Will Egolf arrested for drug charge...

[shaunguth]

Agreed. I can see a 2 to 4 game suspension for this.

I believe the minimum punishment is 4 games. I would be very disappointed in anything less than the stated minimum.

[tsguthrie]

Agreed. I can see a 2 to 4 game suspension for this. I think it's a great lesson learned, and I hope and pray he gets the help he needs to kick this drug.

I thought I read it will be a 4 game minimum suspension due to the handbook so don't expect sooner

[Da Coach]

My question on this is what is Bradley's protocol on testing and allocating pain killers to athletes? If I remember correctly, the NCAA leaves this to the individual schools to enforce. I am not trying to blame Bradley in this instance. WE may or may not have an addiction. I am sure this is something that will be reviewed by the powers that be in the near future.

I believe the NCAA leaves these issues up to the medical experts treating the athletes. The only drugs the NCAA doesn't allow are performance enhancing drugs. Plus during NCAA tournament events, players can get random tests for any illicit drug use.
The Bradley team has excellent medical and orthopedic specialists available 24 hours a day to the players. That is the part that makes this hard to understand.

[Bravesfan]

I don't recall EVER saying anyone "on here" said such things. In fact, I lost track of what everyone everywhere seemed to think should be the punishment.



My point exactly! So why not refrain from all the what-ifs and wait for the actual facts to come out?

No, that's not what you said. You said people posted here wanting Will to be suspended. What I'm saying is that no one wanted Will suspended until the facts came out and people had a chance to digest them.

Now in regards to your second point, yes there were people calling for his expulsion IF he bought one of those highly addictive drugs that was talked about earlier. And I'm saying there is nothing wrong with discussing all the what-ifs even before the actual facts came out. That is what a discussion board is about, and that is how people deal with issues like this. If you want to refrain from the discussion, fine by me.

[Samd2]

past drug tests

I can't remember the name, but who was the player that flunked the random drug test ? I think it was during the sweet 16 run, anyhow, What was his suspension time ? another question, what if the school finds out about drug use ? are they mandated to report ? is the suspension time higher because the police are involved ?

[Braves2011]

I can't remember the name, but who was the player that flunked the random drug test ? I think it was during the sweet 16 run, anyhow, What was his suspension time ? another question, what if the school finds out about drug use ? are they mandated to report ? is the suspension time higher because the police are involved ?

Ray brown I believe is who it was

[algotrader]

Given his injury history I would not be surprised (nor very judgemental) if it were some sort of illegally obtained prescribed painkiller.

Pretty much everyone I know has a small stash laying around somewhere from previous prescriptions or from friends. I know I do, and was thankful to have it when I got hit by a car this summer.

You'd be surprised how many doctors refuse to give that stuff out for fear of the DEA even under entirely needed circumstances. Even when I got hit by a car I was treated like a criminal when they gave me painkillers.

WE got arrested before midnight, which lucky for him is before Illinois new and EXTREMELY strict laws regarding hydrocodone come into effect.

[tornado]

People! Get your head out of the sand! Do you know how closely our coaches/trainers/ Drs. work with players? Not to mention injured players???? are you kidding?

well, we just cleaned house and spent millions hiring all new people - do we need to start over?

You'd be surprised how many doctors refuse to give that stuff out for fear of the DEA even under entirely needed circumstances. Even when I got hit by a car I was treated like a criminal when they gave me painkillers.

algo - it's because there ARE criminals like Fletcher trying like he** to fake symptoms and persuade every doctor in Central IL to prescribe pain meds.
Just maybe if the doctor is cautious he is doing it for your sake as well as his own and from the looks of this situation, I'd say he's justified.



And how the hey does Nacho know who is taking what meds - obviously the people who knew WE didn't know he was doing this, and nobody knows what meds I might be taking.
Your opinion is welcome but it's not believable.


And lastly - the PJS says this morning that Will purchased six pills of "Vicodin" (which is hydrocodone - a medicine similar to codeine)
I doubt six pills is enough to supply anyone's addiction nor to help much in the long run with pain issues.


