The Floyd Street Tribune: Memphis, the IARP, DJ Wagner, Aaron Bradshaw, oh my!
Inside: A cocktail of thoughts in this week's newsletter as Louisville girds the IARP ruling, some news finally trickles out about DJ Wagner and much more.
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With preseason practice starting up and the weather finally hitting all the right notes, let’s pop open a newsletter, sip some hot cider and get riled up together.
We start this week’s newsletter with a variation of my all-time favorite columnist Bill Reynolds’s old Providence Journal-Bulletin rapid-fire column, For What It’s Worth. We’ll tackle the IARP ruling on the Memphis case; the latest on DJ Wagner and Aaron Bradshaw; other recruiting tidbits; and several other burning and/or interesting items.
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* We have discussed many a time in this newsletter — and on my podcast or in my radio appearances — the notable change in the NCAA’s constitution. In January, members voted on language that discourages the divisions (D1, D2, D3) and conferences within those divisions from doling out postseason bans as punishment in infractions cases. The exact wording was that divisions and conferences should “ensure to the greatest extent possible that penalties imposed for infractions do not punish programs or student-athletes innocent of the infraction(s).”
So, no, I was not all that surprised by the IARP ruling in the Memphis basketball case. And, as I said after the NC State ruling earlier this year, I can’t help but wonder if these rulings are clear signs that Louisville, after all the pain and tumult of the past five years, may just avoid a dreaded postseason ban after all. Of course, other penalties may still come — scholarship reductions, recruiting limitations, fines, etc — but I don’t think any of those concern U of L fans, administrators and hoops staffers one bit. All that stuff you can deal with. The potential of a postseason ban is the thing that has hung over Louisville’s program for five years.
Now, Louisville’s case is obviously different than the ones I just mentioned, and the fact that U of L was on probation when the alleged wrongdoing occurred in 2017 doesn’t help at all. Nor does the somewhat comical addition of the Chris Mack-Dino Gaudio stuff to the case in late 2021. (The NCAA basically said, “Sure, toss that in there, too!) But I just have to wonder how the IARP would justify a postseason ban in this situation, when Louisville has only one alleged Level 1 violation compared to four for Memphis. Instead, I’m starting to think Rick Pitino may be hit hardest of anyone. But that’s just pure speculation from my wandering mind.
Another speculative thought: I assume Louisville will have its IARP ruling in October or earlyish November.