Does the shoe fit?

So Rose's interest in Indiana is because of Gordon even though Rose has no interest in the actual school Gordon is committed to (Illinois)?? Yeah, that makes sense.

Also, did the sun times bother to ask why derrick is never allowed to talk to the media even though he is more than capable and the last time he did which was a month or so ago he indicated memphis and Illinois were his leaders.

Also, by asking the depaul head coach his thoughts on the matter there is an obvious conflict of interest considering his school is one of the five on Rose's list.

Roman responds: It's an interesting question about Derrick not talking to the media. I assume it's because it can be overwhelming for a young man in Derrick's position to have to deal with such intense media scrutiny. I wouldn't be surprised if it happened more often. Former Simeon coach Bob Hambric never let his kids talk to the media. And how is it a conflict of interest to talk to a coach whose school is on the list? The influence of shoe companies is a subject any coach can address. And Mike tried to talk to Bruce about it, but he politely declined. Coaches, as you know, can't talk about recruits until they sign, so it's a tricky subject.

A few things.

Sonny Vaccaro works for Reebok which is owned by Adidas. Sonny also states that there is no link between Derrick and Adidas, but how would he know this if he doesn't work for Adidas?!?

Also, I'd like to know what kind of shoe deal Mean Streets Express (Derrick's AAU team) is getting next year and who is the coach of that team?

I can answer those for you. Adidas and Reggie Rose respectively. Your article fails to mention those key aspects.

Interesting that Weber wouldn't talk to Mike O'Brien, but would talk to Illini shills Loren Tate and Mark Tupper. Sounds like Weber will only speak to people when he's assured of positive coverage. It's amazing that with each big recruiting loss. Weber always has an excuse ready. Will be very interesting to see how he does once all of Bill Self's recruits graduate.

Mr. Vaccaro seems to claim on the one hand he's not involved, but on the other he knows an awful lot about Derrick Rose's interest in UCLA and what Rose is looking for in a team. He's talking out of both sides of his mouth. For him to pretend he doesn't know what Adidas is doing strains credibility. Reebok is owned by Adidas.

Also, Eric Gordon was quoted in the Peoria paper today as still being solidly committed to Illinois. Mr. Vaccaro's comments about Gordon and Indiana was obviously a dig at Illinois without any basis in fact.

Just a thought...For someone not involved in the process, Vaccaro sure seems to know an awful lot of the little details regarding Rose's recruitment - especially considering the Roses have kept everything so close to the vest with respect to the media.

Did anyone really expect Sonny Vaccaro or Jerry Wainwright to come out and say, "Oh, sure, kids choose all the time based on what shoe company offers them the best deal"? Yeah, there's a good way to get yourself fired or investigated real quick.

The simple fact is that we won't know for sure what the situation is for at least a year (when Derrick goes pro and signs his first shoe contract). Who thinks that contract MIGHT be with Adidas?

Looking at the recruitment of players who have "handlers" tends to reveal a fairly consistent theme, that there are always questions raised about the recruitment of those athletes. Derrick says he likes Illinois, Reggie says he's not interested. I didn't realize a high school senior was incapable of coherent thoughts on his own. Good thing Reggie is looking out for Derrick's best interests. I wonder what kind of job Reggie will have next year...

The simple fact is that usually, where there's smoke, there's fire. Just because no one admits there's fire doesn't mean it isn't there. Just ask Michigan about it's '92-'93 title game appearances...

Many posters made rational arguments and observations, so I took it down for a day to have the arguments addressed in the paper.

It's back, and many of the original posts also will be back.

Uh, where is it? It certainly isn't on your home page.

Roman responds: I've put the original posts back up. The essence of the original entry is in this entry.

"Weber's Nike connection hasn't hurt him with other recruits. Gordon has played with Adidas or Reebok teams, and St. Joseph guard Demetri McCamey, who recently committed to Illinois, always has played for Reebok teams."

