The Orange landed itself a wildly talented player, albeit with some baggage. He was a consensus top 50 receiver in the class of 2011, rated four-stars by Scout and three by Rivals. The 6-foot-3, 200-pound playmaker was dynamite in high school, nabbing 126 catches for 2,562 yards and 27 touchdowns his junior and senior seasons. This is the type of offensive impact Doug Marrone has been dying to add. And that’s why it was a no-brainer to pursue Funderburk despite his history.

The Chesapeake, Virginia native (and high school teammate of “Ab Ripper X” Jaston George) will undoubtedly unload some heavy luggage at Hancock. He missed several practices last spring, and his high school coach told a Virginia newspaper Funderburk decided to leave the game of football. As soon as those reports became public, the wideout returned to the team. There has also been some stirring that Funderburk was homesick out in Arkansas. Although Syracuse isn’t exactly around the corner from Chesapeake, it’s about half the distance from Virginia than Fayetteville.

Throughout his trials and tribulations as a Razorback, Thunderburk has emoted via Twitter. These are some of the feelings Q has tweeted:

- I’m losing love for the game.
- I can’t wait to go back to my hometown.
- I wonder what it’s to like to be a regular college student.
- Sometimes I wish I was a rapper so I could express the way I’m feeling.
- I need some motivation.
- I’m misunderstood.

Hopefully, a change of scenery brings his love of the game back. Marrone will have to pay close attention to Thunderburk to keep him focused and attentive. The wideout will obviously have to find a comfortable place to live up to his potential as a football player.

His potential is vast. He chose Arkansas over USC, Alabama, Florida, Michigan, Penn State, Clemson, Virginia Tech, and others. He can stretch the field vertically, and give the Orange a legitimate red zone weapon. If you haven’t noticed, those are elements SU severely lacks.

Funderburk will likely have to sit out a season before suiting up for the Orange. It doesn’t matter that Bobby Petrino was fired from Arkansas. According to NCAA transfer rules, that’s not enough to let a football player immediately see the field at his new school.

The good news is, since Funderburk redshirted at Arkansas, he’ll have a full four years of eligibility to use at Syracuse. When he’s finally allowed to suit up and charge out of the tunnel onto the Carrier Dome turf, he’ll be a certified game-changer as long as he keeps his head about him.

This Fizzster dreams of a Broyld-to-Funderburk connection, and a level of explosiveness on offense that we haven’t seen since McNabb and Harrison.

Posted: Andrew Kanell

Post-Standard/ Dennis Nett

Let’s just cut through the bullsh*t of the Bernie Fine saga. ESPN and Mark Schwarz were brazenly overzealous in trying to break the story, and there was something not quite right about the Fine’s relationship with Bobby Davis. Other than that, the whole thing became a rollicking theater of the absurd.

I hate to say it, but just look at Laurie Fine. Does that seem like a completely normal person to you? Who knows what to believe with “the tape.” Maybe it was doctored completely, maybe it opened a window to the twisted inner-workings of the Fine household. Either way, some of the accusers have been discredited, and it’s obvious the Fines had some weird skeletons in the closet.

But just being strange (in comparison to the warped “normal society” that we live in) is not enough to place the crosshairs on a family, a coach and a university like ESPN did. Here’s the deal: ESPN doesn’t break news anymore. Not real news where sports intersects with the realities of normal life. Sure, Adam Schefter breaks “Peyton Manning to the Broncos” news. Chris Broussard breaks “LeBron James has a headache” news. But ESPN leaves the real heavy lifting to Yahoo! Sports, the New York Times, HBO’s Real Sports and Sports Illustrated.

• Deadspin laid the hammer to ESPN back in December

Why? Because ESPN has league rights to the NFL, MLB, NBA and college sports. It’s not in the business of crapping on its corporate partners (which is exactly what those entities are – they’re all sitting around the same board room table).

