As expected, Ben Brust is a Badger

[Lionhawk]

Time to move on and dwell on the positives that Fran has started, if their coach gets fired or leaves they should not be forced to have to play for a new coach and system, but if the coach stays then no way should the kids be allowed to change their mind this late. Larson and Brust will be solid players but I have confidence that Fran will bring in players that better fit his style. Hawkeyes in the 2011 NIT!

I agree with your comment regarding moving on and love the positives Fran has done in his first what, 50 days on the jon now?

My point is more that the Big Ten is going to have to either change the ruling or this will begin an ugly progression of recruiting in the Big Ten, ala SEC.

As for the Hawks in the 2011 NIT, I think you are right. I would not be overly surprised to see Fran lead the Hawks to 19 or 20 wins next season.

And wouldn't it be sweet if somehow, someway, he could figure out how to sweep BUCKY Badger. Nothing would be sweeter than to do so.

 

[homes]

No worries. I have my less-mature moments as well.

My moment, in this case, has to do with how he was recruited by other Big Ten coaches before he was released from his LOI. I've never liked Bo Ryan, and still feel his arrival at Wisconsin started the death of the run-n-gun era of Big Ten basketball. But I've never considered him slime by any means. That opinion has changed now. And you will never be able to convince me that he didn't tamper with Brust while he was officially signed with us(anyone who wants to consider this 'sour grapes' is welcome to).

Tubby, on the other hand, moved up even more in my book. As much as I dislike Minnesota, they have a pretty classy coach in my opinion.

Another reason to despise Wisconsin. I swear this is going to bite them in the arse in the future. It's simply too much bad karma to go unnoticed.

I will say the thing that bugs me about the Brust side of this is how quick the family threw Iowa under the bus about "not being told" about the no scholarship rule with regards to in-conference transfers. It was a lame argument then and still is, and Iowa never had any reason to apologize or otherwise think they were in the wrong. The Brust family made it out like Iowa was somehow being devious about the whole thing. I didn't appreciate that cheap shot, and gives me a twinge of hoping he rides the pine his whole career.

 

[burky247]

Another reason to despise Wisconsin. I swear this is going to bite them in the arse in the future. It's simply too much bad karma to go unnoticed.

I will say the thing that bugs me about the Brust side of this is how quick the family threw Iowa under the bus about "not being told" about the no scholarship rule with regards to in-conference transfers. It was a lame argument then and still is, and Iowa never had any reason to apologize or otherwise think they were in the wrong. The Brust family made it out like Iowa was somehow being devious about the whole thing. I didn't appreciate that cheap shot, and gives me a twinge of hoping he rides the pine his whole career.

Don't think for a second that there isn't a connection between the Brust's reactions and Bo tampering with Brust.

 

[homes]

Don't think for a second that there isn't a connection between the Brust's reactions and Bo tampering with Brust.

They're that easily manipulated? After having dealt with Iowa for as long as they did? Bo must be svengali-like. The whole thing smells. However, I'm glad, as you reported in another thread, that Iowa's rep does not appear to be harmed, but perhaps enhanced over all of this.

I also think that Brust recognized that he wouldn't fit in at Iowa under McCaffery, and he needed to get out while the gettin' was good. In the end, I actually take him wanting to leave as a good sign, i.e, it means we won't be burdened watching that 1930s, satin-shorts with a buckle, canvas high tops, set-shot style of play anymore. An overstatement, yes, but made for emphasis.

 

[burky247]

They're that easily manipulated? After having dealt with Iowa for as long as they did? Bo must be svengali-like. The whole thing smells. However, I'm glad, as you reported in another thread, that Iowa's rep does not appear to be harmed, but perhaps enhanced over all of this.

I also think that Brust recognized that he wouldn't fit in at Iowa under McCaffery, and he needed to get out while the gettin' was good. In the end, I actually take him wanting to leave as a good sign, i.e, it means we won't be burdened watching that 1930s, satin-shorts with a buckle, canvas high tops, set-shot style of play anymore. An overstatement, yes, but made for emphasis.

I had better clarify. I'm not saying Bo was holding the strings of the Brusts. I don't think he was trying to manipulate them per se. I just think there is a reason why they went off on Barta when they found out about the interconfernce transfer rule. I think the wheels were in motion for Ben to head to Wisky well before the rule came to light. And I think that is what brought on the reaction.

 

[ssckelley]

I do not mind Brust going to Wisconsin, heck Wisconsins style of play fits him better anyway. I just do not like how Wisconsin and Northwestern went about it. He should have to pay the first season, a rule is a rule. The fact that they appealed to the Big 10 to overturn their decision shows they have little regard to the rules of the conference. I can only hope that some day Iowa can get in position to turn the tables on them over a kid that signed a LOI. You Wisconsin fans can give me all the arguements all day long about how it was not fair to Brust, Lick getting fired, blah blah. But at the end of the day the rule was put in place for a reason and if the rule should not apply then get rid of it.