In writing this you are assuming that every high school recruit gets paid by shoe companies. Even if McCamey and Gordon were untouched by the shoe companies it doesn't contribute anything to the Rose discussion.

Keep in mind that the school a high school player chooses is usually the end goal of exposure that the shoe companies are looking for. Teams and players can play in Adidas tourneys in high school and end up at Nike colleges. If the player was paid off then all that really matters is $ and not past allegiances.

Michael, dig a little deeper, ask the right questions and you'll find the fire.

Weber will take Illinois basketball down the same toilet as Turner did after the Sugar Bowl.

He is a one season wonder who made the most out of another coaches players.

The guy can't relate to today's kids or even their parents.

But the fault rests with Guenther who found something in this guy but I don't know what. Matta was available at the time. Remember him? So were others. Matta has only be come the best recruiter in the conference if not one of the best in the U.S.

I'll believe Gordon signing with Illinois when I actually see it. The kid can't be happy that he'll be the only pure talent in his recruiting class. Two years removed from the Final Four and only ONE top 25 recruit. Heck even Turner spurned him for Matta.

Yep. If I was an Illini fan I'd be sweating til LOI day and chances are it'll be a bad bad day for Illinois basketball.

This shoe company stuff has been known for several months now. It's not a "conspiracy theory". A lot of Illini fans chose not to believe it. You guys will try to put a negative spin on this for Illinois, but all these "rumors" of shady dealings with the shoe companies has been known about since June.

I'll say it - I'll give Roman what he wants.

Illinois and Bruce Weber don't need the highest profile players in the Chicago Public League. It's the biggest cesspool in all of amateur athletics. Yet, the media in Chicago rarely even hint on that fact.

Why would any college basketball program that has other options recruit the cesspool of the high flyers in the CPL?

The biggest state of concern (now that you've changed your headline) is that Illinois and Bruce Weber are too involved with the high profile CPL players. They'd be doing themself a favor if they told these guys and their helps to jump in the lake.

Oh, by the way, trying to recruit primarly Chicago players has been done. His name was Pat Kennedy. It was a complete disaster. This is what really ticks off those people like Roman. Their response is to rip on Illinois because Illinois does it their way and not the Chicago way.

First of all responding to what I've read in the blog is that linking Reggie Rose with Sonny Vacarro has nothing to due with adidas when Vacarro is affiliated with Reebok. Also Meanstreets Express and the Simeon Wolverines are outfitted by Nike. Just by doing my research I honestly feel that the schools on Rose's list know how to recruit while Bruce Webber has consistenly shown that he can not close the deal. His success at Illinois were Bill Self's recruits. He lost Shaun Livingston to Duke before declaring for the NBA draft in 2004, Julian Wright to Kansas in 2005 and Sherron Collins plus Jon Scheyer (from his own brother!) in 2006 to Kansas and Duke again. The bottom line is he can't bag All-Americans. At this point even Gordon is not officially promised to sign with Illinois and might just end up being the reality check. I'm not suprised seeing that the only All-Americans at Purdue during his tenure were Troy Lewis, Melvin McCants, Cuonzo Martin(2nd tier All-Americans) a nd Glenn Robinson their only raw natural talent. Webber is trying to mock that success not realizing it's a different era and ballgame and is going to eventually cost him his job when Illinois find themselves at the bottom of the Big Ten standings. Rose is a once in a lifetime talent that Illinois can't afford to let slip away particularly in this day and time when High school ballplayas need one year of college in order to declare themselves eligible for the NBA draft.

Bruce Weber is a very poor recruiter. He does not have a good personality and his assistant coaches aren't very good, either. He was able to win with Bill Self's recruits but he has been horrible at recruiting the best players in Illinois. Bottom line, Ron Guenther will regret raising and extending Weber's contract.

Do the math, if half the teams in the country are sponsored by Shoe Company A and half by Shoe Company N, the odds of all 7 teams on a players list of prospective teams being from Shoe Company A are 1 in 128. Less than 1% chance in that, amazing isn't it?