Yet, there’s this awkward investigative arm known as “Outside the Lines” which employs Schwarz and other reporters/journalists. Well, with the deepest pockets in media, how is it possible ESPN has been routinely beaten to Cam Newton, Michael Vick, Joe Paterno, Reggie Bush, Nerlens Noel, concussions, conference realignment and scores of other real sports scoops? Simple. They suck.

They don’t wanna know this stuff. They don’t really do any digging. They’re the store front window display, but inside the shop none of it’s for sale. So Lisa Salters and Jeremy Schaap “break news” on one-legged triathletes and charity work by Dikembe Mutombo. Then when some crap really hits the fan, they trot out venerable Bob Ley to engage a panel discussion with opinion makers. 

So, the biggest sports media entity in the world was beaten to the biggest scandal in sports history by everyone including the Patriot News. And what happened? Suddenly, those old Bobby Davis tapes from 2003 started getting dusted off again. And Schwarz began acting as though Syracuse University was the modern edition of Sodom and Gomorrah. And ESPN ran itself dizzy trying to insist it had finally broken “real news.” Oh, and dramatically slow-played the tape for ratings purposes.

This is Schwarz’s smoking gun:

“I would have taken a run at it every month of my career between 2003 and 2011 if I could have been pulled off other events and other coverage. If someone said you can either do this story, or you can do 100 NBA championship events or 17 World Series, which would you do, I would do this story and let other people cover the World Series.”

Nice. Even though you assumed you were allowing a pedophile to ruin someone’s life for nearly a decade, you simply had to cover Spurs-Nets in the Finals because Ed Werder couldn’t do it. And this obviously became his personal crusade, especially once the Paterno news broke.

I’m pretty certain the Fine’s aren’t completely clean in all this. Everyone needs a shower every time Laurie Fine or Bobby Davis or Mike Lang try to explain what was going on. But ESPN’s obscenely irresponsible reporting on this is far more criminal. All because they’re trying to keep up with a charade.

Posted: D.A.

Fox Sports

Doug Marrone has offered 3-star LT Alex Officer out of Eastridge High School in Rochester. Officer is rated as the second-best recruit in New York for the Class of ’13. He’s a smart target since the Dougie is shuffling through his current quarterback options and actively seeking new ones. Meanwhile, SU waved goodbye to some key linemen in Andrew Tiller and Michael Hay after last year. This year, the starting o-line is comprised primarily of upperclassmen that will be gone by the time Ryan Nassib’s successor is in his prime. Any way you slice it, Marrone knows the future of his trenches is dotted with question marks.

Officer enters his senior season at LT, and can be one of those cornerstones for Syracuse. At 6’4” 300 lbs, he’s enormous, but he’s also very quick for his size. Tape shows that he sticks to his blocks like super glue, and has fantastic football IQ. When he disarms his man, AO instinctively picks up another guy. He’s the kind of blocker who is playing the line-game in his head as well as with his hands. Officer is also a bulldozer as far as opening up lanes for the run attack.

This past February’s recruiting class included four offensive linemen for SU. There is a pressing need for long-term, solid depth and stability at OL. This need becomes even more urgent since the Orange will be starting a first-year quarterback next season. The position may very well be occupied by dual-threats like Terrel Hunt, Ashton Broyld or maybe even an elite recruit like A.J. Long. Officer represents closing the New York borders, and another important in-state recruit at a position that is essential to fielding a productive offense with a young QB next year.

SU isn’t the only school to extend a scholarship to Officer. Pittsburgh, UMass and Old Dominion have since done the same. With Pitt’s Todd Graham scurrying off to coach Arizona State and Old Dominion playing in the FCS, it seems the Orange would be a front-runner. However, Massachusetts may have a special angle. According to MaroonMusket.com, UMass TE Jerome Lewis is Officer’s older brother despite a different last name.

But a budding offensive tackle with a chance to play for former lineman Marrone, just an hour away in Rochester? Seems like a natural fit. Officer would be the latest victory in Marrone’s battle to win the Empire State, and an important piece of an offensive line in need of some building blocks.

