Did I see a sign at the Providence game on Thursday that read, "Shabazz Can't Read"? Of course I did. Now, normally this type of thing wouldn't bother me, but you'd be shocked at how many casual college basketball fans actually buy into the notion that the kids on the current team are dumb. Whenever the topic of UConn basketball comes up amonst my friends, I usually hear something along the lines of, "Their players don't go to class" or "Their team GPA isn't high enough". I realize you have to punish the program even if the current players aren't guilty, but something just rubs me the wrong way about kids who are working their tails off on the court and in the classroom having to carry around the stigma that they're dumb, or don't care about school. UConn should absolutely be held to NCAA standards regarding the APR, whether it's a good rule or not. However, retroactively enforcing the rule, even when the more current scores WERE available, is just completely unjustifiable and despicable.
And the part that really pisses me off? This is probably what Emmert hoped for when he envisioned a plot to get back at Calhoun.
Were UConn players, collectively, less intelligent than the average top 25 team? Doubtful.
Did UConn players, collectively, value academics less than the average top 25 team? Again, doubtful.
Were academics emphasized less at UConn than other top 25 schools? Well, if Calhoun not forcing his players to finish up the spring semester at the expense of missing out on potential draft work-outs qualifies as de-emphasizing academics, then I guess so.
And you know what? I bet deep down, Emmert knows all this. He understood, however, that the publics mis-understanding of the APR would stain Calhoun's legacy, which is why mis-informed media members sit around comparing Calhoun to Jerry Tarkanian and his off-court antics, all the while, ignoring the fact that just about every one of his players would jump in front of a bus for him.
Anyway, congrats to Napier, Tolksdorf, Giffey, and Evans.
