Not sure what that has to do with Carmody running off Coble, which is the story I want to read.
Johnnie Vassar
- Thread starter Catdude
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NUCat320 has summed it up best: JV was not a Big 10 caliber player. Turner, Lieberman, Ajou, Abrahamson were not Big 10 caliber players. If you use them as examples of a coaching staff gone rouge, then you are advocates of a below Big 10 level team. Collins saw that immediately that he had to get the way below Big 10 caliber players off the roster. I saw that also very quickly but others did not want to admit that was the real issue with prior teams. Google Buzz Williams and see how he cleared out the entire roster including Joey Van Zegeren if you want to see more questionable manner of cleaning out his roster.
Uh-huh. Imagine how much you could have "accomplished" if you left it up there in all of it's glory! You'll find a lot of new fans if you roll with that all over the Internet.
Another Internet troll. Impressive. You and Virginia make a great couple.
What I don't understand is why people use derogatory names towards others.
I don't think those words are Nazi propaganda. I do think they give readers an easy way to determine who's worth listening to, though.
The next time I listen to a Barstool podcast will be one time too many.
Are you triggered again, hoos?
I know Trahan is your buddy, but there's no defending him in this one...
Honestly speaking, I'm not going to question CCC's judgment and I'm from an expert, but per the eye test in looking at Vassar's tape and what he looked like on the floor during the time he was here, why wasn't he a B1G quality player? Even one clip where Sanjay had a massive dunk in practice, I was impressed with Vassar coming over from the other side of the court and trying to help and skying up to try to block him even if he wasn't successful. I'm not saying he would have been a star, but I saw a kid with massive athleticism and handle, quickness and hops. I'd honestly not seen that kind of athleticism here at NU before despite the fact he was kind of a midget.
Seemed more to me that it was either an attitude or style (jitterbug) thing. Not inherent basketball talent.
Seemed more to me that it was either an attitude or style (jitterbug) thing. Not inherent basketball talent.
Johnnie Vasser is a whining, litigious, little bastard. He should be greatful he was even admitted to NU. If he gets a Northwestern degree he should be forever greatful to everyone, edorcialky CC who made it possible for him to attend NU. If it was up to me, he'd be on the street.
Counterpoint: NU offered him a four-year athletic scholarship, thereby making a four year commitment.
Yup, and NU and CCC delivered on that commitment. He got his four years. Unlike kids in a similar position at other schools. I'm proud of NU for delivering on that. I am not familiar with any other story or situation where that has happened at any other school.
I really don't understand the outrage. The kid came, he got his free education. He's not owed 4 years on the team. He was made to be a janitor? Waaah! Maybe the refusal to do the role assigned to him regardess of how awkward or hard it was is a reflection of why he was booted from the team. He was forced off of the team? Well, if CCC felt he had any value that wouldn't have happened. If he didn't like it, he should go somewhere else. The sense of entitlement is ridiculous. Grow up. And let's not pretend for a moment that this was about getting an NU education. JV got a deal to get one and he took it. So, why the lawsuit? No, this was about JV thinking he deserved to be kept on the team somehow. Well, it's not his decision, CCC doesn't owe him anything there and JV handled this the wrong way. Kale Abrahamson handled things the right way.He too was encouraged to leave (or simply told with transparency what he could expect in terms of role) and expectations did not align. So he did. Why would anyone want to stay where they weren't valued according to their own assessment? No hard feelings. If JV couldn't deal with this, then he has a lot of learning to do when he enters the real world and any job. I have nothing against the kid, and I do think he had a tough break and feel for him, but you know what, you should move on from it. Either take your 4 years of free education from a world class university (which he got 3 of thus far) or leave for greener pastures and hopefully find yourself somewhere where you are valued according to your expectations. This lawsuit? What on earth are they suing for? What are the damages? The loss of a free education (nope)? Loss of future revenue from a professional basketball career (I'd love to be in the courtroom to hear how that's laid out)? Because CCC ended his dream of playing Div I basketball (well, shit, I too had a dream to play Div I basketball, and it didn't work out for me either, but I didn't get a $100K in scholarship money). Frivolous. The only practical motive for any litigator to recommend a lawsuit here that I can think of is to squeeze some sort of "go away" settlement (though I do allow for the Vassars feeling somehow that they were "wronged" and have to take some sort of action). I can't imagine the University would fall for it, but they may decide some modest payout might be easier than enduring the hit pieces from scummy pretend journalists aiming to drag the University's name through the mud (which we have already seen the first of) that will come from this and the legal fees of simply responding to and having the case dismissed immediately by a court.
And rightly or wrongly, I for one would never hire the kid based on what has happened here and what was printed in Trahan's article - without any input from CCC or the NU administration (if anything, inputs from the latter would only allow me to soften). Not because I think he's a bad kid or anything, but I don't think he handled the situation correctly or had the right judgment or response, no matter what NU did and I certainly wouldn't want someone as high maintenance as he appears to be (again simply reading from Trahan's article).