Posted: Jake Moskowitz

On top of Pitt’s lawsuit, Boise State has also been rumored to be discussing not jumping to the Big East and instead joining a Mountain West mega-conference. The Panthers and Orange have solid enough arguments: their presence is unnecessary because of the parade of brand new schools flooding the conference (SMU, Houston, UCF, Memphis, Navy, and Temple are all coming). The league also tipped its hand when in March “The Electrician” John Marinatto said:

“Our membership, given the speed and success of our expansion initiatives, I think it’s open to having the discussions with both Pittsburgh and Syracuse about them having an early departure. So we haven’t actually had those conversations yet, but our membership is certainly willing to do that at this point given where we’ve landed.”

But now the Big East is changing its tune, maybe only to force a higher price tag on actually leaving. Syracuse has $17 million dollars per year waiting at the other end of the rainbow, and two more seasons of being uncomfortable enemies of the conference makes little sense. The question is how much would litigation cost? Gross has not completely shut off the possibility of joining the lawsuit.

“We’ve been trying to resolve the issue of conference transition with the Big East. We’d like to avoid litigation, but we’re keeping all of our options open.”

West Virginia sued to leave this summer. Pitt and Syracuse had assumed they would skip out next summer, but litigation seems to be an uneasy final destination. Wrangling in the courts is just a dog-and-pony show, however. It didn’t stop  WVU from bolting when it wanted to, and it won’t stop Pittsburgh either. With Boise State turning into another TCU before our eyes, Syracuse should want out ASAP as well. The Broncos have until June 30th to make its decision. If Boise State decides to bail, then the Big East might try to hold onto SU and Pitt until ’14 even tighter.

Of course, interim commissioner Joe Bailey has shown the same delusion as his predecessor. His knowledge of the Broncos’ intentions sounds like he’s whistling past the graveyard – which is exactly what the Big East is right now, a burial ground of everything the conference once was.

“Well, my sense is that unless you hear differently, I think that there’s full commitment from their standpoint”

In other words Syracuse: get out now. Bailey hasn’t offered much information on whether he’s open to Syracuse and Pittsburgh fleeing a year from now, but Pitt’s lawsuit speaks volumes. But Bailey and the Big East have no intention to stay together long term. While Syracuse has played its departure diplomatically, it may be time to ruffle some feathers. The Orange should think about joining Pitt’s battle to leave next year, because there’s simply no reason to be stuck in this clusterfork for two more seasons.

Posted: Kevin Fitzgerald

How does this effect Syracuse? Let’s put aside this suddenly sticky timeframe for a moment (rumors abound the Big East will not let the Orange depart in ’13 as originally assumed) and look at the conference when SU finally lands there.

• Stability

No matter if FSU stays or not, the ACC is still a better ship to be on than the Titanic of the Big East. A new commissioner, an unknown broadcast deal, a league with teams in California, Texas and Idaho. Plus, bitterly divided sides between private Catholic basketball schools and public football-playing ones? No thanks. The ACC without Florida State and Miami is still better than a Big East with Houston and San Diego State. 

• Similarities

Florida State’s biggest gripe is that the conference is tilted toward North Carolina and Duke. Honestly, that’s fine by Syracuse. SU has much more in common with academically respected basketball institutions than enormous sprawling in-state football ones. While one of the huge benefits of the ACC move is to sit at the adults’ table for football, SU’s most powerful athletic brand is obviously hoops (which is comparable to most schools in the ACC). It works well to be surrounded by presidents who want to keep basketball a priority, and joining a league on Tobacco Road is a safe bet.

• Money

Look, FSU can scoff at the cash and chase dollars in the Midwest, but Syracuse wasn’t seeing anything close to this in the Big East. What football conference with Navy, SMU and Memphis is going to land a $3.6 billion deal? While it may not be a significant bump for the existing members of the ACC, it’s an enormous leap for Syracuse and Pitt. Here’s the concerns from Dan Wetzel’s story at Yahoo! Sports:

“The reality was bad, however. The initial bump in television revenue is actually just over $1 million a year, sources said, and a total in the $12 million range next season. The deal is back loaded so the bigger money comes in escalator provisions that, considering how broadcast rights keep growing, probably will be below market by the time any sizeable gains are realized. That additional $4 million per school, per year? That won’t come until 2021, nine years in, sources said. Privately, almost everyone was troubled by the deal.”

