Gary Parrish's scoop creates an interesting storyline

You've surely heard about it by now, but Gary Parrish broke the news of a recruiting violation committed by Arkansas head coach John Pelphrey.

In a photograph obtained by CBSSports.com, Pelphrey is shown posing with Sylvan Hill High standout Archie Goodwin (a consensus top-20 national recruit) and teammate Trey Smith last December at a high school tournament in Conway, Ark. Bylaw 13.1.1.1 states that off-campus contact cannot be made with a prospect (or his relatives or legal guardians) before July 1, following the completion of his junior year of high school. Goodwin and Smith are still in their junior years of high school.

Despite having a terrific recruiting class coming in next season, Pelphrey has come under fire in the last week as the good folks of Arkansas have been calling for his head. An ad was taken out in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette last week urging fans to push for Pelphrey's firing.

That just about answers the question of how Parrish got a picture that, in Smith's words, happened as simply as "My mom was like, 'Hey, go get a picture.' So we snapped a picture." Someone that saw the photo and wants Pelphrey gone sent it to a guy he knew would be able to get it seen.

That's not what is interesting about this story.

Tonight at 7:30 pm, Arkansas plays Tennessee in the first round of the SEC Tournament.

Just in case your memory has failed you, Bruce Pearl was fined over $1 million, was suspended for eight games by the SEC, and is still facing the NCAA firing squad as a result of lying to the NCAA about a picture taken of Aaron Craft during an illegal recruiting visit to Pearl's home.
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John Pelphrey has put together a great Class of 2011 recruits

John Pelphrey has had a rough go of it at Arkansas.

He's had trouble getting talent to head to Fayetteville, and the talent he does bring in never seems to be able to stay on the court. Suspensions, injuries, professional defections, you name it. Pelphrey hasn't won, and he hasn't run a program that can keep its name out of the police blotter.

That's a bad combination for a basketball coach.

But there is hope.

Yesterday, Rashad "Ky" Madden committed to Arkansas in a bit of a surprise move. (Most reports had him heading to Ole Miss.) According to our consensus top 100 rankings, Madden, an Arkansas native and an athletic, 6'5" combo guard, is the No. 34 recruit in the country. This commitment comes just three weeks after Pelphrey earned a commitment from BJ Young, a super talented point guard out of Indiana and the No. 18 recruit according to our rankings. Young's commitment came with Hunter Mickelson, a 6'10" center from Arkansas and the No. 75 recruit, and Aaron Ross, a 6'8" slasher who ranked No. 115, already committed to their home state school.

Put that together, and you have one of the best recruiting classes in the country. Its impressive.

And, as Gary Parrish points out, it ensures that Pelphrey, no matter how hot his seat gets, will have until at least the end of the 2011-2012 season to start winning.

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John Pelphrey's decision to take on BJ Young could be a risky one

I was all set to wax poetic about John Pelphrey's recruiting job over the weekend.

Pelphrey was able to land a commitment from talented 6'3" guard BJ Young, who sits at 25th on our consensus recruiting rankings list. Young is a big time scorer who excels when he has the ball in his hands and is able to slash to the rim. While his range must improve, he has a decent mid-range game. He's a scorer, but there is potential for him to be able to play the point.

BJ Young, a top 25 recruit with some baggage, has committed to Arkansas.
(photo credit: Louisville C-J)

Reading this, my mind started to race. When Young gets to Arkansas, he will be joining a team that already has Rotnei Clarke and Marshon Powell. If Pelphrey can manage to get two years with that core of players, along with anyone else he is able to recruit in that period of time, its impossible to say that things aren't looking up for the Arkansas program.

Then I saw this in Jeff Borzello's article at NBEBasketball:

He had zero offers prior to the spring, and has only played a half-season of high school basketball due to a transfer and academic troubles.

So I spent some time on google, and found this from Dave Telep:

Young hasn't played much high school basketball. Because of transfers and academics, he’s missed a good portion of his high school career.

I don't know BJ Young. I don't know all that much about him. Seeing as he made a meteoric rise since the spring, I'm probably not alone in that regard.

What I do know is that the Arkansas program has been in the news more for off-the-court issues than for on-the-court performance. The last few years, they have been plagued by suspensions -- academic and behavioral, highlighted by a rape allegation last summer and an accusation of academic scandal.

Like I said, I don't claim to know anything about Young. I'm not saying that he is a bad kid or that he is dumb or that he will cause trouble when he gets to Arkansas. But Young, clearly, is a risky pick up. Just look at what Will Barton went through this summer to be cleared at Memphis. Or what Josh Selby is currently going through. Or what Mike Anderson is going through, knowing he won't have Tony Mitchell this season.

Hopefully, knowing that he has a chance to get a free education will be a wake-up call for Young. We all make bad decisions when we are younger, and based on some of the quotes I have seen (When asked by Telep why he committed so early, Young said "I'm ready to focus on school and taking more visits would have hurt (my academics).") it appears as if Young is ready to buckle down and get himself eligible.

He has a year. A lot can be done in a year.

Pelphrey has worked hard to get his program's academics up to par. Their four-year APR rating was 888 after the 2009 season, but he got a bump to 933 (above the required 925) after 2010.

I'm not saying that Pelphrey shouldn't have gotten a commitment from Young. If he didn't, someone else would have; Young is a talented kid. But the risks involved, especially for a program that has had the off-the-court issues that Arkansas has had lately, needs to be noted.

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Suspensions aplenty

As it is still technically the pre-season for 339 of the 347 DI college basketball teams, coaches are still trying to figure out who exactly they are going to have available to them, and when those players will be available.

Yesterday, it was eligibility problems that were in the news, as it looks more and more likely that freshman Renardo Sidney will be showing off his street clothes come Mississippi State's Nov. 13th season opener. The news was all bad, however, as UConn's Jamal Coombs-McDaniel and Mouphtaou Yarou were both given the go-ahead to suit up.

Today, it is suspensions.

Let's start with Arkansas, where head coach John Pelphrey has handed down suspensions to five players. Freshman Glenn Bryant will miss two games. Junior Marcus Britt got six games for two separate violations of team rules. Freshman walk-on Nick Mason won't be dressing during the first semester.

But the most important suspensions were handed down to senior Stefan Walsh and sophomore Courtney Fortson, two starters from last years team. Both Walsh and Fortson have been suspended by Pelphrey before, and the latest is a result of multiple violations of team rules.

This is a big blow for an Arkansas team that actually has enough talent on their roster to compete in the SEC West. Kudos to John Pelphrey for laying down the law, although with everything his program has been through in the last two years, including allegations of rape just two months ago, is it already to late?


Also suspended is recently reinstated Illinois guard Jeff Jordan, Michael's other son. Jordan left the team after last season, and over the summer played in a non-sanctioned tournament, which Illini head coach Bruce Weber believes was a 3-on-3 tournament.

Jordan will have to sit out against SIU-Edwardsville on the 13th and Northern Illinois on the 17th, but he will be eligible to suit up against Presbyterian on the 21st.


UPDATE: Came across another one. Indiana State's Dwayne Lathan, a transfer from Louisiana Tech, is finally eligible this season after sitting out a year per transfer rules. A Louisiana native, Lathan was apparently looking forward to playing at LSU in the first round of the preseason NIT, the Sycamores second game of the season.

But back in April of 2008, Lathan played in a charity 3-on-3 tournament while still at Tech. The tournament was non-sanctioned. Thus, Lathan was suspended by the NCAA for the first two games of the season, meaning he will miss the LSU game.

For a charity, 3-on-3 basketball tournament 19 months ago.

Way to fry the big fish, NCAA.
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