Put yourself in Derrick Rose’s shoes. Just three short summers ago, you were a talented high school basketball senior, who had colleges fighting to win the opportunity of having you play for them for one year. While most people forget back in 2007, after Tubby Smith resigned from Kentucky, John Calipari was a candidate to take over then, and if he had went to Lexington, Derrick Rose would have followed him.
If the allegations that ESPN is reporting are, in fact, true and the “player in question” is Derrick Rose, do you really blame him? I’m sure the idea to cheat on his SAT wasn’t one that was thought up just by him, and the school wasn’t forced to spend over 2 grand on travel expenses for one of his friends.
If (and when) the allegations are proven true, the Tigers incredible 2007-08 Final Four run, and their school record 38 win season will be vanished from the record book. In essence, it would be like Rose never attended the school and Calipari had left for Kentucky the year before, as was the original plan.
Rose has since flourished in the NBA, winning Rookie of The Year this season and having one of the all time great playoff debuts in NBA History. The school he and Coach Calipari left behind, Memphis, will now look back and probably be bitter at both Rose and Calipari. I just hope they don’t act like hypocrites because they were caught now. When they were getting that ESPN/ABC money and selling those jerseys that the college players get no cut of, the minor infractions were an afterthought.