This is a Florida State problem, not a Syracuse one. Signing that long a contract does seem silly. How do we know how the football pie will have grown in 2022? One would imagine with the new playoff system TV rights will be even more valuable a decade from now. But ultimately, if you have an issue with $17M a year and you are claiming you’re still losing money then you might want to cut down on the golf outings and Christmas bonuses.

So FSU is trying to say the ACC won’t let it sell its own third-tier games. For the record, ESPN has kept open the possibility of the ACC Network down the road for that exact situation – which would be worth more to each school. But apparently, the ‘Noles could just be flat lying to drum up support.

“The ACC later said Haggard was incorrect and third-tier basketball rights are not maintained by schools. And no one has any idea what FSU could get from some of its weaker football games.Many in the league are wondering how much Haggard himself came up with the third-tier conspiracy, what he thinks is in the deal or why he believes it even matters so much. It seems like a ploy to drum up fan support for a bold switch. Nothing rallies boosters like the idea of Coach K bullying someone into action, even if it isn’t true. Whatever bias there may or may not be, few think it’s enough to leave the league.”

I got no quarrel with a school looking for its best destination because of the bottom line. That’s exactly what Syracuse did. But for crying out loud, now you’re just going to push some panhandle bubba in front of the fans and start obvious lies to create unrest? Stay classy Florida State. Like the chick who won’t stop talking about her boyfriend problems on Facebook, it feels like FSU is just trying to create drama for attention before the ACC meetings.

Oh, we can’t compete with the SEC schools around us anymore. 

Aw, look at how much money Texas is making. 

Boo hoo, we lost money last year. 

Well, who’s f***king fault is that you Nole nimrods? One of the biggest reasons the ACC didn’t get more money for the conference deal is because the supposed power of the league hasn’t done jack squat in 15 years. Where’s all the national titles FSU is playing for? Where’s all the epic Seminole-Hurricane clashes these days? I mean, if you can’t even win the flipping ACC, how can you be complaining about needing better competition?

Fact is, you let good ol’ Bobby Bowden hang around too dadgummit long and the football program rotted into a .500 mess. Jimbo Fisher might have it primed again for some big things. But how can FSU look anyone in the face and complain about its football competition? The last time the Noles won the ACC was seven years ago with an imposing 8-5 record. The last time the program had less than three losses was in 2000. The first Seminole taken in this year’s draft was in the 4th round. Let’s have some self awareness FSU. 

So yeah, I’d like to see the southern fried math on this one. Add the potential slight bump in TV money for a new Big 12. Then subtract the cost of your non-revenue teams having to fly to Kansas and Oklahoma for a chunk of games. Then subtract the costs of flying into major hubs like Ames, IA and Lubbock, TX instead of Boston and Charlotte for some longer trips. Then subtract the potential of playing in the Big 12 title game or getting a playoff bid because Texas and Oklahoma will stomp you into oblivion the same way Clemson and Virginia Tech have been doing. Then decide if the overall interest and relevance of your games will really increase when you play Kansas State, Iowa State, West Virginia and Baylor versus your longtime ACC rivals.

What’s the final number there, goobers?

Posted: D.A.

News Observer

Unfortunately The Fizz predicted this, but it didn’t make SU’s early postseason exit at the hands of Duke 12-9 Saturday any easier to watch. Syracuse was out-played for the last time this season, getting out-hustled after bringing the fight to both Villanova and St. John’s just to make the NCAAs.

The game was a mirror image of the up-and-down regular season. After letting up a slew of early goals, Syracuse clawed back to tie it at 5 by the beginning of the second half. As quickly as that momentum appeared, it evaporated. Duke responded by scoring 4 straight to take a 9-5 lead as part of a Dookie-dominant third quarter. From there, SU made stupid mistakes and continually turned the ball over to a Blue Devils offense that caught fire.

