The crux of the problem is that college programs are funneling "donations" into the 501(c)(3) corporations that are set up for the AAU coaches who run these programs.
Lute went a step further. He directly solicited donations from Arizona basketball boosters for an AAU tournament put by University of Arizona staff called the Cactus Classic. Lute claims he didn'do it. He says someone on his staff created and printed the letter with his electronic signature. From the Tuscon Citizen:
A letter was sent this spring to the Rebounders Club board of directors from Olson's office, encouraging members to donate to an amateur basketball exhibition tournament at UA, Livengood's report said.
The letter was printed over Olson's electronic signature and went out marked "personal and confidential," said the report Livengood sent to Ron Barker, the associate commissioner of the Pacific-10 Conference.
Olson "adamantly denied" knowledge of the letter being sent and later sent a retraction, Livengood said in his report.
Whether Lute was directly responsible or not is pretty much beside the point. The Arizona basketball program sought direct contributions from its boosters for an AAU tourney. Really, that's all that need be said.
Alex Legion's mother talks to God. She is a prophetess. She moved to Lexington to be with Alex at UK and to speak the Word to the 25 members of the parish she joined. God wanted all of this. Now God changed his mind. Legion has asked for, and will be granted a transfer from Kentucky, after 7 games. Reports are that he doesn't like Gillespie. My guess is that he ends up in Minnesota with Tubby Smith. Would Beilein entertain the idea of him recommiting to Michigan? After decommiting already twice? I guess we just have to wait for God to have time to ponder this decision.
Update: Legion's high school coach says he is interested in returning to Michigan. And this from his Oak Hill coach:
Steve Smith, who coached Legion for one season at Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va., told The Detroit News on Thursday that Legion discussed with him earlier this week the possibility of donning the maize and blue.
"Alex asked me if I thought he would fit their style of play," said Smith, who was also asked by Legion about Notre Dame. "I guess, as a coach, he figured I would know. I don't watch those teams that much, so I can't say, 'Hey, you're a perfect fit,' or, 'You're not a perfect fit.'
We could use some more talent, but geeissh. I don't think I want him.
Luke Loucks is a 6-5 swing man from Georgia. He was strongly considering WVA before Beilein left. He's now considering Michigan. A couple of quotes from his local newspaper make it look like we are very much in the hunt for him:
There are hordes of basketball coaches jumping in on the Loucks sweepstakes. The latest? Minnesota's Tubby Smith, who called Loucks Wednesday night. The intriguing one? Michigan's John Beilein, who Loucks built a relationship with while Beilein recruited him while coach at WVU.
But, as Loucks said, in making a decision like this, you can be impressed with a campus and facilities all you want. But "you're basically picking a coach."
Chad Henne wins the first award of his senior campaign (err, the other senior campaign). Congratulations, Chad, on the College Big School Player of the Year award. Does this foreshadow a more well known award given to the best "big school college player of the year" for Chad? Mini me says . . . Yes.
SCCHHHHWWWEEEEEEET!
The women's hoops assistant coach from Grand Valley won a national championship last year. Not sure how that escaped me. Anyway, B-Bo and she go way back, and she is totally in love with B-Bo. Let's call her P-Bo. Oops, sorry, can't do that. How about Coach Sweet? That'll work. By the way, that's two national championships among the hoops coaches, one for B-Bo and one for Sweets.
Early Times and Early Returns
Kelvin Grady not only stays committed, but offers the scoop that his big brother may not be as badly injured as previously reported. Given his comments to the Daily, it's conceivable KG will be back this year:
But Grady’s brother, Kelvin, told the Michigan Daily that Kevin had torn his left ACL and that the injury wasn’t as serious as everyone originally thought.
“He should be recovering more quickly than they expected,” Grady said during a phone interview.
