Chicago Sun-Times claims Anthony Davis was paid to commit to Kentucky

UPDATE: Here is the article that the Sun-Times has up today in place of yesterdays.

The big news that broke last night was that Anthony Davis, one of the most sought after recruits in the country, had decided on where he will be playing his collegiate basketball. He just wasn't ready to announce where.

Today, the Chicago Sun-Times published an article today claiming to have a source that said Davis would be choosing Kentucky. Frankly, this would surprise no one, as Kentucky is the landing spot for seemingly every one-and-done recruit these days.

The paper also said that the reason for the delay is that Davis is looking for his LeBron James moment:

According to his father, Anthony Davis Sr., the younger Davis made his decision on Monday but the family is still discussing the best way to announce it.

"Anthony knows where he wants to go, but we just aren't sure how to let everyone else know at this point," Davis Sr. said. "He's mentioned wanting to do it on television before. We'll be talking it over."

Both of these story lines would be huge. Another top five recruit headed to Kentucky! Michael Gilchrist, Marquis Teague, and Davis would be one of the best recruiting classes ever! Davis wants his 15 minutes of fame! But no one was talking about any of that.

No, my twitter feed blew up right around 3pm this afternoon with tweets about a little rumor the Sun-Times buried in the ninth paragraph. (UPDATE: At 5pm on Wednesday, the Sun-Times finally pulled the paragraph, but the story is still up):

(photo credit: Andrew Sharp)

Just about every big name college basketball writer weighed in on this via Twitter:

Jeff Goodman: You can't just throw out rumors and accusations without any facts. If that were the case, I'd be writing them all day long.

Gary Parrish: I could throw out a "rumor" about nearly every high-profile commitment that's ever happened. No defense for Sun-Times here.

Dan Wolken: If we're going to be in the business of tossing out rumors about recruitments, it will get ugly quick for every school in the country.

Mike DeCourcy: Once upon a time, there was this thing called journalism ... If someone had actual proof a high school recruit had been bought, wouldn't that reporter want to place said info in the first few graffs?

Simply put, those four gentlemen -- and every other person that ripped Michael O'Brien, the author of the story, and the Sun-Times -- is completely correct. Rumors like that should not be published without adequate verification. And if O'Brien had "adequate verification" and was confident enough in his sources that he wanted this payment to go on record, why wouldn't he center the story around the money? Anthony Davis committing to Kentucky is a pretty big scoop.

The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting Anthony Davis got paid to commit to Kentucky.
(photo credit: ESPN)

John Calipari paying a recruit $200,000 is an ENORMOUS story. It could possibly be the biggest story of O'Brien's career. But he buried it nine paragraphs deep, which makes you wonder why the Sun-Times even bothered to publish it.

The credibility of sports blogs, like Deadspin and The Big Lead, are torn to shreds because they publish stories like this with anonymous sources and yada yada yada. This is the Chicago Sun-Times we are talking about. Aren't they supposed to be one of the beacons of journalistic integrity? How is this any different than what a "blog" does?

O'Brien effed up royally. There is no arguing that, and each of the aforementioned tweeters have every right to rip him for it.

But I have a bone to pick with them too.

Goodman says he could write all day about the rumors he hears. Parrish says he could throw a rumor out about every high profile commitment.

My question to those writers: why not go track down those rumors and those stories?

Its no secret that there actually are players getting paid. I'm sure that of the rumors these writers are hearing, at least a couple of them each year are true. While its preposterous and unfair to assume that everyone -- including Anthony Davis, even after this article has been written -- is getting paid, its naive to believe that everything in the world of recruiting is squeaky clean.

This post isn't necessarily meant to take a shot at those guys. They provide the best coverage of the sport we love, and they do it all year round. All you have to do is scroll through my morning dumps or see how often I retweet them to understand how much information and insight those guys provide.

I just don't understand how there can be so many rumors, but so few actual stories breaking.

I've emailed Michael O'Brien from the Sun-Times, as well as the four writers whose tweets I quoted. If they comment, I will update this post.