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Today, the Sporting News' Mike DeCourcy has a very interesting take on the sourceof the NCAA's Derrick Rose-John Calipari-Memphis fiasco. Essentially, DeCourcy is interested in the process of how Rose's test score came, after months and months of apparent eligibility, to be seenas invalid. After all, the NCAA Clearinghouse gave Rose the A-OK, checking his test scores and grades and deeming him eligible to be a student athlete at Memphis. So why, after all this time, was his test score suddenly no good?The answer would be funny were it not so sad: In DeCourcy's words, it's because Rose "didn't get ...

Apparently, SI's Vault is full of this stuff. Commence scouring: now. (I could have been doing this for weeks! I regret this immediately!)(HT: Ryan Corazza via a whole bunch of others) Related: Big 12 Basketball, Photo of the Day Related posts:'Parks and Recreation' unleashes awesome Bob Knight poster – The Dagger – NCAAB "Parks and Recreation" is ...

So, this morning's report on the NCAA's Memphis punishment was only part right.Memphis will vacate their 38 wins from the 2007-08 season (those winswill be sent to the Land of the Non-Existent Wins, a purgatorialkingdom where Marcus Camby is King and Chris Webber bides his time fora chance at the throne). But Memphis will also face punishment in thehere and now: The NCAA slapped Josh Pastner's program with three years of probation, too, just for good measure.Here'swhat stinks about all this: It still doesn't matter. Sure, it's alittle unfair that Pastner should have to tiptoe around for somethinghe likely had ...

I love me some Associated Press. Where would a blogger be without theAP's a-little-bit-of-everything approach to the news? Also, photos.Photos are awesome, and the AP has a bunch of them. Love the AP.But I have to go ahead and pick on the giant monolithic newsgatheringorganization for a minute here. Why? Because I'm pretty sure we didn'tneed another Rick Pitino story, and I'm definitely sure we didn't needanother Rick Pitino story informing us that yes, in fact, revealing topolice that you had acrobatic coitus in a Louisville restaurant andthen later gave the partner of said coitus $3,000 to address her health ...

Extra Onions is a roundup of college hoops stuff from around the 'Webs. As always, email or follow me on Twitterto send along links I should see. Some days, when warranted, E.O.merely highlights the best of what's out there on one major topic.Today is one such day. It appears that Memphis has scheduled theirpress conference for 3 p.m. central, so there should be more reactionlater today. Now, some links:• John Gasaway, Basketball Prospectus: John Calipari owes his job at Kentucky to an outdated NCAA reflex and a tight-lipped administration at Memphis.I frankly don’t understand the Skull-and-Bones-Society-level secrecythat attends the NCAA’s Notices of ...

It's the punishment most observers probably expected, and now, if the Memphis Commercial-Appeal's source is correct,it's the punishment Memphis will face: The NCAA is forcing the Tigersto vacate their 2007-08 season, which included 38 wins and an arunner-up finish in the Final Four. The C-A's source knew of no otherongoing punishments or sanctions against what is now Josh Pastner'sMemphis program. Memphis is expected to announce the punishment at apress conference this morning.If accurate, it's the second time a Memphis team has been forced tovacate a season, and the second time former Memphis coach John Caliparihas led an eventually vacated team ...

You might remember Mississippi State forward Jarvis Varnado from suchfilms as "Mississippi State made a major leap in 2008, staringJarvis Varnado," and "I will block that shot against the backboard andscream in your face," presented by Jarvis Varnado." The last time yousaw the talented Mr. Varnado, he was leading the Mississippi StateBulldogs to the SEC tournament title and an NCAA appearance. Varnadohas led the nation in blocked shots two years in a row. He's an awfullygood player.And now, he's a walk-on.The Clarion-Ledger's Kyle Veazey has the scoop (thanks to Truth About Itfor the Twitter tip, by the way). When Bulldogs ...

You may be familiar with Denis Clemente, you may not. Clemente is aguard at Kansas State. After transferring from Miami and sitting outthe 2007-08 season, Clemente scored 14 points per game in a solid butunspectacular 2008-09 for the Wildcats. Then, in the offseason, he did this: That video was posted on July 25. (Somehow, it escaped my fiery eye until now, and I am very angry about that.) In the meantime, despite having been viewed only about 40,000 times on YouTube, Clemente has managed to go viral.It's the stuff of marketing whizzes and Nike executives the world over,great players doing ...

As we creep ever closer to basketball season -- don't get too excited,we're still months away, but those months are melting away with eachpassing day -- we find it's that time again, the time when ESPNpreemptively announces their ESPN College Gameday travel schedule. ESPNis really good at announcing this stuff so early that by the time theseason starts, pretty much everyone except the schools involved forgetwhere ESPN Gameday is going, leaving the rest of us to be pleasantlysurprised each Saturday morning. It's a nice arrangement, actually.(Oh,but those schools do remember. Expect every Kentucky student to havesomething on their Facebook profile ...

Despite his and our best efforts, the sordid Rick Pitino news -- "it starts with an 'a' and rhymes with smushmortion"-- continues to trickle in. It's not quite enough to cover as ithappens -- there's most just fallout left, thank Buddha -- but it feelsweird to completely ignore it, too. Sigh. Let's go to the tape: • It appears Pitino is in the clear, job-wise. After deliberating and deciding on several courses of action, LouisvillePresident James Ramsey decided that Pitino's punishment would merely bea public apology, which he (Pitino) of course took care of last week.Is that too forgiving? I'm ...