There seems to be a lot of jealousy over losing a top 5 recruit. Conspiracy theories abound. DePaul is a hometown school, Kansas is a top 10 program under Bill Self, UCLA made the Finals under Ben Howland, Memphis made the Elite Eight under John Calipari, and Indiana just hired Kelvin Sampson.

I thought the role of a good interview was to ask penetrating questions, like why are you dramatically changing your list when Illinois was near the top several weeks ago. Why are you adding more to your list? What happened to Memphis? Just soaking up Reggie's list hardly qualifies as good journalism.

gee, weber sure is in trouble, right? the guy just continues to win year after year and get the most out of his players. he also is going to sign arguably the best recruit in the country.

Do a little research to see what brand of shoes each of the Top 5 wear. Then do a little more to find out what shoes his dream school (UNC) and his home school (Illinois) wear.

Any other questions?

--

Bruce Weber is to honest too be a good college recruiter.

If Illinois was an Adidas school, they would be on Reggie Rose's, er..I mean Derrick Rose's list. Plain and simple as that. You guys don't have the guts to try to expose the real details of this situation, you only let yourselves be a mouth-piece for Reggie Rose. Weber didn't wear the right type of shoes to win this recruiting battle.

You can spin this story as Weber losing another top in-state recruit. But short of Coach Weber getting the University of Illinois to switch from being a Nike sponsored school to an Addidas sponsored school, which is not going to happen, Illinois had no shot at landing Rose.

So your premise is misguided. And if Eric Gordon indeeds signs with Illinois this November, I hope there is a positive story in your paper about Weber landing the #1 player in the country. I'd call that an accomplishment.

No, Bruce is not in trouble. Simple is as simple does.

No, Bruce is not in trouble. Simple is as simple does.

Did you notice that all 5 schools are adidas schools.

Why would anybody be worried or shocked. Only the uninformed. BW has been going after guys to fill a wing/combo forward need. He has know the otucome for some time. Don't make it it sound dramatic when the drama was gone 3 months ago.

No surprise to me. Derrick will miss out on playing for a great coach. His loss.

Weber got a commit from an excellent point guard in Demetri McCamey back in June. Why are the five schools on the list all Adida's affiliated?

How can a coach who has taken his team to a National Championship game, won two B10 titles in 3 years and has a 85% winning percentage be considered "in trouble"? Did I mention he has a committment from the top '07 prep player?

Roman - Did you happen to notice that all 7 schools listed by Reggie Rose on behalf of Derrick are Adidas schools and Illinois is a Nike school?

How did both Illinois and North Carolina (also a Nike school) get eliminated?

How about some investigative reporting on shoe company influence on college recruiting?

Sonny is clearly full of it, and you bought it.

If, as Sonny says, Derrick Rose has suddenly become interested in UCLA because he "wants to play with the best center," than why in heaven's name are the other four teams on his list? None of them have a particularly notable center on their rosters.

According to the Saturday, August 26, 2006 article in the Chicago Sun-Times, point guard Derrick Rose’s brother Reggie had narrowed Derrick’s list to the following schools: DePaul, Indiana, Kansas, Memphis and UCLA. Many may have been stunned by the absence of the University of Illinois on this list. Don’t be fooled. Even though Derrick himself had named the Illini as one of the front runner’s in his recruitment, with Reggie driving this train wreck, the Illini didn’t have a fighting chance.

It is no coincidence that all of Reggie’s five choices for Derrick are Adidas affiliated men’s college basketball programs. Not one, I repeat, not one is a Nike school. Yes, and if you haven’t already guessed it, the University of Illinois is a Nike school. Reggie’s affiliation as a coach of Derrick’s Mean Street Express AAU basketball team most recently was affiliated with Nike. However, that affiliation appears to be in a state of flux.