4 Year Olds
You've heard, no doubt, of the terrible twos. From my experience the terrible twos happen (at least to my daughters) after they turned 3 and before age 4. But my four year old daughter will tell me she wants go outside and play and 30 seconds later is crying because she can't stay inside and play with Itty Baby. She asks to drink milk with her cookies, and changes her mind -- juice please (she is polite!) She wakes up and wants to play soccer, but will cry when its time to leave. Fortunately, she will grow out of this in another 6-10 months. At least her 6 year old sister did. What you ask, does this have to with this Blog? Good question. The answer, of course, is that some people, especially those coddled and sucked up to their entire lives never outgrow this nasty trait; e.g. Alex Legion. Recall that he committed to Michigan. Then he opened up his recruiting again. He again committed to Michigan several months later. He then asked to be released from his LOI because Amaker departed. Now he is apparently considering us again and intends to visit Michigan on April 28.
What the #*$?!
Why do you need to take yet another VISIT? How many have you had? How many times have you gone to a game not counted as a visit? How many times have you talked to the coaches (Amaker and Beilein)? Now, I know this kid is only 18. But, c'mon!
Why can't you just make a decision? (throat clearing -- Tim Green). Which brings us to the:
Bubblin' Crude
Sing that tune to the following lyrics and you have the Allen Academy fight song as written and directed by Tim Green "Backs":
Come and listen to a story 'bout kid Leg-ion A poor kid from Inkster, with only mama 'Nette Then one day Al was shootin' up some hoop When came Tim Green with the promise of a fool.
AAU hoop that is, influence and cash.
Old Tim, don't you know, was just a lyin' cheat, He told young Al to move away from here Said UCLA is the place you ought to be They'll pay, both me and the Acad-emy
Hansomely, that is. Wads of cash and strippers.
Time for Al to go and for Green to take his cash, But ole' mama 'Nette, she finally smells the rat She quick calls Keener and Beilein to do some droppin' in Now Al's again thinking 'bout this locality But without heapin' helpin' loads of Green's hospitality.
'Til next time that is. When he'll be back. AAU style. "Can't get rid of me now, y'hear?"
As I mentioned last night, the "AAU game" is slimy. It's also significant. Legion is obviously seriously affected by his AAU coach/guardian, whatever and whoever he is. Mom confirms the Green factor in an interview with Freep. While I can, with a straight face, compare Legion to my four year old daughter, Alex apparently does not have the luxury of people that actually care about his best interests surrounding him. Alex Legion's mother told the Freep:
"I want to make it clear, Tim Green is not part of this process," Williams said Tuesday. "I'm tired of him trying to persuade my son against the University of Michigan and his family."
Green, principal of Allen Academy in Detroit, refused comment Tuesday.
"I've been quiet for four years, but Tim Green does not speak for my son, and I'm tired of him trying to make decisions for my son," Williams said. "Mr. Green wants my son to go to Connecticut or UCLA, but my son will go to neither institution."
"I really like what I'm hearing about Beilein," she said. "I really want to thank coach Keener, who has talked very positively about my son to coach Beilein. We just needed to get rid of Tim Green."
Legion's coach at Oak Hill (named Keener) appears to be straight. Beilein has met with him. Keener had this to say. From the Freep:
"Even after Alex's departure [from Oak Hill Academy], I still have a good relationship with him and the family," Keener told the Free Press. "It wasn't that he left on bad terms or anything. When this whole thing with Michigan started to unravel, I knew Annette didn't have the support system she needed, and I've been through the recruiting wars and she could bounce things off me."
Keener said Legion is "a good young man. He's had some poor counsel and misguidance from AAU people in his past."
Hmm. I wonder if Green has a commitment from UCLA and Connecticut for donations to his AAU Hurricanes and the Allen Academy?
