For ACC basketball blue bloods, too much focus is off the court
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Version 0 of 1. CHARLOTTE — For all the coaching royalty in attendance at ACC men’s basketball media day Wednesday morning, the annual event was notable for who wasn’t there. Louisville’s Rick Pitino announced last week he would not be participating under advice from his legal counsel, so Cardinals players were left to address allegations that a former assistant paid exotic dancers to perform at parties in an athletics dormitory on campus. The claims initially surfaced earlier this month in a book by Katina Powell, who said Andre McGee, then an assistant at Louisville, paid her $10,000 to provide strippers to dance for and have sex with players and recruits from 2010 through 2014. Sally Jenkins: Nothing to see at Louisville; just ask Rick Pitino The salacious details are the latest in a string of alleged improprieties involving some of the conference’s most storied programs, including Syracuse and North Carolina. “We understand why he’s not here today,” Cardinals guard Trey Lewis, a graduate transfer, said of Pitino, who in a statement on his Web site has vowed not to resign. “He’s been advised not to speak on these matters, so that’s the only reason he’s not here. He would love to speak on this, but he can’t.” Meanwhile, Orange Coach Jim Boeheim, another member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, was on hand to answer questions about his pending suspension from this season’s first nine ACC games as a consequence of NCAA rules violations. Syracuse was placed on probation for five years beginning in March 2015 and will lose 12 scholarships over four years. The Orange also was forced to vacate all wins in which ineligible players participated in from 2004 to 2007 and 2010 to 2012. That’s 108 victories in all for Boeheim, whose 2003 national championship was not forfeited. Boeheim is appealing his punishment. Boeheim, the second-winningest coach in Division I history, did find some humor in his program’s circumstance. He joked that longtime friend and former Georgia Tech coach Bobby Cremins told him how fulfilling it would be to win 900 games but failing to mention he might not be able to keep them all. “To some degree, when you’re not able to play [in the NCAA tournament], that certainly is not a good thing,” Boeheim said. “I don’t think that’s the reason we didn’t have a better year, but I think players certainly think about it and worry about it. It’s important to have that. You don’t want to carry that burden of not being in postseason play from the beginning of the year.” An NCAA investigation also is swirling around North Carolina, the media’s preseason pick to win the ACC. Among the findings in the NCAA’s notice of allegations were impermissible benefits to student-athletes in a number of sports and a lack of institutional control. In responding to those violations, the school announced it had discovered additional improprieties involving the women’s basketball and men’s soccer programs. The new information, according to the school, will delay its response to the NCAA’s original allegations, effectively ensuring the Tar Heels would be eligible for the NCAA tournament. North Carolina brings back four starters, including preseason co-player of the year Marcus Paige, from a team that last season reached the NCAA tournament’s round of 16, where it lost to Wisconsin, 79-72. Notes: Virginia’s Malcolm Brogdon and Paige were named ACC preseason co-players of the year in voting among media. Brogdon, a 6-foot-5 redshirt senior guard, was selected first-team all-ACC last season as well as second-team all-American after helping the Cavaliers capture the conference’s regular season title and win 30 games, tying a school record, in consecutive seasons. Brogdon led Virginia in scoring (14 points per game) last season and finished second in assists and three-pointers made. Also in media voting, the Cavaliers were picked to finish second this season behind North Carolina. |