Louisville's Rick Pitino pulls scholarships from 3 players, including ex-BU recruit

[tornado]

ex-BU recruit (senior) Kyle Kuric plus (senior) Chris Smith and sophomore Elisha Justice are having their scholarships taken away and given to incoming recruits by head coach Rick Pitino ..

http://www.lex18.com/news/pitino-takes-3-scholarships-away

http://blogs.courier-journal.com/ericcrawford/2011/06/07/kuric-and-others-to-give-up-scholarships/

Kuric averaged 12.6 ppg in Big East play -- and is the LEADING returning scorer -- Smith averages just under 10 ppg,
and it appears Justice might just be expendable...
note the final sentence in that first link...the reporter's judgement --
"Beating Cal (Kentucky's John Calipari) is more important than Pitino will ever let the media know."

[Nacho]

It doesn't sound as bad as you say t...

All three were brought is as walk-on's and were given scholarships when they opened up, with the understanding they might not have them all four years.

Should Pitino have not given them the scholarship when they opened up originally?

Of this particular scholarship move, Pitino said, "When Kyle first came here, he wasn??™t supposed to be on scholarship and he was put on scholarship. Bullet (Elisha Justice) was coming here he wasn??™t supposed to be on scholarship, he was put on scholarship. Chris Smith was not supposed to be on scholarship, he was put on scholarship. I told the Kuric family at some point in time throughout his career I might need it for a year and I??™ve never had to do that until now. So we??™ve been very up front with everybody. As a matter of fact, it??™s just the opposite. Those guys weren??™t supposed to be on scholarship but they were. And Kyle has more than not only exceeded but deserved the scholarship he??™s been on.

"You know, look. We would not even consider asking unless (Kuric??™s) family could afford it. His father??™s a brain surgeon. That wouldn??™t even be a factor. We wouldn??™t even consider it."

Chris Smith, of course, is a younger brother of NBA standout J.R. Smith and is getting assistance from him.

[tornado]

"as I say"?? All I say are the facts of the story -- nothing more or less -- it is as bad as it is and I never hinted that I know how bad it is...

nobody's scholarships are guaranteed for four years -- all are dispensed year to year - nothing promised...

Anyway -- I am not so sure what you say is accurate --as it defies what's written elsewhere.
Here we see when Kuric was being given a walk-on offer by Pitino in 2008 --
Pitino then upgraded the offer and offered a scholarship"

"He got more than he bargained for Friday afternoon when he sat down with head coach Rick Pitino.
Kuric's offer was upgraded by the Cardinals.
"Everything went really well," Kuric said ...
"I talked to (Pitino) on Friday and he changed their offer from a walk-on one to an offer for next year"

http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=5309

And - Kuric stated CLEARLY he was getting a FULL basketball scholarship from the get-go
"It's a full basketball scholarship", Kuric said..."

http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=2&c=753457

but if the leading returning scorer -- a kid who actually WON games for them with his solid play is told to give up his scholarship for someone Pitino had to have that's four years younger -- then I would expect the kid and his family are likely unhappy --

The offer Pitino gave Kuric of playing at Louisville under scholarship was likely a large part of why he picked Louisville over his other choices like Bradley

[real fan]

I always liked Pitino as a coach but he has turned into a person you cannot trust and would not want a player of mine signing with him as he will quickly discard you in a minute for someone he thinks is better, you just don"t do that to a player like Kuric that has made a difference in wins for your program.

[ChewaBrave]

Yeah I know a lot of Cardinal fans that aren't particularly amped about this decision. Its pretty split amongst the people I know. Half think hes a great player that has earned the right to keep it for his last year (no one seems to dispute hes a great player), while the other half sees his scholarship debt having been paid in years prior when he got one more by chance.

Personally, I probably would have preferred keeping KK on a scholarship over bringing in Luke Hancock, but thats just me. Of course having written that down, Hancock will now become a prolific player at louisville and make me look ridiculous. At the end of the day, if the Cards make a deep run, and/or beat calipari, people in Kentucky wont think too much about this one - That doesn't make it right, but winning is winning.

[tornado]

Maybe the answer is because the Big East is soooo good -- but then their ELEVEN NCAA Tourney representatives all got bounced early save for their 9th place team...

but with all the superstuds Rick Pitino lands every year necessitating yanking other kids' scholarships, and all the 4-STAR and 5-STAR recruits on his roster (he's had nine of them since '08 )--
still - since Kyle Kuric was a freshman -- he hasn't had better than a 4th place finish in his conference -- hmmm......

[ChewaBrave]

He does do a bit of recruiting, of course so does everyone else in the top end of the Big East. You'd be surprised, just how healthy the contingent of people calling for the end of the Pitino era, is in Louisville.

[tornado]

Another Louisville kid lost his scholarship this morning and is transferring

[ChewaBrave]

Who lost their scholarship now?

** Just dawned on me that you are probably referring to George Goode. Meh, it is what it is, the Kid graduated - participated in senior night and the whole deal months ago. I don't really have any problems with that one. Significantly different situation than KK in my opinion.