Former North Carolina coach Bill Guthridge dies

Sorry to hear of his passing. It's never easy to be the guy that follows a coaching legend. Guthridge seemed like a really nice man in a cut-throat profession.

OK, hate to be a cynic, I really do, but am going to ask the question that I have to believe is crossing the minds of a lot of non-UNC fans, mine included:

Will the NCAA in some way use the recent deaths of Coaches Smith and Guthridge to go marshmallow soft on UNC when it comes time to dole out punishment for the Carolina program? The NCAA has made a lot of benchmark & controversial rulings (some good, some bad), but I think this one just got raised up another notch with the empathy factor. The NCAA has to know they may come off as heartless bas*^rds if they lay the wood (postseason ban on a legit national title contender next season?) to one of the 5 all-time basketball bluebloods (UNC, Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, UCLA).

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebas...-longtime-assistant-bill-guthridge-dead-at-77

I think they will go marshmallow soft on UNC because their are one of the bluebloods. The recent deaths of Smith and Guthridge will have nothing to do with it though.

soft

I think they may go soft, based on the argument that all NC students had access to the sham classes, not just the jocks thus not an "extra benefit".

Not saying I agree with it, but it is possible.

Winnipegopher said:

I think they will go marshmallow soft on UNC because their are one of the bluebloods. The recent deaths of Smith and Guthridge will have nothing to do with it though.

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Mostly agree, but I'm thinking the deaths will make it even easier for the NCAA to show their "human" side. I'll be honest, if it's anything less than a 2015-16 postseason ban imposed by the NCAA (not the school) I'll be disappointed but not surprised. Because there's no way in h*ll Carolina will self-impose (like Syracuse did when they had a team going nowhere) for a season they're expecting (preseason #1?) next season.