Like much of the season, Syracuse faced-off like a middle school team, winning just 7-of-24 at X. The worst part about this pathetic performance is that Duke didn’t even use star C.J. Costabile for all of the face-offs. Syracuse had chances against Brendan Fowler for most of the game, who still managed to take 12 of his 17 attempts.

The last time Syracuse played Duke, the score was nearly identical (12-10), but SU at least held up on the defensive end. On Saturday, the zone defense that worked well in the Big East tournament was clowned repeatedly by Duke attacker Christian Walsh and midfielders Justin Turri and Robert Rotanz – each of whom had hat tricks. The defense was slow and left open scoring lanes all afternoon, which Duke took advantage.

When Syracuse did have chances on offense it squandered them with poor shot placement. At one point in the first half, SU was operating at 7% offensive efficiency. By the end of the game, the Orange netted just 25% of their shots.

Syracuse’s EMO unit was also pitiful. SU had 3 early chances to score with a man-advantage in the first half and failed to capitalize on all of them. Duke’s EMO wasn’t any better (both went 1-for-4), so this was an area Syracuse could have exploited.

This season’s theme was centered around rebounding from the Orange’s loss of some of the best talent in program history. While SU went down swinging, it will lose more top end talent going into next year. Tommy Palasek and Tim Desko have both worn the Orange jersey for the last time. Now, the ‘Cuse has to hope it’s battle-tested underclassmen can rise to the occasion. 

A disappointing campaign comes to an abrupt end, which brings back all of the old nagging questions The Fizz asked during the season. Is SU getting lazy on the recruiting trail? Why cant the Orange win face-offs? Does Syracuse find itself at odds with the rest of the lax world? SU Lax leaves Orange Nation to pack up the pinnies without much in the way of answers.

Posted: Jake Moskowitz

High School Football Huddle

Doug Marrone had never offered a sophomore quarterback until February. Now he’s done in twice in just ten weeks. In February it was Ohio signal-caller DeShone Kizer, today it’s Pennsylvania’s A.J. Long.

The super soph of Bangor, PA received his second college offer from the Orange, the first coming from UCLA. Long sent a text message to ESPN.com to confirm the offer. Long finished up his second season at Pius X High School with some astounding numbers through the air: 3,700 yards and 46 touchdown passes.

But that’s just the beginning. He can sling it down the sideline or get it done on the ground. Long rushed for 931 yards and reached the end zone 17 times. If you’re counting he accounted for an eye-popping 63 touchdowns last season. While Kizer stands at 6’5″ 205 lbs., Long is about 6’0″ 170 lbs. Then again, only heading into his junior year there is plenty of growth left for him.

The sales job for both sophomore recruits is simple for SU: opportunity. In two years both will presumably have a chance to compete immediately to be the starter. Ryan Nassib, Charley Loeb, and John Kinder will have all graduated by ’14. That leaves Terrel Hunt and “The Syracuse Slash” Ashton Broyld competing for the position. While Broyld has definitely brought excitement to campus, neither one is a long-term lock at starter.

Broyld undoubtedly brings a gifted versatility, but maybe his position is at wideout or Wildcat quarterback. Hunt’s maturity came into question because of his arrest this past January. The bottom line is Syracuse has no certainties at the position.

With Broyld, Hunt, Kizer and Long we see a bit of a pattern. Marrone is looking for QBs who can widen the playbook, and make things happen athletically. One of Marrone’s biggest goals for spring practice was finding more impact plays on the offensive end. All four quarterbacks provide this potential.

Syracuse is once again banking on the equity built up by being one of the first to offer a top prospect. UCLA is already in on Long, and one would imagine other top offers will follow in his final two seasons at Pius X. The Orange have to hope being among the earliest tops being among the best.

Long also has played in big games already in his young career, as Pius X is a powerhouse and has made repeated state title runs. Get ready for a new era of SU football where offering players as young as sophomores becomes the norm, and that starts at the much-needed quarterback spot.

