Will the Zion Allegations Finally Shine a Light on the Real Coach K?

Well maybe we will finally see Duke get some kind of sanctions handed down to their men's basketball team.

In a report that came out two days ago, it appears that Zion Williamson "received gifts and benefits from people at Duke to attend the university". Now, this type of stuff happens all the time in college sports, especially in basketball. This happened at Michigan with the Fab Five. Louisville got a slap on the wrist for similar stuff. I am almost positive LSU will get into a same type of legal situation. Kansas is going to get absolutely hammered by the NCAA when the FBI investigation is done, at least I think they will. And now we have this Zion situation at Duke.

Look, I have said it on this site, on the pod, to friends and family that will humor me, Coach K is no different than any of the other coaches accused of this, most notably John Calipari, but he has some weird pull over the media. ESPN, Sports Illustrated, Bleacher Report, they never, ever say anything bad about him when they are almost too eager to attack other coaches and programs. They all talk about how "clean" of a program he runs. But, when you constantly get the top prospects every year, there is something fishy about that. With the Fab Five, it happened once and Michigan got everything taken away from that era. When Calipari left UMASS and Memphis, they were hit with sanctions. LSU will get crushed soon because why on Earth would Ben Simmons choose to go play his one year of college basketball there, I will never know. If you continue to cheat, one day you will get caught. I am a firm believer in karma, and at some point, if you do some underhanded bull shit, the powers that be will catch you.

Now, I am curious to see how the NCAA handles this. I get the feeling it will be kind of like what they did to Penn State football and now Michigan State. I fear they will try and sweep it under the rug. The NCAA doesn't want a stain on the guy they always promote as "being a molder of young men", a guy that "runs a clean program", a guy they claim to be "more of a teacher than a coach". The NCAA loves Duke, but more importantly, they ADORE Coach K. I feel like they will protect him at all cost. I honestly believe they will throw Zion, and any other top prospect he has recruited, under the bus before they say a bad word about Coach K. To me, that is because the NCAA is corrupt, and they care more about these coaches that makes millions upon millions of dollars for themselves and their schools and their product, than they do about these kids. The thing is, these kids are the ones bringing in all the money. No one, and I mean NO ONE goes to Duke games to watch Mike Krzyewski coach. You really think all those people at the Duke-UNC game two years ago went to see him and Roy Williams game plan?! Get out of here with that nonsense. They were all there to see Zion. I tuned in from my home to watch two teams I could care less about because of Zion.

So that begs the question, do I think Zion took money, or he and his family asked for money, or someone they trust asked for money and other stuff for him to attend Duke? Absolutely I do. Which may lead you to ask me if I think Zion should get in trouble? Not at all. I don't think Zion or Chris Webber or Ben Simmons or Derrick Rose or Marcus Camby or any other kid that has asked for something should be punished. They bring in money to those school hand over foot, which then allows those schools to pay coaches millions of dollars, and make millions more on merchandising kids that don't see a dime off stuff with their likeness on it. And Coach K isn't immune to this. He is just as guilty as any other coach that has gotten their names dragged through the mud for doing the same. The fact that Zion is going to be disposed, and asked to answer questions about this under oath could be a major blow to Coach K's image. Either way Zion is going to reveal some truths we all know and have kind of let go, or he is going to be pressured to lie, under oath, so Coach K won't have his image tarnished. To me, it doesn't matter, Coach K's image was shot when he decided he needed to be part of the "one and done" recruiting, if not before then. Look, I know KU hasn't been charged with anything yet, but believe me when I say that I don't look at Bill Self and see a solid coach. When I see him, I see a guy that will cheat to get top flight players. I see the same thing will John Calipari. Hell, even with Tom Izzo. But at least those guys aren't trying to hide it. They may not out and out say it, but we know they know we know. That's just facts.

All in all, I hope Zion goes in there, tells the truth and Coach K is left to answer. Because if he gets away with this, I will have lost what teeny tiny little sliver of respect I may still have for the NCAA. Coach K has done some underhanded stuff, and I hope he gets his comeuppance.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

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