Here's a few comments in case you don't want to read the article...
"..the final course grade recorded on the night-school grade report is
wrong. "You've got the wrong grade. There are two of those printout sheets.
I already talked to the (school) board attorney." He said he wouldn't
comment further and hung up."

"Birmingham school system officials have said they elected not to cooperate
with the NCAA"

Grade changing in the district isn't the only scandalous problem they have there....
Bledsoe's high school principal was fired amid more scandal, he apparently stole $17,000 from the school district.

Bledsoe also got an "A" in a biology course he had previously gotten a "D" in, but he took the course ONLINE from the BYU Character Education courses...which have since been banned.....these are the ones Missouri's Ricky Clemons got fraudulent "A"'s in.


You decide..but it is pretty clear some fishy stuff went on here -- and this kid and his "helpers" cheated to get him eligible...

[bdhove12]

The NCAA has already investigated Bledsoe and has cleared him twice now. Unless the NCAA decides to launch a third investigation (unlikely), nothing is going to happen to UK in regards to Bledsoe.

[tornado]

I am not at all sure that statement is true....the NCAA is still currently looking into Bledsoe in an investigation of these very factors like his grades and the discrepancies....they opened the investigation in May, 2010 and it is still ongoing...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/29/sports/ncaabasketball/29recruit.html

http://www.sportingnews.com/ncaa-basketball/story/2010-09-14/conflicting-information-found-in-eric-bledsoes-high-school-transcript

Likewise Derrick Rose, Reggie Bush, OJ Mayo, Marcus Camby, etc....were all "cleared".....
but when new info became available then they changed their minds, and those players were deemed ineligible -- thus leading to the forfeiture of all the games they played in...
All the info on Eric Bledsoe is not yet out there -- time will tell......

[bdhove12]

The case was never reopened in May. The NY Times caught wind of a previous investigation and wrote that article in May, even though the case had already been closed. The NCAA hasn't been involved since before last season when they investigated all this conflicting information. If new information comes out, the NCAA will look into it. But, the information coming out now has been known by the NCAA for over a year now, so I really doubt any new investigation will be taking place.

[tornado]

The articles from Birmingham have stated the NCAA was and is active in trying to get information from the Birmingham schools and asking for answers...so NOTHING ever needed to "reopened" since nothing was ever closed, unless you have info nobody else does...
...but that the Birmingham School District and their Lawyers are presently NOT cooperating...so I really doubt that the NCAA is going to just close the files on that note....

None of what I am reading sounds like the NCAA closed their files and no longer cares...but are waiting for new info....
"As of Aug. 1, the NCAA banned athletes from using the BYU and American
School online programs for high school credit to beef up their grades in core
classes. A new NCAA rule requires "regular access and interaction" between
teachers and students in the 16 core courses required for initial eligibility."

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2010/09/records_differed_on_bledsoes_p.html

I can't think for NCAA but seeing now that Bledsoe got some of his credits through this terribly discredited source, my guess is that they'd like to know more about that, too...and they have not issued any statement as to whether they are satisfied with the answers they got on the apartment EB lived in also....

So -- silence from the NCAA at this time does NOT mean they have closed the files, and nothing else anywhere says they closed the files, while lots of things hint they are just waiting to pounce.....


BTW -- there is a rumble that the NCAA is about to act and place Alabama State on four more years of probation docking them 2 scholarships...


PS -- inquiry now getting started into North Carolina and their recruiting connections with agents..

http://www.wralsportsfan.com/voices/blogpost/8271230/

[Da Coach]

From the NY Times- more suspicions regarding Eric Bledsoe's questionable high school grades. Could this be Calipari's downfall?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/15/sports/ncaabasketball/15hoops.html?_r=1

[real fan]

From the NY Times- more suspicions regarding Eric Bledsoe's questionable high school grades. Could this be Calipari's downfall?
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/15/sp...oops.html?_r=1

Calapari should not be allowed to coach in any college sport forever as he is nothing but a cheat and will continue to do so if they do not stop him now.

[tornado]

NCAA spokesman says...if Bledsoe's grade changes, therefore his transcript changes, the NCAA will review it and decide if his eligibility was changed...