Posted: Brendan Glasheen

NJ.com

The remarkable about-face Syracuse pulled off in the Big East Tournament is enough to make anyone reconsider the Orange potential to win it all. Just a few short weeks ago, we debated whether SU would have a postseason at all on Fizz Radio. Now, The Fizz’s Lacrosse Insiders – Andrew Kanell, play-by-play voice for WAER and The Fizz’s lax beat writer Jake Moskowitz – take their best crack at just how far a re-energized Orange group can go.

• Kanell: Hopkins over Syracuse in the Final Four

It may not be the draw Syracuse itself could have even expected, but it still gives SU a navigable road to a potential 26th Final Four appearance. The players I spoke with all expressed a feeling of surprise, but also excitement, to battle the Blue Devils in a rematch. 

This group is confident it can compete with Duke, or for that matter any team in the nation. The Orange was outlasted 12-10 by John Danowski’s squad on April Fool’s Day, but the game still served as a turning point for SU. The team had issues with effort and hustle up until the Big City Classic, but against the Blue Devils finally appeared to play with a winning spirit. The offense just couldn’t find the cage down the stretch.

Late-game problems have disappeared for Syracuse in the meantime, along with its faceoff and man-up difficulties. As a 3-seed, Duke received a raw deal having to face Syracuse in the first-round of the tournament. The momentum SU has is palpable, and the Orange will head down to Durham and grab an upset victory. 

It’s tough to get much of a handle on UMass, which enters the tourney undefeated, but without any wins against teams in the field of 16. The Minutemen will stand strong at Garber Field (traditionally a brutal place to play) against Colgate, and move on the face the Orange in the quarterfinals. That will be UMass’s toughest test of the season, and Syracuse’s natural talent and athleticism will be too much for the untested Minutemen to contain. The Orange will head back to the Final Four. 

That sets up a potential rematch against Johns Hopkins at Gillette Stadium. The Blue Jays were easily SU’s most impressive opponent to watch in-person. They can get up and down the field with Syracuse, and the Jays play terrific defense. Hopkins will end SU’s postseason run.

• Mosk: Duke over Syracuse in First Round

SU has impressed everyone with its tremendous turnaround to win the Big East Tourney. However, those were wins over Villanova and St. Johns. Even if both victories were dominant, there is an entire echelon between the best game Villanova can play and an average showing from an elite team like Hopkins, or in this case, Duke. 

The Blue Devils present the stiffest test of any team in the field for SU. Unfortunately, that test is also the first. Duke has elite talent on every line. Starting with the face-off X, C.J. Costabile has mastered the art of using the longpole to win possession. It will be tough for even a red-hot Ricky Buhr or Brian Megill to best him at the X. From there, Duke sports one of the best single-threat attackers in the nation in Jordan Wolf. JW is Coach John Danowski’s go-to attacker, and Wolf will give freshman-goalie Bobby Wardwell plenty of tough shots to stop.

Since Duke will likely win the possession battle (barring a freak injury to Costabile), the Blue Devils will have the ball on offense constantly. The tuned-up Orange scorers will be waiting for feeds they’ll seldom get. SU’s defense will hold out, playing inspired lacrosse for 45 minutes, but fatigue will beat Megill & Co in the 4th, giving the Dookies a late win.

With question marks everywhere to begin the year, and needing a late surge in the Big East Tournament, just making the NCAAs is an accomplishment for SU. That said, high expectations set by program make it hard not to be disappointed with anything short of a Final Four. Desko’s squad doesn’t have the raw talent to bring back a 12th championship this year, but it does have a quickly maturing group complimented by a few top end recruits that will claw at the title for the next few seasons.

Posted: Jake Moskowitz

Even when the Big East exponentially disintegrated in the months following the announcement, there were still a few stragglers who rued SU’s departure – a loyal minority who wanted SU to save the conference it once founded. But now, even the most ardent Big East traditionalists have to admit Darryl Gross and the Orange decision-makers were correct in abandoning a sinking ship.

