Crooked Association Lets UConn Get Away with Crime

The scene was disgusting last night.

Connecticut celebrated their accomplishment of winning the national championship. They made it a point to stick it to the critics that counted them out. They also made sure to laugh at what people thought of them committing violations.

Obviously, there was a message that was sent by winning a national championship. They embraced being the bad guy, and they used it to fuel their run.

It's too bad it happened. Connecticut had no business playing in any postseason game this year. They should be serving their punishment for their illegal recruitment of Nate Miles, who an agent with UConn ties was constantly paying to make sure he played for UConn. Connecticut head Jim Calhoun was part of this process.

There was a lot of evidence that showed the university broke the rules. The NCAA knew about it too, but they let this slide. They hoped no one knew about it until Yahoo's Dan Wetzel broke the story two years ago.

Yahoo's story could not be denied, so the NCAA decided to suspend Calhoun for three meaningless games next season. That should teach him a lesson.

It wasn't surprising the NCAA looked the other way. Elite programs play with different sets of rules. If the University of Minnesota or Butler committed this violation, either of those programs would be hit hard with many sanctions.

It's easy for the NCAA to hit a nonexistent program hard. Those programs don't make the organization any money. Connecticut, Ohio State and other elite programs can, so the association looks the other way for them.

How else did the Buckeyes get to play in the Sugar Bowl this year despite several of their players selling their valuables for a tattoo? Sure, they received punishment in the end, but those games against meaningless teams will mean nothing. If the NCAA was serious, those guys would not have played in the Sugar Bowl.

The NCAA was better off not suspending those guys, and they were better off not suspending Calhoun. The league would not be insulting our intelligence by doing that.

The UConn coach showed zero humility about his act. He was unapologetic when reporters asked him questions about his involvement with Miles.

Give Calhoun credit. At least, he wasn't denying his mistake, and he wasn't going to be politically correct to people who want him to feel bad. It's much better than the fake apology Jim Tressel expressed last month.

It's easy for Calhoun to do this. The NCAA enables this type of behavior, so he can get away with it, and he knows it.

It would be nice if this happened to that flaky head coach, but don't count on it. The NCAA is nothing more than a crooked organization, which brought us the crappy BCS. This is an organization that makes sure mid-major teams don't get a chance to enjoy March Madness.

The NCAA was ecstatic that UConn won the national championship. To them, it was a better story than Butler winning it. It shows business will always be usual when a named program wins it than say a little team that could.

UConn gives the organization more money than Butler. They can back it up by saying they drew more fans in the championship game, which is something Butler fans couldn't do.

Look for the state of Connecticut to give their basketball team a parades this week. There won't be a peep about the crime the Huskies did. Even if Calhoun murdered someone, no one would make a big deal about it. That's what winning does. It cures multitude of sins.

This does not speak well of our society, but then again, it has become a wicked society since Adam and Eve ate that fruit from the Garden of Eden. People inherited sins, and now, it's okay to praise people for doing bad things. After all, everyone does it.

This is not the first time UConn did this type of stuff. This is the same university that illegally recruited Maya Moore by showing her around the ESPN studios. Tennessee coach Pat Summitt brought that to the NCAA's attention, but not surprisingly, it was ignored.

It would be nice if UConn's appearance would be vacated, but that's not going to happen either.

From this point of view, an asterisk should be added for UConn's accomplishment. That's the best way to think about their run. They know they have no business being there. They shouldn't sleep well at night for what they did, but the NCAA makes it easy for them not to feel bad.

It's fitting UConn won in an association that is run by a bunch of crooks.