I got Kenton Paulino on the phone and interrogated him fiercely.
Just look at the line of questioning.
Do you, Mr. Paulino, have a cousin who is a great high school player?
"No," Paulino answered.
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| Kenton Paulino is part of Texas lore for hitting this game-winning trey in the 2006 Sweet 16. (Getty Images) |
"No," Paulino answered.
Do you have a neighbor who is a great prospect?
"No," Paulino answered, and by now he could see where this was going. "I do not have any connections to any high school All-Americans."
Really?
Well then it appears Rick Barnes has lost his mind.
This time, for good.
I mean, the Texas coach had an opening on his staff that he could've filled with anybody, and by anybody I mean somebody connected to a prominent recruit the Longhorns are pursuing. That's the way things get done in 2008, case you hadn't heard. So this was a great opportunity for Barnes to keep up with the world of college basketball. But he instead hired -- you won't believe this -- one of his former players who spent the past year in the NBDL with the Austin Toros while also taking classes and earning his degree.
The former player's name is Kenton Paulino.
You know him as the guy who hit the shot to beat West Virginia in the 2006 NCAA tournament.
But as my interrogation revealed, he has no serious connections to any elite prospects, and I'm starting to wonder how Barnes is gonna survive conducting himself in this manner. I know he has been to 13 consecutive NCAA tournaments and is one of the best in the business. But hiring former players who have worked hard to improve themselves on and off the court and are now interested in joining the coaching profession for genuine reasons is so 1990s. These days, it's less about what you know than who you know as the trend of filling openings with men connected to prospects continues with no end in sight.
Baylor has hired John Wall's AAU coach.
Memphis has hired Tyreke Evans' trainer.
And just so we're clear, I don't really blame either of them.
This sport is very much survival of the fittest (with the best players), and any smart coach will acknowledge college basketball is a game won and lost by prospects, which is why the best way to ensure a successful coaching career is to sign talented recruits. Sometimes that can be accomplished with a tremendous in-home visit. But other times the situation requires something more -- like a financial incentive disguised as a job presented to a person of influence.
And it's not cheating, by the way.
Even if the NCAA does have a rule technically forbidding it.
The problem with the rule is that it is mostly unenforceable because the NCAA would have a helluva time trying to prove any hire was solely based on the intention of getting a recruit. I know it and the NCAA knows, as well. So while the organization has talked about putting a stop to the practice, the day it forbids a man in this era from taking a job at a university because he is related or otherwise connected to a potential prospect is the same day the NCAA will find itself in a high-stakes lawsuit, guaranteed.
Consequently, there will be more package deals next year.
And the following year.
And the year after that, too.
Which is what makes the Paulino story a nice story.
It's an example of how this business is supposed to work.
Paulino was a good college basketball player, yet not quite good enough for the NBA. So he went overseas after exhausting his eligibility in 2006, playing one season in Europe. Then last season he played for the Toros, which was perfect because it provided an opportunity to simultaneously take classes at UT.
"Coach always stressed that I needed to get my degree," Paulino said. "So when I played in the NBDL I took a full load and finished."
Barnes rewarded Paulino upon graduation by offering an entry-level position, the kind that won't make him rich but will give him a legitimate start in the profession. So now the Longhorns have a young man on staff who played for and graduated from the school, a young man on staff who understands the game from every level and has gone through exactly what the student-athletes at Texas are currently going through.
That's a package deal in its own right, I suppose.
It's just not the kind we've grown used to seeing lately.