"Chuck Wynne, who is the NCAA's director of communication strategy,
...(says)....whenever there is new and credible information the member
school is obligated to track the information down and forward it to the NCAA
provided it is "salient to the record." Wynne said if a transcript is officially
changed -- which is something that the Alabama high school would have to
do -- then the new transcript goes to its authorized list of recipients, which
would include the NCAA Eligibility Center. That's the same for new
standardized test scores. Then there is a process of working toward a
correct resolution, even if that means changing a decision. But Wynne said
that "depends a great deal on how the new information comes to light." But
nothing will happen if the transcript isn't officially changed since Bledsoe was
cleared by the Eligibility Center with his old transcript. If there isn't a new
transcript then there wouldn't appear to be a change in his eligibility."

[Da Coach]

Here is a columnby Gary Parrish of CBSSports about this issue of the NCAA's involvement with eligibility-

http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/6271764/24771233

As a Bradley fan, I should agree with this, since the NCAA has hurt Bradley many times in the last few years (Buycks, Wilkins, Ochereobia, and others) but I don't.
Parrish quotes a column by Jay Bilas of ESPN that the NCAA should get out of the business of determining eligibility.
I think that would be a mistake. It would open the door for cheating by coaches and admins who just want to get ahead by playing kids who would not otherwise qualify, or worse, who's academic record has been tampered with. This Bledsoe case is used as an example. Cheating is rampant enough, do we need to close our eyes to it even more?

[tornado]

agree -- Kansas' Darrell Arthur and Simeon's Derrick Rose, Tim Flowers, Kenyon Smith, and Kevin Johnson were all ssupected to have had their grades altered and fraudulently rigged in order to get eligible...
yet the NCAA looked the other way each time.....as the individual schools, to avoid even more embarrassment and scandal simply closed each case and said they weren't going to pursue them any further.

You cannot rely on those high school people to always do the right thing, as proven by these cases where obvious cheating occurred, yet the schools actually helped in the cheating and coverup - and had little motivation to go back and find the truth or come clean.
NCAA has to stay in the business of finding these cheats and policing this dishonesty.

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http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showpost.php?p=134174&postcount=11

btw -- what ever became of this scandal where the UK players were getting freebies and special treatment??

http://www.kentucky.com/2009/06/06/820774/joe-bolognas-off-limits-for-cats.html

By the way -- for the 10th or 11th time -- this morning there's a news story saying the FULL and honest report on Bledsoe's phony grades
should be released TODAY ----

http://www.kentucky.com/2010/09/23/1448060/eric-bledsoe-report-to-be-released.html

Like I said before -- just about every single week we are told the full report will be out, but then it is not...

http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showpost.php?p=191060&postcount=1

[tornado]

Birmingham School Board is just about to convene
for a special meeting to rule on Eric Bledsoe's altered grades.

http://www.myfoxal.com/Global/story.asp?S=13212828

[Da Coach]

The Birmingham School Board copped out. They determined that Bledsoe's grade was altered (from a C to an A), and they ruled there was no credible reason why the grade should have been changed. But despite acknowledgeing there was hanky-panky, they decided not to do anything about it, so the phony A grade and Bledsoe's eligibility will stand.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/25/sports/ncaabasketball/25bledsoe.html

Here is Gary Parrish of CBSSports opinion-

http://gary-parrish.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/6271764/24803782

[tornado]

exact same cop out that Dallas and Chicago took with Darrell Arthur and Derrick Rose's grades...
the only way NCAA nailed Memphis was that Rose also cheated on his SAT, so maybe go back and check the handwriting on Bledsoe's test...

The school board's credibility is greatly lacking...

[tornado]

Some interesting excerpts...

"..17 of Bledsoe??™s 24 scores for Algebra 3 (which he took, according to
transcripts, prior to taking Algebra 2) were ???conspicuously changed.???"

"The reasons given for the (grade) changes are not credible.???

"The grade books for Bledsoe??™s junior year are missing, despite a rule that they
must be maintained for three years. That school is closed and all the grade
books for the 2007-2008 school year are gone (missing)"