MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Arnold backer]

This has been very hard on Matt who is one of the nicest guys you will ever find.  Watching him have to go through this process and now hearing his name on the radio and seeing it tomorrow in the paper attached to "NCAA violation" is enough to make me literally feel sick all day.

The employee Matt went on the trip with was someone who had become a great friend of Matt's.  As an NCAA athlete I guess he screwed up, but if you knew the degree to which these guys were buddies, you might sort of understand it better.  You know, you just don't think "NCAA violation" when going on a trip with a friend.

The former IWU employee owns a condo in Vegas.  Matt did not pay any sort of "lodging expense" for his share of the 3 days or whatever in the condo.  Matt was completely honest when asked about it, he could have said "Yes, I gave him $50 cash per day and this may have gone away, but he was honest."  This was deemed by IWU to be a "extra benefits" and thus, they reported the violation, but I know if I  owned a place and had a friend there, I sure wouldn't charge him "hotel fee."

Matt knows now he screwed up.  He feels like he has let his school and team down - this has been horrible to see him deal with.  Titan Q, thanks for asking the good people here for that "discretion."

[augiedad]

IWU did the right thing here and I respect them for it.  I can totally see how something like this happens, but it does not mean it was right.  It sounds like a bad break, but a clear violation.  To be honest, it also sounds like something that could have been swept under the carpet, or covered up, real easily.  That is why I appreciate IWU's straight-forward handling.

My thoughts to Matt Arnold.  I can't imagine what he must be going through right now.  I hope he has great friends around him to pick him up.

[augiefan]

Sorry to hear about Matt Arnold's woes. It was certainly the kind of thing that most any college student athlete could gave done, particularly at a DIII school where there are no athletic scholarships.

All in all the punishment seems to be a little overblown, but as a U of I fan I certainly am familiar with the NCAA's tendency to overreact in suggesting penalties for real and imagined transgressions. By the time the CCIW season rolls around Matt will be back and if I'm any judge playing better than ever.

How did IWU do in their scrimmage last night? Is there any news on how Augie has looked in practice or oreseason scrimmages?

[augie_superfan]

John_teague...I just wanted to clarify what I meant by my comment on the impact of losing Matt Arnold for the first 8 games.  Yes, it will hurt them, but I dont think it will be a major obstacle to overcome by this stacked IWU team.  Matt Arnold is a very good player but if you look at his role on the team, then it seems that losing him for 8 games may not have as a big effect on IWU as it would on teams with less talent.

Last year, Matt scored 6.1 ppg, 6th on the list of returning players.  Therefore, from the scoring standpoint, IWU should not suffer much in my opinion.  He did have the 2nd most assists on the team, but then again, you got Dauksas so that shouldn't be the biggest worry in the world.

The team may suffer a bit but if he is needed as the backup point guard, I know Dauksas is capable of playing a few more minutes per game than expected (he did play 35.0 per game last year).  Once again, bad break for Matt Arnold, and hopefully no one takes this post the wrong way...I'm not trying to diminish the effectiveness or talent of Matt

[Mr. Ypsi]

From a purely basketball standpoint, Matt's suspension seems unlikely to change the outcome of any games, UNLESS (God forbid!) Adam gets hurt.

But it still seems like a tragedy and an over-reaction.  ONE-THIRD of his final season for taking a trip with a buddy, who didn't charge him to stay at his place?!  I realize the suspension was technically proper, but it doesn't 'smell' right, assuming they were as 'tight' as Arnold backer says, and I have no reason to doubt him/her.  And, as has been noted, this could SO easily have been covered up - 3 cheers to Matt and IWU for doing the right thing, one half-hearted cheer for the NCAA.

[robberki]

The NCAA can be pretty ruthless sometimes, Eric Crouch (Heisman winning Nebraska quarterback) got sanctioned for eating a free ham sandwich the he thought was included in his bill, so those folks can be real tough. Too bad for the young man....

[Gregory Sager]

Tracy, umm, Nicholson?, also transferred to NP from a higher divisional level. He could sky and dominate, but then would inexplicably disappear.

No, Mark, Tracy Nicholson was not a higher-division transfer. Prior to the Park he was at Kankakee Community College.

