Dennis Dodd

My alma mater, Georgia, is perenially awful at basketball sans recent history with Mark Fox.  That said, we made a deal with the devil when Jim Harrick was hired and he left the basketball program in a crash and burn situation.  North Carolina is perenially good at basketball and awful at football.  It is unfortunate that it appears that North Carolina broke rules to be good at a sport they just will never transcend in.  Sort of like UGA in basketball.

Guess the idea that some schools are 'above' this sort of thing, is just that...an idea.  No one offers proof of cheating by Calipari, but you latch onto that as if its fact.  Others do the same when UNC is accused, and quickly its said - its not proven.  
When its about another school, we're all quick to believe it.  When its our school, we deny it.
I always maintain - there's nothing going on in Lexington, that isn't going on in Chapel Hill, Ann Arbor, Gainesville, Durham, or anyplace else.  Big-time D-1 programs all have shady characters around; kids playing AAU ball get benefits, I mean, let's be real about it.  Deep-pocketed boosters are always looking to take care of the kids from their programs.  The idea that 'my school doesn't cheat, but others schools do' is naive...

Edited line: These things happen at universities everywhere and it just so happens that some get caught.
That kind of day... 

Its articles like this that perpetuate the stigma that CBS is a second-rate, read-at-your-own-risk sports site. First, your "special" writer claims that certain players were already removed from the team and then his report has to be taken down for its obvious inaccuracies. You allow him to return, this time making his claims in the form of "rumors." Whatever happened to verifying information before reporting it?

Now to you Dodd. If you had watched the press conference last night, as most people with a journalistic sense of integrity would have, you would know the definition of 'nanny' is not a nanny at all. As clear as day, Coach Davis stated that the tutor in question served the same role for Butch's son. He stated that he hired the girl in the same capacity that she aided the athletic department, a sensible thing don't you think? She did not have a 'nanny-like' relationship with the Davis family and its likely that she had little, if any, interaction with Coach Davis. 

The university certainly has its hands full trying to sort out this PR nightmare but your comments seem to insinuate that somehow Coach Davis was aware of the "academic fraud" and that he was permissive in its occurrence. Of the evidence revealed thus far, not a single piece suggests that this may be true. Comparing this situation to FSU (as some have) or USC (as you have) is simply ridiculous. When a tutor writes papers for players, it is one thing. When fake classes are created and tests are allowed to be taken online in a 'non-structured' environment, essentially encouraging players to cheat, that is another. When a player and his family live in a multi-million dollar residence, easily discoverable by anybody even remotely paying attention, it is also another thing. The reality here is that the academic violations were relatively minor compared to those at FSU and did not present the same 'look the other way' situation that USC did. Without a full-blown investigation there is little that could have been done to discover these improprieties. No school has the resources and time to launch such an investigation every year and even if they did, it appears this is an isolated event among a group of players for one team. This did not involve multiple teams (as FSU did) or a continuing pattern (as USC did). 

These things happen at university's everywhere and it just so happens that some get caught. If this were a different school, the media portrayal would likely be less "the sky is falling" and more "here we go again." Your coverage of Kentucky and the recruiting of Anthony Davis is the perfect example. Because of Calipari, it is not surprising that these situations continue to emerge and the media treats it as such. With Carolina, however, this all of a sudden becomes a firestorm. For that, I take both pride and disappointment. I love that my university is respected and holds a reputation of academic integrity but it also bothers me that they are forced to defend themselves with more force than other schools on matters that are less severe. What happened here is wrong, but it isn't worthy of "death penalty" talk. Lets let the full story come out before we start comparing paper writing to some of the most egregious NCAA violations in recent memory.