I guess the disturbing thing to me is how prevalent drugs are in our culture - and few are speaking out against it.
Each time one of these incidents has occurred, I have predicted we'd see more - even that we'd see it here at Bradley - but we must take a strong stand.
Not a soft stand like has been taken at so many universities where kids get off easy and commit the same infractions again and again.
I am not surprised it happens - but since we all see what it leads to and how so many young lives are harmed - where is the response, the outrage.
We laugh at Cheech & Chong, and a jury of Michael Jackson's peers didn't think he did anything wrong when he injected Jackson with a lethal drug.

We hear the argument all the time "everyone's doing it" and "we should legalize it" and "it doesn't hurt anyone" (this is the devil's lie - all these drugs can and do cause major, permanent harm)
...but how many people don't jump on the bandwagon and stand up for what is right - apparently not many.
Every TV show from sitcoms to Jay Leno plus every movie and song glorifies doing drugs and idolizes those who do.
We should have learned from history - entire nations were literally destroyed in the past from drug use - Link

Well - we're simply going down the wrong path. This kind of stuff is destroying lots of lives.

[Buesch N Chips]

This is not about basketball any more. "That you are aware of"? There is so much over the last 6 years that we are "not aware of". The Braves program is aware of much more than all of us. And there is so much that they will never tell us. That is why as much as we want to know every little detail we must trust the University and Geno to do what is best for Will and for BU. And anyone that dares second guess what that might be... just remember you don't have all of the facts and probably never will.

[tornado]

agree - Will is a smart kid and it won't take long for him to figure out how wrong this is and hopefully straighten out...
a lot of people have made boneheaded moves - can't say I or my kids were always perfect...if it really is just 6 pills, and he's never been in trouble before - then let's hope for leniency.
He also still has to face the academic/athletic code....

[Da Coach]

I can't remember the name, but who was the player that flunked the random drug test ? I think it was during the sweet 16 run, anyhow, What was his suspension time ? another question, what if the school finds out about drug use ? are they mandated to report ? is the suspension time higher because the police are involved ?

Yes, it was Ray Brown who tested positive for marijuana on a random drug test during the NCAA tournament in 2006. His punishment, mandated b y the NCAA, was a full 1 year suspension, but he was allowed to remain on scholarship and remain a member of the team. He was also required by the NCAA to undergo periodic additional tests for that next year, one of which he failed, and thus was dismissed.
Other than these instances of the NCAA testing during NCAA tournament events, I believe the NCAA leaves the issue of drug use and policing it up to the schools. Bradley has a written policy governing these issues.

[shaunguth]

No, that's not what you said. You said people posted here wanting Will to be suspended.

PLEASE show me where I said people posted here wanting Will to be suspended!

I would love to know when I EVER said such a thing.

[shaunguth]

If you want to refrain from the discussion, fine by me.

I did just that....and it really wasn't too difficult.

[Nacho]

And how the hey does Nacho know who is taking what meds - obviously the people who knew WE didn't know he was doing this, and nobody knows what meds I might be taking.
Your opinion is welcome but it's not believable.

It's not believable that he COULD HAVE lied to the cops to make his illegal action look "not as bad" for him? Okay... No one ever lies to the cops to try to get out of something

[srw]

I believe the NCAA leaves these issues up to the medical experts treating the athletes. The only drugs the NCAA doesn't allow are performance enhancing drugs. Plus during NCAA tournament events, players can get random tests for any illicit drug use.
The Bradley team has excellent medical and orthopedic specialists available 24 hours a day to the players. That is the part that makes this hard to understand.

There are numerous answers for this that Im sure many have thought of from the good to the bad, some of them are:

1) He has prescribed Vicodin and got addicted and needed more
2) This really was a one time thing
3) It was NYE and he wanted them for some recreational reason
4) Since he is about 12 months out from surgery they wont give him that kind of aggressive painkiller anymore, for his safety, so he got them illegally.

Personally, if I was Bradley I would do the following:

Tell him he isn't being kicked off but isnt healthy enough to play. Get him into rehab, if its truly necessary from a pain addiction perspective, or allow him to continue on the team without competing.

My hope is this really is a pain issue, in which case, he just needs to get better. This is a 3 year process anyway to bring this program back to prominance.

With the way Will has been playing (ie not nearly as well) it is an indicator of the pain issue, and also a reason to believe he probably wasnt going to make that much of a difference in win totals anyway.