• Press & Sun Bulletin: “A report Thursday from the State University of New York, produced at a cost of $913,000, found: * Academic irregularities. An assistant basketball coach and a player discussed the coach “rewording” the player’s paper. Coach Kevin Broadus worked to get a grade changed. An independent-study class was created for four athletes.  * Admissions issues: Basketball recruits who didn’t meet academic standards were admitted. Coaches tried to circumvent BU’s established process for reviewing athletes’ applications for admission. * Crime/drug issues: Star player “Derrick” D.J. Rivera illegally bought a television and clothing using a debit card that wasn’t his, as teammates looked on. In other incidents, other players smoked or possessed marijuana. * Talk of improper benefits. A player claimed – but later recanted – that a coach paid for players’ cell phones. An assistant coach texted a player that the coach would give the player money for gas.  * A cover-up attempt. A coach labored to resolve a marijuana-possession charge against a key player before the case reached town court.”
• Press & Sun Bulletin: “Gerald Mollen is happy to finally get his hands on the Binghamton University report.  The Broome County District Attorney said information contained in the 102-page document will help his office move forward with criminal charges against four former basketball players allegedly involved in making purchases with a stolen debit card.  To this point, Mollen said, his hands have been somewhat tied…After officers reviewed security videos from the stores where the card was used, Lukusa met with police and identified D.J. Rivera, Malik Alvin and Paul Crosby – all BU players – as the men in the video. Later, another player, Corey Chandler, was identified as the fourth individual.”
• Press & Sun Bulletin: “‘Honestly, I haven’t seen the report,’ said Rivera, who added he had no plans to read the lengthy document. “We go to class every day and play basketball when we can. We’re regular students.  ‘I have no thoughts about it. That’s it. Nothing really.’  Alvin was equally evasive.  ‘I’m not too worried about it,’ Alvin said. ‘Whatever they do, they have to do. I’m just concentrating on my education.’ Fine, who was dismissed from the team shortly after campus police discovered marijuana in his dormitory room following a complaint, was a little  more forthcoming with his thoughts about the report.  ‘I can’t speak for everyone else, but my situation is, the report said my eyes were glassy,’ Fine said. ‘They were trying to imply that I was high. I passed the drug test a week after the incident happened. I can’t control what they write in the paper, but I know I passed the test.’  Fine said he was in his room alone, but that the marijuana wasn’t his.  ‘I’m not going to blame anyone else,’ Fine said.”
• Press & Sun Bulletin: “Admissions officials felt slighted, ignored and sometimes bullied as Binghamton University basketball coaches tried to get recruits into school despite questionable qualifications.  That’s the picture painted after a four-month SUNY investigation, which concluded that coach Kevin Broadus recommended admission of a recruit who had no academic qualifications supporting admission, and pushed the university to admit a transfer student who had been kicked off his previous college team for disciplinary reasons.  ‘Coach Broadus recommended (Corey) Chandler’s admission to BU without disclosing to Admissions that Chandler had been dismissed from the Rutgers athletic program,’ the report says.”
• Inside Higher Ed: “A scathing investigative report of myriad academic improprieties committed by the men’s basketball program at the State University of New York at Binghamton implicates its outgoing president and former athletics director for their lack of oversight. The independent audit, commissioned last fall by Nancy L. Zimpher, SUNY’s chancellor, was led by Judith S. Kaye, former chief judge of the New York Court of Appeals. The report, which cost SUNY $913,381, was released Thursday. In it, Kaye chronicles Binghamton’s rapid  transition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association from a low-profile Division III, or non-scholarship, program to a high-profile Division I program with a surprisingly successful men’s basketball team during the two-decade tenure of Lois B. DeFleur, who announced her retirement as president last month, and Joel Thirer, its athletics director, who retired amid scandal last fall.”
• New York Times: “The Binghamton travesty was certified Thursday in a special report issued by a panel led by Judith S. Kaye, a former chief judge of the New York Court of Appeals.  This cautionary tale shows how Binghamton University, with 11,500 undergraduates holding an excellent average College Board score of 1,290, was held hostage by an upgraded basketball program that forgot to honor academic standards or, for that matter, normal ethics or honesty.  The administrators at Binghamton might as well have leased out a portion of the campus to a counterfeiting operation or a prostitution ring or a drug mill. Go all the way. Instead, a few administrators had the bright idea of turning Binghamton into a powerhouse capable of reaching the N.C.A.A. tournament. What a lousy goal. What poor judgment. By so-called educators.”
• ESPN: “The report documents how Binghamton officials compromised academic standards in order to build a winning men’s basketball team, details how coaches and athletic officials at Binghamton pressured admissions staffers to admit questionable recruits and chronicles previously-unreported allegations of criminal behavior on the part of several former basketball players.  The report recommends hiring an “athletic oversight officer” for the entire State University of New York system, reporting to the chancellor and Board of Trustees on admissions, the academic progress and behavior of student-athletes, and rules compliance.  Citing text-message exchanges, the SUNY report also suggests Binghamton coaches made cash payments to players and assisted them with academic assignments.  ‘I am disappointed that a great institution like Binghamton University would, in any way, because of its athletic program, compromise its terrific academic reputation,’ SUNY chancellor Nancy Zimpher said Thursday in a conference call with reporters. The SUNY report also cites potential NCAA violations by former Binghamton coach Kevin Broadus, who was placed on paid leave by the school last October.”

