quote:
Just curious if you had to take your best, educated guess knowing what you know about the case and the history of similar occurrences.
I know this one is very complex and unique, and very hard to compare it to another but i just want to know how good or bad you feel about LSU's chances of dodging a major disaster...
My gut says they'll find something (the NCAA) and will give LSU near maximum consequences, possibly the basketball version of the "death penalty"

My best guess... no.

Indications, SO FAR, is that LSU and the NCAA are reacting to media and that the OLOL embezzlement (audit findings) are not athletic related. Doesn't mean the OLOL wasn't funneling for athletics; but it means it was hid well under some very good expenditures. That 810k just looks regular old embezzlement for personal enrichment by Funes.

So, this being 95% about OPTICS, on all sides... including Wade AND the NCAA, there will be some penalties. No one walks away from the now-public mess the defense team via yahoo created and everybody else compounded unscathed.

But every player in this fiasco now is setup or has set themselves up to be a loser. At some point everybody will want to fold and hope to back out. To do that, everybody has to avoid being the "big loser", just a bunch of little losers. We'll lose scholarships, the SEC will have their own penalties. Maybe a tournament ban. NCAA will get their interviews. I hope LSU files to have their court transcripts released to them after the FBI investigates the NCAA. It would be nice to flip the script.

But before we get there, the defense team will leak more to a media, yahoo and others (sure to be others, ESPN) who are willing to take everything they say at face value, maybe wordsmith it a little (or a lot) to get more access from their "source". This will be in limbo into May. I'm assuming the prosecution will present their case first starting April 22nd. The defense will leak what they have, barring a judges orders, if they have it starting then going through the defenses presentation.

What I'm waiting on, that changes things for us- LSU and its fans - is for the prosecution to call NCAA officials to the stand for their case. IF that happens, it is a hope not a guess on my part, I want LSU to call a meeting and insist reps from those particular official's departments attend.