Charles Barkley and Recruiting

[azbirdfan]

Anyone watch the post game show on TNT tonight? Charles Barkley made a comment about how he coached some Nike kids over in Europe before Dirk Nowitski was "discovered" and Dirk scored 50 on the USA Nike players. Charles said to Dirk "I'll give you any amount of money you want to go to Auburn" and Charles brought that up to Dirk in their interview tonight and asked him if he regretted not going to Auburn.

After they went back to the studio, Kenny Smith asked Charles if he really said that and Charles said something to the effect of "hell yes I did" and Kenny said "Isn't that cheating?" and Charles came back and said "This is the SEC, if you ain't cheatin', you ain't trying!" and followed up and said "You've got Kentucky, Georgia, Florida.... there's all kinds of crooks in the south!"

I've always loved Charles' brutal honesty!! Only wish the NCAA actually either did something about it or would quit pretending not to know!!

[MSNSaluki]

The sad thing is Barkley is dead-on.
Bunch of cheaters ... except for Vanderbilt. They just produce the lawyers who'll wind up defending the ones that get caught.

[Rasputin]

except for Vanderbilt. They just produce the lawyers who'll wind up defending the ones that get caught.

:notworthy:

Isn't that the truth!

[ISUBob]

Yes Sir Charles has a big mouth. I wonder why he never said a whole lot about the Mavs putting it on the Spurs after he bad mouthed them for 3 years. He was just putting up a big smoke screen because the Mavs will take (Cry Baby) Duncan and Company down!!

[DawgieStyle]

I'm not saying Charles is right or wrong...but how much credibility should we put into anything Sir Charles says??

[thetruthhurts]

Yes..and the SEC is the only league that cheats.

[azbirdfan]

My personal experiences of Charles is that he speaks the truth (at least his version of the truth). You never wonder what his opinion on something is and he's willing to speak it regardless of politics involved or worrying about what others will think. I don't think he has a special affection towards San Antonio at all, he just gave his opinion. He did the same when his old team, Phoenix, was down 3-1 to the Lakers saying they were playing scared and were done. Obviously he was proven wrong.

As far as the issue with recruiting, I don't think he made any of that up and he certainly didn't say that the SEC was the only league that cheats. He was just speaking from his personal experiences.

[thetruthhurts]

My personal experiences of Charles is that he speaks the truth (at least his version of the truth). You never wonder what his opinion on something is and he's willing to speak it regardless of politics involved or worrying about what others will think. I don't think he has a special affection towards San Antonio at all, he just gave his opinion. He did the same when his old team, Phoenix, was down 3-1 to the Lakers saying they were playing scared and were done. Obviously he was proven wrong.

As far as the issue with recruiting, I don't think he made any of that up and he certainly didn't say that the SEC was the only league that cheats. He was just speaking from his personal experiences.

Agreed. My point was to the guys who posted here. The SEC isn't the only league that cheats. In fact (and close your eyes if you don't want to read this) many MVC schools do so or have done so in the past. It's all a part of the deal.

[hondo]

the more boosters you have and the stronger their club is the more "extras" there are. It's not only normal but expected. The teams that don't do that are called "mid-majors," and even those have extras to some degree but just don't have the support to provide more.

I don't think that it even matters whether coaches know or participate in that stuff, because the people who do it are there a lot longer than most coaches survive. For that matter, the people I'm talking about pay much of the coaches salaries. It just goes on.

[BornShocker]

Nothing better than having many good "friends of the program". Just ask Western University.:yes: