Adidas, Rick Pitino, AAU, and the Filthy Business of Non-Professional Basketball

All this sleaze for a stack of greenbacks

It looks like some schools, and Adidas, are going to be getting into a ton of trouble. The other day it was reported, by the FBI, that they have found a ton of money being funneled from AAU basketball all the way up to the NCAA. The main shoe company that was put on notice is Adidas. I'm sure some other shoe companies are involved, but the one with the biggest paper trail is Adidas, and most of the schools that have put assistants and head coaches on unpaid leave, are represented by Adidas. I have some thoughts on this whole ordeal.

First off, the fact that the FBI is involved means that this is some serious stuff. I've seen the NCAA try to dole out their fake punishments, i.e, small sanctions, taking recruiting away, missing one or two years of the tournament, but that isn't going to fly with the FBI. If the FBI is involved, that means some people may be going to jail. Some big name people may be going to court, then possibly jail. This is very, very serious, and there is a ton of money involved. When the FBI gets into a case, I have to imagine that it is millions upon millions of dollars. This is crazy. I cannot believe this is what is going to possibly be the death knell to some NCAA basketball programs. There has been a lot more shady shit that has happened, stuff like hookers, strippers, buying cars and homes for families of recruits, grade tampering, any number of immoral things, but it looks like the scourge that is AAU basketball will be what takes them down.

Which leads me to my second thought. AAU basketball is the worst of the worst when it comes to shady characters being around young kids and telling them that they will do great tings if they sign with them. These "boosters" and "agents" and "recruiting gurus" for AAU teams are the lowest of the low. They find some young kid, usually around 13 or 14, and they don't see a kid playing a sport, they see a brand. They think these kids can make them millionaires. They don't care about these kids or their families, they just want to make money off of them. It is sickening. Then with these kids, if they don't make it, these scumbags just disappear and move on to the next kid. And that first kid, who these guys give up on, still feels entitled and tries to move on to the next "agent" or whatever that can try and give them big things. It is so seedy and shady and corrupt. AAU basketball is as corrupt as FIFA. Yeah, I said it. These kids are not basketball players to these AAU programs anymore. Like I said before, they are brands. For the most part, the kids don't even get to pick which AAU team they want to play for. Either their parents or one of the scumbags I have talked about pick a team for them based upon what shoe company they are beholden to. It is gross. The kids sometimes have to move to a new state or a new county just so these AAU assholes can deck them out in Adidas gear. It is sickening. I remember when I was younger I tried out for an AAU team. I made it to final cut down day, but what I saw, as a 14 year old, made me feel sick. I didn't feel like a basketball player, I felt like a piece of meat. All these creeps hanging out on the sidelines that weren't coaches, just trying to figure out which one of us they could use as a marketing tool. That was over 20 years ago. I have to imagine that it has only gotten worse. I even watched a documentary on Netflix a month or so back called "At All Costs", and it was about the current AAU culture and parents that live vicariously through their kids. It was disheartening. These kids, these 14, 15 and 16 year old kids, already seemed like they were working full time jobs as basketball players, and the ones in this movie, seemed to be fed up already. Sports are supposed to be fun, but the people that run AAU and other things of that nature, have turned it into a job and a show. It is disgusting. I loathe the entire idea of what AAU basketball has become.

Which leads me to my next thought. Why is anyone at all surprised that Rick Pitino is right in the middle of this? He is a garbage person, and he is one of the biggest cheaters in all of NCAA basketball. The guy is a scumbag. He looks like a used car salesman. He hires strippers and hookers for recruits. He has done awful, reprehensible things to get kids to come to whatever school he is coaching at the time. So I say again, why are people shocked by his inclusion? Of course he is involved. Of course he is a major player in the whole pay for play feeder programs. Of course he is making deals with Adidas and people who have an Adidas sponsor in AAU. It makes too much sense. For him to come out and say that he had nothing to do with this is a bold face lie. He is justly going to get fired, finally. Rick Pitino is as big a scumbag as the "agents" and "boosters" I mentioned.

My final thought, don't let this news make you think that Sonny Vacaro is some kind of good guy. He was the one who started the whole shoe war with children. Hell, ESPN made a "30 For 30" about that single topic. Don't let Sonny Vacaro on any show to be a talking head about this situation because he is the godfather of all this. He started it all. It all comes back to him. He is just as slimy and creepy and crummy as Rick Pitino and the "boosters". AAU and NCAA basketball are complicit and a joke.

What is most surprising to me is how unsurprised I was when this story broke a few days ago. The NCAA has always been shady, and so has AAU basketball. It is all gross and disgusting. Why don't we just let kids be kids and let them play the game of basketball with joy as opposed to being a product of some dumb ass shill for shoe companies. What a joke.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet. He was almost the 14 year old poster child for KangaROOS shoes. 

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The Chaos of the College Basketball Season will Extend Well into March

This season has even our ancestors confused

As I've done with the NBA, NFL and MLB seasons, I want to check up on my preseason preview for men's college basketball and see how I did and what I think will happen now that the regular is just about done.

First of all, this season of men's college basketball has been very, very ugly. There is no clear cut best team out there. The talent pool has been incredibly watered down by this new "one and done" culture. These kids don't go to college to learn how to play team basketball anymore, they go to increase their draft position. No one plays team basketball anymore. It's all one on one and let me show you my skills to prove that I can play at the next level. Adam Silver needs to focus more on changing the age limit rule for early entry in the draft and less on the "hack a whoever" problem. Men's college basketball is becoming a joke, and until they do something to remedy the "one and done", it will remain a big, big problem.