By the looks of it, SU hopped straight from the Titanic to a Carnival cruise, then struck a deal to stay onboard the vessel through 2027. The official news came down yesterday that the ACC and ESPN have extended their television contract for another 15 years. But this wasn’t a stroke of luck for Syracuse. It’s the whole reason the school joined in the first place.

The move to the ACC was always about money, and this television agreement assures Syracuse that it will indeed ring the cash register. The new deal is work $3.6 billion, or an average of about $17.1 million annually per school. That’s unheard of green for the Big East. There also is a provision allowing for renegotiation every five years, in case it looks beneficial to start the ACC Network, just like the B1G has.

Compare the ACC’s lucrative 15-year pact to the Big East’s situation. Its current deal with ESPN will expire after next season. After turning down respectable proposals from ESPN in the past, the Big East will sit down at the bargaining table stripped of its core identity, and bring a strange mash-up of Northeast basketball schools and far-flung football ones. The league will attempt to start a bidding war between Fox, NBC, CBS, and ESPN. But in all likelihood, the Big East will find a TV contract worth cents on the dollar in comparison to the other BCS conferences.

And that’s in large part due to the wonderful work of Mike Tranghese and “The Electrician” John Marinatto, whose treacherous run atop the Big East finally came to an end this week. His parting words were ironically illogical.

“Our recent expansion efforts have stabilized the conference for the long term, and we are likewise well positioned for our very important upcoming television negotiations. As a result, I felt this was the right time to step aside and to let someone else lead us through the next chapter of our evolution.”

Those comments sit somewhere between stubbornness and obliviousness. The league is remarkably unstable, trying to find common ground between Seton Hall and San Diego State. There is still a grouping of northern basketball-only schools sharing time with large state institutions from Texas and Florida. UConn and Rutgers have been clawing at the walls to get out, and will jump at any opportunity to join the B1G, Big 12 or ACC. Now the conference will have its third leader in just a few years trying to salvage TV money in an ever-changing college football worlds. Stabilized, huh? Marinatto was essentially forced into his resignation, and his words sound delusional and ignorant.

In a few days’ span, the Big East overthrew its clueless leader, and the ACC cashed in with a huge TV deal. The evidence continues to show that Syracuse moved wisely back in September.

Posted: Andrew Kanell

Here’s who/what the NCAA’s enforcement staff is looking at:

• Everett High School

Nerlens grew up in Everett, spent his first two years of high school there, then decided to transfer and play basketball at the posh Tilton Academy in New Hampshire. Everett’s principal, Louis Baldi, said the meeting lasted over an hour and centered on “concerns we had as adults” for Noel. “He said the conversation was similar to one he had with a reporter in February about Noel’s background and the people surrounding him.” That would be for the expose the Times ran on Noel’s shady recruitment. Back in March Baldi had this haunting statement:

Baldi said he was “extremely concerned” about Noel, and said that his recruitment reminded him of a boxer with a teeming entourage in his heyday who might find himself penniless upon retirement. “I pray it works out for him and that the light turns on in his head,” Baldi said of Noel. “I pray it’s not too late.”

The Everett community was always bitter its homegrown star left for the gleaming private school hours away. Wouldn’t be surprised if this is where some major leakage came from.

• Leo Papile, Noel’s old coach with Boston Amateur Basketball Club

The NCAA staffers were unable to get ahold of Papile (at least for now). Which is probably a good thing for Noel. When asked about Noel’s handler, the ultra-shady Chris Driscoll, Papile said in the original Times story:

“He’s a great disappointment to me. I thought he had wanted to be a coach, but it appears that his primary object was to be a handler. He’s not a teacher, he’s not a coach. Bluntly, you’re dealing with the worst guy I’ve ever known in this game.”

If there’s anyone willing to really dish dirt on Driscoll it would probably be Papile. All along he seemed to be one of the precious few with Noel’s best interests at heart, and was crushed when N2 followed Driscoll. Papile appears to absolutely despise Driscoll (and who wouldn’t?). This could be huge if Papile gets involved.