• Press & Sun Bulletin: “This could be the day the public will get some answers about what happened inside Binghamton University’s athletics program.  Top officials in the state university system are scheduled to reveal the findings of a four-month investigation into troubles that got six men’s basketball players kicked off the team and their coach suspended, prompted claims that a female employee was sexually harassed, and cost the athletics director his job.  SUNY’s executive committee will meet this morning to discuss Judge Judith Kaye’s probe of the program, and likely will release the report later in the day, said SUNY spokesman David Henahan. He said SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher and Trustees Chairman Carl Hayden are scheduled to answer questions in a 2 p.m. conference call with reporters.  The report is expected to contain recommendations for BU, though details weren’t available Wednesday night.”

• Press & Sun Bulletin: “It was a different story Saturday, when the Bearcats allowed a game-closing 11-0 run in a 61-49 loss at Maine. BU hopes to avoid a repeat when it visits University of New Hampshire in an America East Conference contest at 7 p.m. Thursday. The two teams met 12 days ago at the Events Center in a game won by BU, 76-73, in overtime. In that Jan. 30 game, Greer Wright scored 29 points and Dylan Talley converted a three-point play with 21 seconds left in overtime for the Bearcats (11-14, 6-4 America East). It was one of three games during BU’s four-game winning streak that the Bearcats won by six points or fewer. With the exception of its 80-63 victory at University of Maryland, Baltimore County on Jan. 27, all of BU’s other America East games have been decided by single digits. Wright hopes to continue his torrid play since the start of BU’s America East schedule. The junior transfer from City College of San Francisco is averaging 19.1 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.6 assists in America East play. Those represent increases from his season-long averages of 15.5 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game.”

What what happens next?  That tidbit of foresight is still in the hands of former judge Judith Kaye.  All the success in the world won’t mean anything until after Kaye’s report.  When will that be?  Nancy Zimpher ain’t telling anyone.

• Ithaca Journal: “SUNY’s top educator Monday vowed ‘full disclosure’ related to spending on the investigation of Binghamton University’s troubled athletics program.  But more than three months into the $520-an-hour probe, it remains anyone’s guess as to when the public will know the cost — or if they’ll wind up footing the bill.  ‘I’m not unpacking the gradual development of this case,’ Chancellor Nancy Zimpher said in a brief interview at SUNY Delhi, where she was attending a strategic planning event.  Zimpher said she’s ‘hopeful and optimistic’ the probe can be completed soon. But asked when that might be, Zimpher said the process will take a long as is needed.”
• Press & Sun Bulletin: “As disappointing as Sunday’s overtime loss to Maine was, at least the Binghamton University men’s basketball team won’t have much time to dwell on it.  The Bearcats return to the court tonight when they host Stony Brook at 7 in an America East Conference game at the Events Center.  It’s the third of four games in eight days for BU (6-11, 1-1 America East), which also hosts Boston University on Thursday.  ‘We have to play better Tuesday,’ BU interim coach Mark Macon said following Sunday’s 66-61 overtime loss to Maine. ‘I know they feel bad, and they should, because I feel bad.’”

Living in NYC, I will be streaming the game.  Last year’s stream was a whole lot better than the quality the year before.  Hopefully with some improvements and people not watching the Bearcats this year, the stream will be better.  I don’t want choppyness and I would like to be able to identify players by something other than size!

• The Press & Sun Bulletin has an article on who is paying the $520/hour Binghamton athletics investigation.   The SUNY Research Foundation is paying the initial costs, but it gets a whole lot muddy after that.
• The Sporting News has Binghamton as one of three programs in decline: “From the NCAAs last season to utter destruction this year, the program was doomed the moment Nancy Zimpher became chancellor of the SUNY system. If negative press would empower her to run Bob Huggins out of Cincinnati, did you think she’d fear Kevin Broadus?”
• Upcoming Opponents: Pitt beat DII Coker College 83-40.  Holy Family lost to La Salle 94-59.

Based on Zimpher’s memo, Kaye’s investigation will include, but will not be limited to: the examination of BU’s compliance with NCAA and America East policies and procedures, impact of intercollegiate athletics on campus culture and the institutional mission, budget procedures and reports, fundraising practices of the athletic department, recruiting of athletes, alcohol or drug use by athletes – including drug testing, counseling, prevention and treatment – SUNY system administration oversight by Binghamton and any and all aspects of the men’s basketball program.

On to the headlines:

• Edin Dzubar pleaded guilty on Friday for his part in the attack on Bryan Steinhauer. Sanel Softic had also plead guilty to felony assault.  No update on Minja’s “trial” in Serbia.
• University officials have concluded that there is no evidence of sexual harassment in the athlethics department.  Interesting that they push this out before today’s initial report by Judge Kaye.  I don’t really believe anything that the university is putting out right now.  Hopefully, Zimpher and Kaye can restore my faith.
• Jacob E. Osterhout of Storming the Floor: “Much like a toilet, Binghamton’s basketball program has spiraled out of control this off-season. Actually, a spiral implies a slight time lag while the refuse circles, and Binghamton’s decent from America East champs to college basketball laughing stock has been nothing if not speedy. So maybe the Bearcats are like one of those airplane toilets where the bottom drops out in a split second.”