LAS VEGAS -- A year ago at this time, Anthony DiLoreto was signed with Cal Poly and scheduled to enroll at the Big West Conference School. But then the Minnesota native was charged with robbery of a financial institution and possession of a short-barreled rifle for his alleged role in a bank heist, and you are going to be surprised by this column if you think that was the end of his basketball career.
It was not the end.
It was the launching pad, believe it or not.
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| Anthony DiLoreto is getting more attention despite off-court issues. (Provided to CBSSports.com) |
Indeed, that's true. I saw coaches from the Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10, Atlantic 10, Mountain West, WAC and WCC watching DiLoreto this weekend, meaning this one-time low-major prospect is now a mid-to-high-major prospect despite the fact he's facing two felony charges for his involvement in a freaking bank robbery.
Only in America!
(Or at least in American college basketball.)
"I'll take him right now," one college coach joked. "Or in three-to-five years."
According to the charges, DiLoreto drove a 16-year-old friend to a bank in Wisconsin last August and waited outside during the robbery, presumably playing the role as the would-be getaway driver. But police said DiLoreto got scared when he heard sirens and left his friend alone inside the bank and without a ride, which should be a red flag for coaches.
Why?
Because that's a characteristic of a bad teammate.
There was a plan and DiLoreto abandoned it.
That's how games are lost.
(But I digress.)
Anyway, the friend was caught walking down the street 45 minutes after the robbery. He told authorities that the gun he used belonged to DiLoreto, who was by then already making the 125-mile drive back home, where he was later arrested and charged. Predictably, DiLoreto did not enroll at Cal Poly as planned. Instead, he hired a lawyer, kept training and started working toward a plea bargain that could be agreed upon at a settlement hearing scheduled for Aug. 7.
"We're looking for a settlement," DiLoreto said before politely declining to further discuss the case, and I respect that. This is, after all, a serious matter that has him facing serious consequences; talking about it publicly probably isn't wise. Still, DiLoreto will eventually be asked to explain his role, and how he responds could determine the offers he receives.
One head coach weighing the pros and cons of offering DiLoreto told me he would rather hear the left-hander explain he was "in a bad place in his life" than pretend this is just a case of being at the wrong place at the wrong time because, as the coach put it: "He knew what the f--- he was doing."
In other words, this particular coach wants to wait and talk honestly before deciding what to do.
Good for him.
But DiLoreto said (and multiple coaches confirmed) that Saint Louis has already offered a scholarship, and isn't that a little crazy? I mean, regardless of whether DiLoreto is a good guy who just had a bad day, there is no getting past the two felony charges, and how the case remains unsettled. If Tennessee football is criticized for signing a prospect convicted of rape when he was 13 years old, shouldn't Saint Louis basketball be criticized for offering a prospect charged with multiple felonies for his alleged role in a bank robbery when he was 18 years old?
I know the former was a gruesome act where somebody was hurt and the latter something less heinous with no real victim. But DiLoreto's alleged crime is a serious crime nonetheless. And though I'm willing to listen to somebody make the case for why he deserves a second chance, I don't think that case should be made until his case is resolved.
Is that too much to ask?
Apparently, it is.
The proof is in how various coaches visited various gyms all last week to see DiLoreto, and how at least one (SLU's Rick Majerus) has already offered a scholarship. Put another way (and how's this for irony?), while millions borrow money from a bank for school this year, the guy involved in a bank robbery will attend a university free of charge because he's tall, skilled and (probably) available to contribute this season.
The only things standing in DiLoreto's way are the Clearing House and the Big House.
Getting through the first won't be a problem.
But can he avoid the second?
Who knows?
And the worst part is how some don't even seem to care.
annymus 
GoBlues! 