[The Roop]

I think a simple warning to the school and player involved in this situation would have sufficed. I seriously doubt that Matt Arnold was coaxed into attending IWU because of a possible trip his senior year.

As I see it the NCAA has not accomplished anything positive here. Were it a case of a D1 basketball factory affording all it's players special priviledges then it's another story; but it's not.

I'm not advocating free passes to DIIIs for rules violations but this is not an area that the NCAA needs to involve itself. A friend took a friend on a trip, there's nothing more to it.

[devildog29]

Let me first say to everyone, please do not take my following question as starting rumors or that I'm repeating any rumors.  I know nothing, and I don't even live within twenty hours driving distance to Bloomington, so I haven't "heard" anything from anyone.  That being said, I wonder, perhaps Q you may know, does this former employee who no longer is employed by the university have anything to do with the Dean of Admissions suddenly resigning unexpectedly a couple months ago?  I know that particular Dean has always been great friends of many of the students and could always be seen sitting with his fraternity brothers at many of the Titan games.  Again, I haven't heard any rumors and please, I'm not trying to start any rumors, it's just these two things happened to coincidentally occur around the same time, so my Columbo/Perry Mason side picks up on these kinds of coincidences.

[dansand]

Mmmmm....ham sandwich......

Kudos to the NCAA for showing their versatility. They can be foolish and overreact on issues other than nicknames. I'd be interested to see if they offered Arnold the option of paying, retroactively, for the trip. It seems like when I hear about violations of this sort, that's one of the remedies offered. Looking at the best possible spin for IWU, it should be a chance for some of their younger guys (I'm thinking maybe Toliver or Bryant in particular) to get some experience and show what they can do against very tough non-conference schedule.

[Titan Q]

Devildog, I'd really caution you in playing Perry Mason.  Blindly speculating over something like this is a good way to make a bad situation even worse for the people involved and those not involved.

I do not know where 8 games stacks vs other similar offenses, but on the surface of things, I cannot fault the NCAA here. IWU brought a rule violation to them and they had to act. 

Matt Arnold will get through this and so will IWU's basketball team.  Jason Fisher, who started IWU's first 10 games last year before getting hurt, finally gets a chance to take a stranglehold on the position.

[devildog29]

I agree Q about blindly speculating, that's why I tried to be very persistant and tell everyone I'm not starting any rumors and I haven't heard any rumors, so don't take my question and run with it as based on inside knowledge of anything.  I've just been wondering for a while now why that employee left so unexpectedly when he has always very obviously bled green for so long.  It was a total shock when it happened, and to this day, I've never heard why.  So, once more to everyone out there, please don't use that question to drag anyone down any further than has already happened.  It's very unfortunate for something with what seems to be purely innocent intentions has turned into something like this.  Hopefully, if there's a silver lining anywhere it's that everyone at the school, and the whole conference for that matter, will be more aware in the future and avoid anything that can be perceived as receiving "gifts."

[augie_superfan]

Since I am now attending the University of Kentucky, a little while ago, I was reading a statement put out by the NCAA and the University regarding the eligibility of Randolph Morris, a UK basketball player.  His case does not relate to Arnold's at all, since his case stems over hiring an agent, but in the statement, they outlined some general guidelines that the NCAA uses to suspend players when there is monetary gain involved.

Here is an excerpt from that article...

For violations where the benefit is less the $100 the condition would generally just require repayment.  For violations over $100, repayment would be required and the student-athlete would be withheld from competition based on the following:


$101-$299 = 10 percent withholding

$300 - $500 = 20 percent withholding

$501 and over = 30 percent withholding. 

These withholdings would exclude exhibition contests. 

They also said that they do look at things on a case by case basis to either increase or decrease the suspension according to the guidelines.  I personally think these are sorta harsh but who knows.  Just thought some people might be interested in this.

[nochoresmartin11]

How has Elmhurst been looking in their two pre-season games???  I think they have played BU, and Parkside maybe???  Just wondering what the word is from those games?  How are the other cciw teams looking in their exhibition games?

[bluejaybacker1]

Elmhurst looked pretty good. Martin is getting back into his rythm. They beat BU by a total of about 17. And I know they beat Parkside by a combined score of 4 for both halves.