• Errol Randolph, Everertt High Substitute Teacher

Just so happens Randolph is one of Noel’s advisors and seems to have a direct connection to a sports agency. Oy.

“Randolph had a link on his LinkedIn page directing people to the Web site of the sports agency run by the prominent basketball agent Andy Miller. The link to Miller’s ASM Sports Web site has since been removed.

Randolph said that he had no formal affiliation with Miller and had never received money from him, and that the Web site ended up on his LinkedIn page because he was browsing it. Randolph said he knew Miller from another relationship more than 10 years ago.”

Whoops! Funny how that happens, huh? Can’t believe I had that link up to on my LinkedIn page. Better take it down when the NCAA comes knocking. This much we know, Team Noel is not the sharpest fades in the barber shop.

• Nerlens’ finances

The NCAA is looking at how N2 funded his trips to Louisville and Kentucky last year. Neither trip was paid for by the schools. Will this come back on UK or will it all land at the feet of Noel’s handlers? It triggers an interesting quote from the Times original piece.

Tilton’s headmaster Jim Clements said the school had had extensive discussions with Noel and his mother about the difference between official and unofficial visits and how to “not engage in behavior that would create a violation” of N.C.A.A. rules. “I don’t think his primary focus is a student’s well-being,” Tilton coach Marcus O’Neil said of Driscoll.

Tilton was aware pretty quickly sketchy stuff was happening with its prized hoops star, and started trying to limit the collateral damage back then. Eventually Tilton got so spooked by the whole Noel situation they barred the next guy from their campus altogether…

• Chris Driscoll, Mr. Shady

This guy keeps popping up as the definition of awful. Papile called Driscoll “the worst guy I’ve ever known in this game” (which is pretty bad when you consider the AAU circuit as a whole). Driscoll latched onto Noel early, knowing he would be his ticket to the big time. He was hired then fired as an assistant at Providence. Some of the background on Mr. Shady:

Laurel Cannon, the mother of guard Gerard Coleman, called Providence administrators and claimed that her son was asked by Driscoll to fake an injury in order to lose games. The reason he asked, Cannon told Providence administrators, was so Coach Keno Davis would be fired and Driscoll could take over. “No one wants someone to see their child used as a product; no one does,” Cannon said. “He had us fooled. He really had us fooled.”

Tilton Coach O’Neill: “He told me that he thought he was going to be the next coach at Providence College and that I could be his assistant. All I had to do was help him to get Nerlens Noel to commit to Providence College. ‘Nerlens is my last chance,’ O’Neil recalled Driscoll saying. ‘I need to score, and I need to score big.’”

Former Iowa State star Will Blaylock: “Driscoll instructed him to call the athletic director, Bruce Van De Velde, and say he would attend another university unless Iowa State hired the assistant Wayne Morgan as Eustachy’s replacement.”

It’s a rogue’s gallery of handlers surrounding Noel’s recruitment. You know how the NCAA works. The association has no “investigative team.” It sits around playing Angry Birds all day, then waits until the Times or Yahoo! breaks news. The NCAA then snaps into action months later, making phone calls and taking some business trips. The danger is, once the NCAA starts asking questions, it gets answers it doesn’t want to hear. It’s then forced to act on this information.

Will it get enough to nail Kentucky to a cross? Probably not. Hell, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Anthony Davis’ dad was shopping him to the highest bidder. Davis played without incident at UK, and ended up cutting down the nets. But Noel does seem to have an enormous amount of smoke around him, maybe more than any other high-profile recruit of the last decade or so. And depending on his level of involvement with Mr. Shady, it certainly can’t help Noel’s eligibility. After dealing with Bernie Fine, Fab Melo and the drug reports, it’s not a bad thing the NCAA inquisition won’t land at the door of SU to ask about Noel. I’m sure overzealous Wildcat fans will storm this comments section and start calling it sour grapes. Whatever. You get the feeling we’re just peeling back the first layers of this onion – and it’s gonna make someone cry.

Posted: D.A.