Why don't you discuss the matter at hand and not resort to bashing Kentucky or Calipari? You can't because the two are linked in your mind. I disagree because this is not only about Kanter it's also about thousands of kids overseas not being beholden to clubs or held hostage because they want to come to America and pursue other opportunities. Combine the AAU system (and I'm talking about going to down to the U8 ranks) and the professional leagues of sport in this country and you have an idea on how these systems work.
This kid is not a professional. He was not compensated like one and the bone of contention is over how the money was handled for his educational expenses: 13,000 of which sits unused and the full amount has been offered to be repaid. The problem is at somewhere like Oak Hill that same money is paid by the school itself for basketball prep players. In Europe the money is given to the players to be dispersed in the way they're families see fit by the club.
Calipari deserves to be bashed. Why? Because he has been associated with previous scandals at two schools that resulted in forfeited Final Four appearances. Now, of course with your Kentucky-biased views, you'll come back with the all too familiar "Cal didn't know anything in any of those other cases" and "Cal was completely cleared of any wrongdoing" and so on and so forth. But as you so eloquently intimated earlier, facts speak for themselves and the fact is that Cal was coach at two schools with vacated final fours. Therefore, he is held under really tight scrutiny. Sorry, that's the way things like this go.
As for Kanter, why did his family hold on to the extra $13,000 in the first place? If they were truly interested in keeping his amateur status, give the money back. Did they? No. Why? I have no idea other than to assume because they wanted to keep it for later use. Now that it's getting them into trouble, they want to give it back. In other words, it looks like the Kanters (and Kentucky's fans) want to play both sides of the issue. He got paid, but didn't use the money he was paid, therefore he can't be professional. However, the NCAA's bottom line is this: He was COMPENSATED for playing basketball in a way that more than covered his expenses and then held on to the money. Thus, the amount of money doesn't matter. It's the fact that he made a salary while playing basketball that was in excess of his admitted expenses. Therein lies Kanter's problem imo.