/ends rant...now over it

 

[HawkForce]

Yup the rule needs to be trashed...no reason to have it. Honestly the Big Ten had better repeal this rule soon...it's open season on recruits now.

 

[FreddyBrown]

I'm generally not the tin-foil-hat conspiracy theorist type, but frankly it wouldn't surprise me if almost all of what we saw and heard from the Brust camp from the day Lick was fired was window dressing to diminish the chance that anyone would think Wiscy was a done deal quite a while ago. Never hurts to keep up appearances and thereby help keep any scrutiny about ethics off of your new HC.

I'm not saying that's the way it was, but it certainly isn't an absurd hypothesis.

 

[storminspank]

The bottom line is right or wrong, coaches and schools don't always play by the rules. Some coaches bend the rules (sort of how Iowa got Basabe and how Wisconsin got Brust) and some coaches break the rules (Calipari).

It's NCAA basketball. It's not SEC Football, but it's still dirty.

 

[Hooper]

There are a few schools in the big ten who have the reputation of trashing fellow big ten schools and using a lot of negative recruiting. Wisconsin is one of those schools.

 

[Billso]

The bottom line is right or wrong, coaches and schools don't always play by the rules. Some coaches bend the rules (sort of how Iowa got Basabe and how Wisconsin got Brust) and some coaches break the rules (Calipari).

It's NCAA basketball. It's not SEC Football, but it's still dirty.

Hate to kick the dead horse, but no rule was "bent" bringing Basabe to Iowa. He was released from his LOI and there is no conference rule applicable.

Not true with Brust, where a conference rule was waived for no reason I can discern. And while unproven, I am convinced a rule was broken also - Ryan tampered with Brust.

 

[FreddyBrown]

The bottom line is right or wrong, coaches and schools don't always play by the rules. Some coaches bend the rules (sort of how Iowa got Basabe and how Wisconsin got Brust) and some coaches break the rules (Calipari).

It's NCAA basketball. It's not SEC Football, but it's still dirty.

What aspect of how we got Basabe represented "bending the rules"? Basabe made an express contract with Siena before he signed the LOI that he honored and that Siena honored. His decision to come to Iowa was completely consistent with that contract.

The only thing Brust's situation had in common with Basabe's was a coaching change. The differences are far more significant that that one common fact.

 

[FreddyBrown]

Hate to kick the dead horse, but no rule was "bent" bringing Basabe to Iowa. He was released from his LOI and there is no conference rule applicable.

Not true with Brust, where a conference rule was waived for no reason I can discern. And while unproven, I am convinced a rule was broken also - Ryan tampered with Brust.

I still find it hard to believe there isn't a conference rule that says you can't start recruiting a kid as a scholarship athlete when pursuant to another conference rule you are not yet free to offer him a scholarship and may never be free to do so. Yet we had several Big Ten schools doing exactly that with Larson and Brust before any waiver had been given and apparently before they even bothered to inquire as to whether a waiver had been given.

However, I'm with Billso in that I also suspect there was outright tampering in the usual sense--contact before even a release had been given, and perhaps even before there was any hint that Lick might be fired. One of the things that gives rise to that suspicion for me was learning that Brust apparently wanted to go to Wiscy in the first place but was "beaten to the punch" by a commitment from Vander Blue. I wouldn't put it past Old Bo to make sure that after Blue decommitted and the die was cast on Markoff, Brust was aware that he would be welcomed with open arms.

I am not pi$$ed off that Brust isn't a Hawkeye. We will be better off with a true PG and an extra ride that this staff can use on someone better in 2011. However, I am pi$$ed off about how it went down, and I probably won't see Wisconsin in the same light in which I have seen them in the past--as one of the Big Ten schools I would always root for out of conference. In that regard, Wisconsin has taken a step closer to the category Illinois has heretofore occupied all by itself.

 

[Billso]

I am not pi$$ed off that Brust isn't a Hawkeye. We will be better off with a true PG and an extra ride that this staff can use on someone better in 2011. However, I am pi$$ed off about how it went down, and I probably won't see Wisconsin in the same light in which I have seen them in the past--as one of the Big Ten schools I would always root for out of conference. In that regard, Wisconsin has taken a step closer to the category Illinois has heretofore occupied all by itself.

Agreed on both counts. And that's not sour grapes on Ben, either, who may become a very fine Big Ten player.

 

[storminspank]

In regards to Basabe, there was a reason Francis remained on staff at Siena for a period of time before being named an assistant at Iowa. There was some rule bending with that, just as with almost every single person getting out of their NLI. While the Brust and Basabe decommits are different cases with different rule bendings, both happened.

 

[Billso]

I'll bite, Spank - what rule was bent?

 

[tweeterhawk]

Wisconsin and Illinois = the SEC division of the Big 10.

 

[storminspank]

I'll bite, Spank - what rule was bent?

Keeping Francis on staff at Siena allowed him to talk to a signed recruit of Siena's (i.e. - Basabe)... I think you can go from there on your own.

There was a reason Francis didn't come with Fran immediately.