Middlemen delivering recruits to certain Nike or Adidas affiliated men’s basketball programs is NOT news to the NCAA. According to an Op Ed piece in the New York Times “Cleaning Up College Basketball� published on September 5, 1998 and written by both the president and director of athletics at the University of Michigan, the Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany had “announced a proposal for major reforms in N.C.A.A. Division I men’s basketball, a sport that has witnessed far too many scandals involving recruiting and player behavior.� The Big Ten was ready to act on these issues at least EIGHT years ago. They were very aware of this growing problem.

Even the University of Michigan, who retained the services of the infamous fab five admitted that “many of college basketball’s problems - - and we’ve not been immune to some of them at Michigan -- stem from the vast amounts of cash poured into the sport by shoe and apparel companies, money that has drastically changed the way colleges recruit high-school age players.�

Nobody should be surprised that recruiting has been tainted for quite a while. The Big Ten realized that “a network of summer basketball camps bankrolled by shoe companies has taken over the recruiting process. Hoping to attract loyalties of players with star potential, the companies spend more than $5 million a year on these summer programs.� We fans have to stop kidding ourselves and crawl out from that rock we’ve been living under and realize that college basketball recruiting IS tainted by big business.

However, it is also not a secret that private coaches are financed by shoe companies. These coaches “favor certain players in their summer programs and control access to their star players. A pattern of behavior is established as early as junior high school in which players are wooed by agents, given free merchandise and treated to other benefits that are forbidden at the college level.� Gee, does this behavior sound eerily familiar to a current situation that the University of Illinois has witnessed. It should come as no surprise how Reggie Rose, a private AAU coach of Mean Streets Express that was most recently financed by Nike and soon to be financed by Adidas, has controlled his younger brother’s recruiting which includes Derrick’s very limited access to the media and college coaches as well as Reggie’s assertion of who HE picked for Derrick’s final cut.

Reggie has also been blowing smoke about Derrick skipping college altogether so perhaps none of Reggie’s final five will make the cut. It appears that somebody might be whispering delusions of grandeur into Reggie’s ear. According to the New York Times article “Skipping College, Skipping to Europe� (7/9/06), Reggie said that “the family had been contacted by several agents who had suggested sending him overseas to play basketball after he graduates next spring.�

Reggie even noted that Derrick could potentially “work out with a trainer for a year and get a sneaker contract to supplement his income.� He further stated that it would be difficult for Derrick “to turn down the money from a sneaker deal or an overseas contract.� It appears that by Reggie manipulating his younger, minor-aged brother, he was paving a path towards a new trend. ''Once one or two players nationally go that route, a big chain will follow,'' Reggie said of players' bypassing college. Not once in this article has Derrick been interviewed to ferret out his thoughts on the recruiting process.

It should also come as no surprise that the infamous Sonny Vaccaro was quoted right after Reggie’s comments. As we all know, Vaccaro, is a consultant for Reebok which is OWNED by Adidas. He is a veteran of the sneaker industry working for Nike, Adidas and now Reebok. Vaccaro indicated that “he had contacted seven top players with an idea of taking them on a barnstorming tour of Europe.� Do you think it is safe to speculate that one of these players might have actually been Derrick Rose? Even the Chicago Sun-Times noted that “it’s obvious Vaccaro has become a significant influence on Rose’s recruitment� (8/30/06). Yes, the same Vaccaro who has penned deals for Nike, Adidas, and Reebok throughout his shady career.

Adding fuel to the fire is how Derrick decided to skip the Nike All-America basketball camp in Indianapolis this past July at the LAST minute and decided to attend Vaccaro’s Reebok ABCD camp in Teaneck, N.J. instead (KUSports.com 7/10/2006) – even though Derrick’s AAU team was then affiliated with Nike. Yes, this all seems a little to close for comfort to me and just a tad dirty. It might be time to take a shower.

