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Sidelines Kalani Simpson |
NCAA scrutiny should
not end nowSO now that the other shoe dropping has turned out to be a hammer slamming, what does the revocation of Hawaii's 2002 NCAA men's volleyball championship mean to the future of the sport?
It's an intriguing question. After all, we saw the rosters at this most recent final four (the one the NCAA shamelessly tried to protect by holding its announcement back a few days). International student-athletes make up a good percentage of the people playing this game, have for years.
And many, if not most, international players, have backgrounds that can at least be held up to scrutiny under NCAA rules.
That can at least be looked at again, pretty closely, just to make sure.
There is probably more to dig up, out there, if someone were willing to dig.
And the NCAA showed how serious it is about this by snatching UH's championship, so it better not stop digging now.
A lot of people think that Lewis, which won it all in 2003 (thanks in part to an experienced, cosmopolitan lineup), is the next to be busted. But really, who can feel safe? A week ago at the Stan Sheriff Center there were chants about a BYU player having played six years. With so many international stars, everyone's always been under suspicion in this sport.
Now it really means something.
Now it's more than coaches' whispers and student-section jeers.
Now it isn't funny anymore.
And if the NCAA is going to hit Hawaii this hard, you have to believe it can't stop digging now. It better not. The bar has been raised, the precedent set.
What's good for the goose means UH better not be the only one to take the fall here as a one-time symbolic gesture.
So would that mean all these foreign players suddenly disappear from the game, or at least dip dramatically in numbers?
Will everybody start turning each other in?
That would be interesting, to say the least. What intrigue. What a way to attract new interest in this niche sport. Talk about "Hot Stove League" action. The offseason would be as exciting as the playoffs.
A lot has been said about all the real sleaze being in the "money" sports. That the NCAA should catch the real criminals in football and basketball instead of saving its sweeping gestures for anonymous nonrevenue sports. There's real cheating out there. Why pick on men's volleyball, of all things?
And that's a good point.
But then, that attitude may have contributed to this action. Don't you think?
As in, don't get lax about letting quasi-pros slip into college lineups because you think nobody's watching.
Well, they're watching now. And it'll be interesting to see how that affects this game.
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
Kalani Simpson can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com