At This Rate, We'll Soon Be Asking: How Many of Calipari's Players Had "Fishy" SAT Scores?

Everyone bends the rules. (Remember Calipari at UMass?) It’s been this way for decades. Coaches are going to dig deep into their bag of tricks to secure elite talent, because those players equal wins and revenue for the school and, ultimately, money for the coaches. The degree to which everyone cheats is up for debate. Andy Katz is pinning some of the blame on the NBA’s new age limit.

"What is the common thread? The 19-year-old age limit/one-year-out-of-high-school-rule the NBA has in place. If the NBA rule wasn’t in place, then O.J. Mayo, Derrick Rose, Nate Miles and [Renardo] Sidney would have never played in college. If they failed, then they failed. That’s life. But to attempt to get them eligible makes a mockery of the institutions."

The good news is, the great memories (Camby leading UMass to the 1996 Final Four, Rose leading Memphis to the 2008 title game) can’t be altered. This situation doesn’t taint Rose a bit. He’ll be an elite point guard for another decade. Chris Webber’s outstanding two years at Michigan were marred by a timeout, not by the thousands of dollars he took from a booster. Same for Lamar Odom and his sketchy high school and college transcripts.

If the coach’s want to take that chance, they’re putting their legacy on the line. How come nobody’s every asked how Allen Iverson (bless his tattooed heart) got into Georgetown, especially after being imprisoned for part of his high school career?