What is really confusing is somehow the Chicago Sun-Times can’t do its homework on this matter. Not only do they deny shoe company involvement in basketball recruiting which has been admitted to by the NCAA, they further somehow find fault with the Illini’s clean recruiting program. According to Michael O’Brien’s article “Don’t Blame Shoe Wars for Rose’s snub of Illini� (8/30/06), “Weber and Illinois simply aren't playing ‘the game’ the way their rivals are. They aren't building relationships with the club coaches the way Calipari and Self have. That's why Illinois isn't on Rose's list. It has nothing to do with shoe companies.� Yet, both Calipari and Self are on the Adidas side of this shoe war versus Illinois being on the Nike side. This is coupled with Vaccaro’s admitted involvement in this matter as a representative of Reebok also owned by Adidas. Is the Sun-Times unable to read between the lines or are they getting advertising dollars from Adidas, too? I guess if the Sun-Times, Reggie Rose, Sonny Vaccaro, Kansas, Memphis and others keep deluding themselves, they will continue to believe their own lies.

The sad things is a lot of Illinois fans, Big10 rival fans and the Sun Times media are clearly missing the boat on this. The real issue has nothing to do with Derrick Rose or Bruce Weber. The real issue is Sonny Vaccaro. This is not an isolated event. What's happening is that shoe companies are about to destroy college basketball in the name of greed and the NCAA doesn't have the stones to stop them. At some point, some REAL reporter will uncover the truth about the huge amount of cheating going on in recruiting and how it is tied to the shoe companies and people like Sonny Vaccaro. At that point the credibility of NCAA basketball will be gone and college basketball will be done. Sonny Vaccaro and people like him will move on to the NBDL or whereever they need to to make money. The only way to stop this stuff is to call and write companies like Addias and tell them you are no longer buying their products because of people like Sonny Vaccaro and their manipulation of high school recruits.

P.S. - Don't pretend like you employ real journalists at the Sun Times, you're coverage of this has been complete fluff.

You guys really didn't do your homework on this one, just looking for a chance to kick Weber when you perceive him to be down; but he has an excellent 2006 and 2007 recruiting class lined up and all he does is win. Why don't you write some more fluff pieces about Notre Dame, wow they won 9 games last year.

It's way past time for a MAJOR reform of college/universty athletics, especially those sports that generate a lot of income to
various parties which have a vested interest (mainly as income
to their bank accounts).
Who or what to undertake an endeavor which will have nearly
all vested-interest parties screaming bloody murder, you can't do this, etc., etc? Any
employee of a college/university
athletic department, or of the
president's office is automatically barred from taking the job. Employees of college/
university academic endeavors,
who have sat by for years watching their academic programs
be eclipsed by sports programs,
probably should be eligible for
this task, especially because the real reason colleges and universities exist is to educate
students enrolled in their academic programs (I know this
will come as a surprise to many
readers!). The second entity which has a vested interest in
athletic department reform is the NCAA which, incidentally, is
currently headed by Bob Knight's
former boss at Indiana U., Miles
Brand). A third entity with MUCH
at stake is the athletic shoe
industry, because it is their $$
which are fueling this mad enterprise to find, train, and
parcel out young basketball,
football, baseball, and other
sports participants to favored
college/university athletic programs. The three entities
(college/university academics,
NCAA and sports gear manufact-
urers) should somehow find a
way to form a coalition to develop a meaningful and fair
college/university sports program reform package and then
work very hard to sell it to all
who have a vested interest in
college/university athletics. Because if the "industry" cannot
govern itself, a very intrusive
U.S. Congress will have absolutely no problem adding
this to it's agenda. Just look to see what the Congress has involved itself with regarding
major league baseball.

Roman,

Nobody can argue with a straight face that this coverage has been fair or detailed. Consider the following:

1. Insiders on this recruitment have been mentioning for months that a shoe deal was a significant consideration. Then, as a matter of pure coincidence, all of Rose's schools are from Reebok/Addidas? Hmmmmmm.

2. Facts: Derrick visited Illinois several times, attended Illinois' midnight madness, regularly corresponded with Illini coaches for two years, is good friends with Illinois' top recruit, and, just two months ago, said in a public interview that Illinois and Memphis were his two favorites. Then, out of the blue, Derrick is locked away, Reggie does all the talking, and Illinois is completely out of the picture? Hmmmm. Strike anyone as odd?

