And the crowd goes wild...

It almost feels like someone hit the buzzer beater as time expired. The crowd explodes with joy and rushes the court. The hero carried off the court by his loving teammates. 

But...
There was no last second shot.
The crowd exists on social media.
No party on Franklin Street.
Roy Williams is still your hero.

As SACS announced that UNC would be given one year probation for the academic fraud that took place for almost a quarter of a century, it seemed minuscule. Realizing that was the worst penalty given without the loss of accreditation made me wonder if what UNC had practiced as standard procedure for years was enough to get their accreditation card pulled. 

What I did realize was that many Tarheel fans considered this a victory. A victory, in the name of sports. Quoting Twitter user @DevilDJ32: "There was a time when UNC would have been humiliated at hint of probation from SACS...or LOIC from @NCAA. No more. Speaks volumes." I couldn't have said it any better.

I wonder if Jim Boehiem and Syracuse are watching this case closely. Some aspects of the case seem similar. The NCAA said that Boeheim failed to monitor the director of basketball operations, Stan Kissel, who committed academic violations after being hired by Boeheim to address academic issues within the program. 

Did Roy Williams fail to monitor Assistant Coach Joe Holladay and Academic counselor Wayne Walden? Williams brought these two with him from Kansas. Walden's name is all over the Notice of Allegations, including emails exchanged with Debby Crowder, one of the "alleged" masterminds of the bogus class scheme. 

Roy Williams told Kenneth Wainstein he was weary of the clustering of AFAM classes, believing these players were steered in that direction. Ten members of the 2005 National Championship team were majoring in AFAM. My question: Why would Williams try to stop the clustering of black student-athletes from studying African-Afro American classes/majors if he knew nothing about the scheme? 

A part of the whole dilemma was these student-athletes were being pushed into the classes. By telling Walden to stop the clustering, it seems like Roy knew something. Remove black student-athletes from AFAM classes? His players have only accounted for 167 AFAM classses enrollments for 2003-2011. You can do the math.

I started this blog to poke fun at friends of mine who suffer from Tarheel Denial. I heard some Tarheel fans are called "ABCers" (Anybody but Carolina), retaining that pseudo-belief of UNC being innocent on all charges from NCAA & SACS. 

As I began being more vocal on the flawed NCAA and my own personal feelings about this case, I have received hate tweets,hate messages on Facebook, Instagram, etc. So now, I speak on Roy Williams, his tainted wins and banners even more. I know UNC wasn't the first to use these practices, but they damn sure let the cat out of the bag with the Wainstein Report. 

An added note to the TarHeel fans: Stop saying that this scandal is sensationalized and about all the bad media. Media hasn't even picked this up yet, except Raleigh's News& Observer and that paper is the only local covering to story.  ESPN only mentions UNC on Sunday mornings when few are watching. John Saunders praised UNC for extending Williams' contract, almost to rub in the face of the NCAA. So wait for it: bad press is coming.

Everyone knows the illusion of student-athletes needs a serious overhaul. Not only to protect these kids, but the reputations of institutes like UNC in the future moving forward. I grew up in Chapel Hill, worked at UNC, and spent many weekends hanging out on Franklin Street. I admired Dean Smith, his contributions, and had an opportunity to meet him once.So I do not take pleasure in watching this happen. Admitting and accepting is a much higher road that TarHeels everywhere should consider, rather than this festering denial that embodies Tarheel Nation.