I really dislike college basketball at the moment.

With all that being said, I still watch because it is basketball and I love basketball. As I said before, there is no clear cut top five teams. Last year it was almost a foregone conclusion that Duke, Kentucky and Wisconsin would be three fourths of the final four. Michigan State making it was a surprise, but they are also a traditional powerhouse, so was it really that surprising? Nope. This year though, it's a total crapshoot. I bet gamblers hate how wide open it is this season. There is, at least, 10 teams that have a legitimate shot at making the final four and winning the title.

I'll start with the ACC. The ACC has the team that most consider the "best" team in North Carolina, but they just lost to an unranked Duke team at home. Sometimes UNC looks like world beaters, other days they look average. Duke has been wildly inconsistent this year. They were in the top ten, fell out of the rankings completely, then beat Virginia and UNC. They are a team that relies on streaky shooters and freshman and sophomores and their underclassmen are nowhere near as good as their underclassmen last year. Virginia has experience, but they play ugly offensive basketball. Notre Dame is okay, but they will lose an early round game in the tournament. Louisville gave themselves a bogus postseason ban, due to all their sex parties and their sex depraved head coach, but I don't think they would have made much noise in the tournament anyway. Miami may be the second best team in the ACC, but they are classic tournament chokers. everyone else is mediocre. UNC should be the cream of the crop, but I have no faith in them after what happened against Duke.

The Big East has two good teams and that's it. No disrespect to Georgetown, but they peaked early. The Big East is Villanova and Xavier. They played last night and number 5 Xavier knocked off number 1 Villanova. It was a good game, but the problem with these two teams, they always get seeded very high in the tournament and they always lose way earlier than they should. They both have experience, but like I said, that experience is used to getting knocked out of the tournament early. I'd love if they proved me and everyone else wrong and made a deep tournament run because I like both these teams, but I don't think that will happen.

The SEC has been very average this year. Kentucky was supposed to be great, signing another excellent class, but they have been one of, if no the, most inconsistent team in all of men's basketball. They have no go to scorer and their stud freshman have not lived up to the preseason hype. Texas A&M is ranked, but I couldn't tell you the name of one player on that team. LSU was supposed to be awesome since they signed Ben Simmons, the overall number one high school recruit, but they might not even make the NCAA tournament. Arkansas is mediocre, Ole Miss and Mississippi State both stink and so does the rest of the conference. Kentucky will still win the SEC, but they are not the same team that they were last year.

The Big Ten, my conference that I watch, has been very unpredictable. Michigan State is supposed to be the cream of the crop, but they've had to deal with multiple injuries and very inconsistent play. They are still really good, but not as good as I thought they would be. Iowa has come out of nowhere and put themselves into the top ten, but they have lost three straight and one of those losses was to a very bad Penn State team. Maryland, my preseason pick to win the title, has been as inconsistent as Michigan State. They started out on fire this season, climbing all the way up to the number 2 ranking, but they recently lost to a Minnesota team that was winless in Big Ten play. Michigan, my team, has been without Caris Levert for most of the season but, they've beaten the teams they are supposed to beat. But, when they played quality competition, they've been absolutely run out of the gym. Michigan State, Indiana, Iowa and Xavier all beat them by double figures and made it look easy. Indiana, the current leader of the conference, has looked good, but when they have to play on the road, they are not the same team. They get every call at home, but the road, where it's called fairly, they look average. Wisconsin has come on strong lately, but I have zero faith in them and their former coach, Bo Ryan, is a world class scumbag. Even with Indiana sitting atop the conference, Michigan State and Maryland are the two best teams in the Big Ten.

The Big 12 may be the best conference in college basketball this year. Oklahoma, Kansas, West Virginia, Texas and Baylor have spent the majority of the season in the top 25. Oklahoma and Kansas look really good. They are the two teams that may be the only "sure thing" in college basketball this year. The issue is that KU has a tendency to choke, and who knows with Oklahoma, especially since Buddy Hield has been in a mini slump. West Virginia plays suffocating defense, but very poor offense. Baylor seems to be good only when playing at home and Texas is still learning Shaka Smart's system.  KU has proven twice, beating Oklahoma at home and on the road, that they are still the best team in the Big 12.

The mid majors I mentioned in my preseason preview, Witchita State and Gonzaga have been major disappointments. Witchita State had everyone back from a team that almost made the final four last year, but they have been pretty mediocre this year. And Gonzaga has fallen off a cliff. I believe I had them in my preseason final four, but they have been pretty terrible this year. The mid majors are not going to crash the final four at all this year.

Even though it's been a rough year to watch, the major conferences will be well represented in the tournament and make the final four. Like I said, this season is wide open, but I will take a crack at the final four anyway. I guess, and I cannot stress how much of this is literally a guess, UNC, Michigan State, Kansas and Oklahoma will be in the final four and Oklahoma will win it all. Once again, total guess. So, there is my almost end of the regular season wrap up for men's college basketball. The one thing that will be fun, while it will still be a rough watch, at least the tournament will be exciting and all 68 teams that make it will have a shot at the title. Hell, maybe we will finally see a 16 seed beat a 1 seed.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. This college basketball season may provide another big upset, like the Princeton UCLA game that the head editor will not shut up about. It is your duty to follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.