The damage has already been done
"After 2 years of shoddy, unethical NCAA "investigating," to deliver a Notice of Allegations to Miami yesterday is beyond tone deaf. Sad."  That was the tweet sent last Tuesday by ESPN's Jay Bilas.  This probe reaches to Columbia Missouri and Frank Haith. It’s long been acknowledged the accuser in this story is a convicted felon currently serving time in Federal Prison. In addition to serving as a “booster” for the University of Miami Nevin Shapiro found time to concoct a Ponzi scheme.  Convicted of the Ponzi charge is the reason he’s currently serving time in prison. Frank Haith’s name has been drugged through the mud for 20 months in the media, all during this time period he’s had no opportunity to defend himself.

He couldn’t defend himself when no formal charges were provided by the NCAA; the media was ripe with leaked portions of the investigation. I said this previously and I will repeat it again how come the NCAA failed to locate the source of these leaks? Do I care what a number of fans say---not really I’m more concerned about the reputation and integrity of the institution and Frank Haith. Think this is an isolated instance consider this, there are a number of people who continue to refer to Kobe Bryant as “the rapist.” They do this because they are uniformed on the series of events that took place or just plain haters. In some circles Haith will have the charge of cheater hanging over his head the balance of his coaching career

I finally got to see both in action
I don’t like all-star games; they don’t provide the type of action I wish. Often they are full of alley-oop dunks and flash, little team substance. I’d much rather see a player in action against competition even if it’s not up to his skill level. I finally had an opportunity to see Andrew Wiggins play although not in person. ESPN telecast the Huntington Prep game versus Cape Henry (VA). Wiggins moved smoothly up and down the court displaying a variety of moves ending the game with 28 points. I might add he plays both ends of the court. The one downside to Wiggins game the analyst mentioned he must develop an outside game at the collegiate level.

Wiggins scored on a variety of dunks and spin move close in baskets. I don’t remember him attempting a 3-point shot or making one. In December I was able to view a game of the player he replaced as number one Rivals prospect in the Class of 2013---Jabari Parker. Parker was coming off an injury, he didn’t move as smoothly as YouTube video I’d seen in the past however his talent was certainly evident. Parker’s outside game at this point is superior to that of Wiggins. They both will play small forward in college Parker at 6-8 and Wiggins at 6-7. Its possible Wiggins could become a shooting guard in the NBA if he maintains his slim 205 pound weight. Wiggins will wait until spring before making a college commitment; I can inform with a degree of comfort where he’s not headed. Wiggins is not headed to Duke, Parker has already verbally committed to the school.

Bits n Pieces
The Big XII office announced their officials made errors at the end of the Iowa State-Kansas game. Kansas had been declared the game winner 24 hours earlier, winning in overtime 108-96. Iowa State fans should be highly upset with this announcement. I have no answer only a question should the league office have admitted it‘s error?

Most of the time I make no note of a player’s monster game if his team loses. Of course there are always exceptions and this is one of them. Ricky Rubio receives a shout-out from Larry Laker for his game against the Warriors. Rubio scored 16 points dished out 11 assists grabbed 8 rebounds and registered 6 steals.

Remember Shaq informing us about producing moderately priced basketball shoes? Well he’s retreated from his earlier position. The Big Aristotle has returned to Reebok however this is not a new shoe, it’s a re-issue. This is similar to Michael Jordan and the emergence of the original Air Jordan’s. The Shaq Attaq available in April is $160 and the Shaqnois coming in June is $125.

For a man who is certainly intelligent Mark Cuban appears awful dumb at times. Why did he allow himself to be “trapped” into a hypnotical scenario? I’m speaking of the Dallas radio interview he did
and the question on the pending luxury tax.  Cuban said; (1.) “If you look at their payroll, even if Dwight (Howard) comes back, you’ve got to ask the question: Should they amnesty Kobe? “ Cuban certainly has the right to his opinion but why didn’t he respond using a Mavs player? Dumb, dumb and dumber! (1.) Yardbarker.com

Bill Simmons is a Clipper season ticket holder, Bill Simmons is a studio host for ESPN/ABC on the NBA Countdown program. His Wikipedia bio provides us the season ticket information. It’s okay if he’s a fan of the Clippers but should we believe any commentary from him regarding the Lakers?