re: Will Wade & Sean Miller HBO documentary comes out tonight

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I think (and hearing) that LSU's hand might be forced to part ways with Wade.

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If ANYONE, including Woodward are so naive to think "cheating" isn't occurring in the major sports at LSU (as well as every other power conf. program in the nation) then he shouldn't be an AD. They ALL know how the sausage is made. Sure, hearing someone say something is sounds worse than just reading a cold transcript without any verbal expression, but substantively nothing has changed.

Here's the bottom line.

Did Wade "cheat"? Probably
Do the telephone conversations imply as much? Absolutely.
Is there evidence of any payments? Not that we know of.
Is there enough to warrant LSU cutting ties with Wade, even out of precaution? I think so.

The million dollar question though (and we, the fans, don't have enough information to answer it) is does the "benefit" of cutting ties with Wade now (avoiding the possibility of sanctions) outweigh the "risk" (i.e. that your basketball program sinks back in to irrelevance). Wade has LSU on what appears to be the first consistent upward trajectory in nearly 30 years. If he returns Smart and Watford next season, along with the expected signing class, LSU may very well be a true Final Four contender (assuming they learn to play defense). If you cut ties with Wade now and EXPECT the next guy to play it "clean" then you may as well expect to be a non factor in college basketball for years to come. Because as long as AAU is the primary marketplace for college recruits then there will ALWAYS be "cheating." That is the SOLE reason AAU basketball exists. To buy and sell players.

We (and the NCAA) can pretend to live in fantasy land where all college athletes are "student athletes" looking to play ball while furthering their education. Or we can live in reality where ALL, the schools, coaches, players, runners, NCAA are making millions, if not billions of dollars in this business and the top players (with very few exceptions - Skylar Mays) no more care about being "students" than flying to the moon. And if the NCAA wants to hammer Wade, that's fine. But let's also take a trip to Lexington, KY and ask where Ashton Hagans got a huge wade of cash to flaunt in a twitter video. Or Durham, NC and ask how the Williamson family paid the mortgage on a nearly million dollar home in a city they didn't live in UNTIL their son agreed to play basketball at a college in said city

If LSU fires Wade over this, I’m never going to another basketball game ever again. Like you said, this is the way college basketball works. I’m fine with cleaning it up, as long as everyone is on the chopping block.

All of this has been known for years. We have some chicken little crybabies up in here. Not to mention it’s not even going to be news with all the COVID coverage. Either get on the wade pain train or get run over.

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Message
I’m fine with cleaning it up, as long as everyone is on the chopping block.

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This.....just be consistent

Unless it’s a recording with Will Wade’s voice on it, I don’t care.

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Unless it’s a recording with Will Wade’s voice on it, I don’t care.

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Anyone else find it funny the ncaa will be watching tonight with their notepads? Rabalais and pat forde can get advanced copies of this thing, but not the ncaa?

And not everyone's head is on the chopping block.
So, for all those "realists" here who say 1) it is naive not to acknowledge that everybody cheats and 2) we should go ahead an formally adopt cheating as a policy and support Wade in it, here is another reality:
We will be punished by the NCAA.
And that punishment will put the program at a huge competitive disadvantage.
BUT, you guys will have the deep satisfaction of knowing you are right, and the NCAA is wrong.

I dont think its uncommon to let the media preview things like this.

Schlabach saw it too, as im sure others

The tape was reportedly about Smart

Smart sat out one game while the NCAA met with LSU

Smart was reinstated by LSU after meeting with the NCAA

Wade coached this year, Smart played this year.

This has already been discussed and worked out regardless of actually hearing the audio