And another thing (emotional rant to follow): whereas I have nothing against JV, the perpertrators of these hit articles, Trahan and Goren are petty and known Carmody huggers who are wanna-be "journalists" who pretend that they have some semblance of professionalism and credentials. They have none, no more than anyone on this board, and that includes Felis. Felis puts out more well thought and balanced viewpoints than these fools. As Virginia has rightfully pointed out, they have had nothing but spite and meanness and doubt about the program since Carmody was forced out. (Yeah, yeah, I know about the piece on the Collins press conference that Trahan did, but unfortunately, nothing else has remotely approached balance in his tweets and hit pieces on NU basketball since.) They were wrong as they could be about Phillips' decision to can Carmody (while some here are gracious and say the appreciate the consistent mediocrity he brought to NU, I say he was lucky he wasn't canned earlier as his putrid results would have warranted at any other Power 5 program and anyone who says what he did is somehow worth shouting about and that this was as much as could be expected at NU, well, CCC killed that argument this year, so shut the hell up), they were wrong as they could be about predicting failure for Collins and the program, and the pattern continues here. They are of the same ilk as MysticCat, though a bit more subtle and sneaky about it, but no less petty and mean, and I for one can't believe that anyone on InsideNU thinks highly of anything of what they think or write. I mean Vice news? is there anything that screams more "fake news" this side of Breitbart, Drudge Report, and the Huffington Post? And before anyone calls me a hypocrite - yes, I'm just as petty and mean and have as many one-sided opinions myself, but the difference is that I don't pretend to hide behind some ridiculous costume and call myself a journalist. I'm just an idiot with a keyboard and a Wildcat report account with too much time on my hands. I weep for Medill and the future of our media if this is the product that comes out.
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Why would anyone be surprised? A dog barks. A cat meows. If he were professional about it, that would be the real news.
My conclusion is that Ben Goren should give up attempting to be a journalist and go back to posting on message boards. On second thought...
Don't hold back E-Cat. Tell us what you really feel.
I have 2 issues with the story given the info that has been presented. 1) The possible fraud and the ensuing, idiotic paper trail IF you believe the doctored time cards. 2) Can't just slide your players over to academic scholarship. Makes a mockery of the 13 scholarship rule. Would be ABUSED throughout the country if it were legal.
What I don't like about the story is how blatantly 1-sided it is and that it's presented as NEWS, when it's not anything new, just a re-hash of what happened previously designed to take advantage of timing. Everything JV's side suggests is accepted as 100 percent truth, and suppositions are made by NCAA people based on his statements being 100 percent true. There's no way D1 schools offered him a scholarship if he could transfer right away for instance. Other schools know that's not possible, so why would they say that and mean it?
It's a hit piece by people with an agenda.
I can't help but wonder how this thread would be going if the exact same story came out about a player at, say, Illinois.
Probably the same if we were aware that the writers were undeniably heavily biased and jaded fans over something that happened 4 and a half years ago.
It's a good question. I look forward to the other examples they will present in their assault against this practice. I wonder if they will be able to find other players who have been run off from other schools.
Yet, somehow over a fairly significant period of time, and in their grand statement this week, they continued using the same single example.
The NCAA only mandates single-year scholarships that are renewed on an annual basis. The Big Ten goes beyond this by mandating four-year scholarships.
At most other schools, his athletic scholarship would simply not be renewed, which would free up an athletic scholarship, and then he would receive no type of scholarship whatsoever. The difference at NU is that they're still paying for his degree. NU is not abusing any sort of rule that gives them an advantage over all the other schools that would have just not renewed Vassar's annual scholarship. On the contrary: the other schools that still renew annually will often oversign recruits because they can simply not renew those players whose services they no longer desire. The Big Ten, on the other hand, can't really do this because they are on the hook to pay for four years for any player who remains in good standing.
I've just read the Vice story, and, in my opinion, NU didn't come out looking so bad. And JV didn't come out looking so good. JV probably looks better, but it's not the "NU *is* the seedy underbelly of college sports" takedown I had expected.
Trahan published the allegations of JV being a bad employee, and didn't give much credibility to his dispute of those charges
Also, repeatedly he wrote that NU was invited to respond but did not. NU could have told its side of the story, but chose not to, presumably due to policies regarding pending litigation and allowing only spokespersons to speak for the university.
Here is a summary of the story:
- JV had his athletic scholarship revoked
- He believes he was treated unfairly
- This happens everywhere (40%!)
- It happened at NU, under uncertain circumstances
Frankly, I think the story was pretty well-reported. And I do respect Vassar for holding NU to its commitment. I also respect him for sticking it out for his education. I hope he gets to play somewhere after graduating.
The allegation that schools told JV they'd take him immediately but not after sitting out a year is, of course, laughable. Still, someone's gotta challenge the NCAA at some point. (I've seen about 38 corporate logos, two millionaire head coaches, seven millionaire broadcasters, 60 thousand fans who dropped $60 a ticket, and 20 "amateur" players tonight. Also, three refs who were apparently perplexed by the bright orange bouncing sphere.)
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