With the exception of Jay Bilas, and Alex Legion, everyone else is praising the move by Michigan to hire Beilein. An interesting selection of comments about the coach:
"I think Tommy Amaker inherited one of the most difficult programs certainly that we've had at Michigan. I think he conducted himself well. He's a first class individual, and a guy that I think will have outstanding success before he's done. I think he brought the program a long long way. I think he brought kids in here that represented the university well. So I think John is inheriting a program that is not far away. If you look at some of the things that Tommy has done, and the guys that are here, some of the young kids that are returning, and hopefully be able to keep the three commitments that Tommy had – I think that he's walking into a program that is much much stronger than it was when Tommy came in." -- Lloyd Carr
I had an opportunity to talk with John last Friday and I've watched his teams over the course of the last two or three years, and I think he brings an outstanding enthusiasm to the game. And certainly what he's been able to do in his career, he's got a great background, and from every source, he's a great teacher of the game. I think he's going to do a great job here." -- Lloyd Carr
Sports Illustrated named Beilein as the 11th, 12th or 13th top NCAA men's basketball coach in Stewart Mandel's ranking of the top 10 college coaches. The list of the top ten and "just missed" includes Izzo, Matta, Beilein and Bo Ryan -- that's 4 of the top 13 coaches from the Big 10. The next closest number of coaches for any one conference is two.
One of the paid recruitniks really likes Beilein a lot. The guy interviewed covers West Virginia recruiting. By these comments, you'd think he might be related to Beilein:
He's the best coach in America. His legacy is this: For 25 years there's been no basketball [in West Virginia], except for one Sweet 16. For 20-25 years you lost a generation of fans. He did a good job with attendance. He built up the schedule, played UCLA and Oklahoma. He's had more trouble versus teams who've played his style . . . He's probably the best shooting coach in America. He rebuilt the fan base and the interest level. People loved his team. There never was a hint of impropriety. His weakness is that he's too hard on himself. . . . The media say he's too tight. He's completely honest and sometimes his team is uptight . . . .He's the same type of coach as Wisconsin's coach (Bo Ryan) . . . He'll be very much like Tom Izzo, John Thompson III and Bo Ryan.
And, he says Beilein will recruit well:
He saw an opportunity at Michigan. A national school filled with doctors and lawyers. He can consistently get great players at every position. There's a lot of concern about him recruiting Flint and Detroit. He'll go to Catholic schools in Detroit and Chicago and be able to recruit regionally. He's gotten kids from the Northeast and New Jersey and Washington D.C. He was beating out Maryland and Georgetown. He had a fairly good base in Florida. At West Virginia he didn't touch junior colleges. He didn't play the AAU game."
The nets and papers are full of comments that Beilein runs a very clean and very ethical program (he does sit on an NCAA ethics board). It's not too surprising, then, that he didnt' play the "AAU game" at West Virginia. The "AAU game" is pretty slimy. It's also pretty significant. It may even be more significant to Alex Legion, whose guardian was also his AAU coach, Tim Green. I'll have some more comments later about AAU and recruiting in general, but in the meantime check out this must read from mogoblog regarding Legion from last year.
Manny Harris is staying. Kelvin Grady is staying, according to the Detroit News, and other outlets, including the Wolverine pay content. Markowski of the DetNews says:
And that's not all. According to Harris, Kelvin Grady of East Grand Rapids is staying with U-M and Alex Legion of Oak Hill (Va.) Academy could make his decision as soon as this weekend.
This is fabulous. Legion should follow. Especially given his mother's quote in the previous link and this dated bit:
"Al talked with him (Beilein) for an hour on Wednesday," Williams said. " When you have a ballplayer like Al, it's not about him. What's important are the players you have around him."
Word to Al: your teammates haven't changed since you committed. If Legion stays too, I'll have a theme tune for the freshman class with an acknowledgment to Tommy's fine work to get them signed in the first place. Nice work Tommy, Coach Beilein and Coach Jackson. Avoid this obnoxious link for Coach Jackson, unless you've read my former posts.
Not that anyone didn't already know, but Jackson's importance to Legion and Harris are verified here. Legion's mother says:
Legion’s mother, Annette Williams, said today that Beilein told her in their meeting last week that Jackson was returning, and she said that was a major factor for her son, who is still considering whether to attend U-M.
A combination of a gameplan that fits Legion perfectly, and an assistant he likes who talks glowingly about Beilein gives us, in my estimation, a great shot to get Legion at lease. Let's not lose track of the statements that Manny wants to be near home.