3. Derrick is a point guard and has said repeatedly that style of play is very important to him and he wants to play in a motion offense. Weber's three-guard offense and motion is perfectly suited for him, and Derrick knew this. Why then, would he remove Illinois for the list? He is suddenly "not interested?" Why? What would cause such a drastic change of heart?

These are questions responsible journalists are supposed to answer. You absolutely cannot take at face value answers from a "handler" like Reggie and a Vaccaro - who works in the very industry mixed up in all of this!

Rather than slanting the stories as something Illinois did wrong, why not focus on Rose? How did he make his decision? Why the late, sudden changes? What went on behind the scenes in the recruitment?

Roman responds: It's hard to fault a guy's brother for helping him through this process, isn't it? I didn't say Illinois did anything wrong. It just seems like the Illini struggle landing the top in-state talent.

It seems to me that everyone is getting on the case of a HIGH SCHOOL KID for choosing a college. I can understand that the Illini have had a hard time getting in state recruits, but that happens to schools all over the country. And to get on the case of someone who is a kid and not an adult is ridiculous. He does have Depaul on his list, and that is his HOMETOWN school. And last I checked this is the CHICAGO Suntimes. And I believe that U of I is in Champaign, right? And the Illini have still gotten some top notch recruits, so to dwell on one guy is pointless. He may be a talent, but Bruce Weber promotes a team aspect to the game. So let him be, because he is going to go where he wants, and nothing will change, and who knows, he could be playing in our own backyard.

My letter was one of the ones published by the Sun-Times. I'm not concerned for Weber's job safety. I know that is secure. I also believe some criticism (of Weber) for missing out on many of his top targets is fair. However, in this case, the evidence is compelling, if not overwhelming, that shoe companies can, and do, influence some of these recruits. I just thought the article lacked curiousness, and found Vaccaro, the most notorious "shoe deal" guy there is a conspicuous and dubious primary source.

He'll be in the NBA after one year, so let the other schools have him. The Illini don't need this distraction, anyway.

College coaches are recruiting younger and younger players...why is it so hard to believe that shoe companies aren't doing the same? I think they target the top 5-10 players each year and try to lock them up...invest in their potential. This is HUGE business, folks. Wouldn't it make good business sense for Adidas to agree to supplement the Rose family income now if they can get an agreement that they have the rights to sign Derrick to Adidas in the future. Hard for Reggie to recommend to the family that they pass that up...what if Derrick gets hurt, etc... Derrick may want to go to Illinois or Montana or where ever, but if he can help provide a little bit for his family now and all he has to do is go to an Adidas school and sign a multi-million dollar shoe deal when the time comes, hard to pass that up. Bob Sakamoto, Loren Tate, and others are the ones stirring the fire with their comments that it is no surprise Illinois is not on the list since a deal was cut with Adidas awhile ago. That smells like smoke to me. I wish an investigative reporter would do a little digging on that. Interviewing Vacarro to get his denial may become interesting once the truth is determined.

Roman,

In all your columns, writings and bloggings, you and Michael O’Brien keep forgetting to mention one little undeniable fact --- that the Sun-Times is joined at the hip with Sonny Vaccaro. Facts are troublesome things. Shame on you.

Here’s a little friendly tip. Anyone who goes to bed with Sonny Vaccaro is going to get more than a good night’s sleep.

When should student athelets serve their suspensions, before the season, during the season, or after the season? Maybe the coach at WWS should answer that question about 2 of his players.

Bruce weber will be fine, you can't come from SIU and start recruiting blue Chippers because you don't have a real relationship with them kind of players yet. those players weren't going to SIU so why even try and recruit them. Now he's at a big time university, the blue chippers will come. Sharron collins was being recruited by Bill Self along with Juliam Wright since like the 8 grade. We will start keeping the home grown talent in-state soon enough, starting with the class of 2008. you heard it here first.