Podcast: What the NCAA can and cannot do against Duke, UNC

The NCAA is still working with UNC and could still go after Duke, but answers probably won't come quickly. (Getty Images)

Few people help us understand just what the heck we choose what to do -- or not to do -- better than the Bylaw Blog's John Infante. He has been on the pod before to spread the know, and he's back today since Lance Thomas just decided to settle with the jeweler who was suing him for defaulting on a nearly $70,000 loan payment for jewelry that Thomas purchased while at Duke. Curious, right? Will Duke avoid trouble? Not necessarily. Infante explains why, and also gets into the murky case with UNC, which is dealing with issues totally separate from Duke, even if they both are coincidentally battling off cynics and the NCAA alike right now.

Syllabus:

• From the beginning: Wow, I really rambled on a bit too long there. Let's get to the point already, Norlander.
• 2:30: There we go. Let's talk Duke. Lance Thomas and Rafaello & Company have settled. So, case closed? No, not necessarily, according to Infante.
• 6:50: Now, let's move on to North Carolina. It's a very different set of circumstances in Chapel Hill. Now, is the NCAA done with UNC? As I wrote a week and a half ago, no, not at all. Infante explains why we're far from done with the Heels. That said, there is a chance no violations come. That's still absolutely on the table.
• 12:50: Infante goes more into explaining this, which could've really muddied this case at UNC.
• 16:00: The dangerous precedent and complicated problem with cheating at universities and how the NCAA is stuck with what it can and wants to do. This is where, if UNC is going to get off without penalty, the reasons discussed here are probably why.
• 21:28: Quickly defined: the differences in approach from the NCAA's perspective on UNC and Duke. We want to clump them together, but that's simply not the case.
• 24:40: Shifting gears and talking eligibility of incoming freshmen. It has been a problem all over the place in college hoops this summer, most notably and most recently with Sam Cassell, Jr., whose famous father killed the NCAA after it ruled his son couldn't play this season. Why are we seeing so many cases? Was it always like this? Actually, no. Listen to learn what changed everything in 2007.
• 36:05: One more quick thing to wrap it up, and that's on oversigning. Do read Infante's work on how this has become accepted practice, to a degree, right now. But why?

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