Monday Notebook… on a Friday! Late Night and NCAA scandals!

The NCAA is… a mess. Oh, and Late Night happened!

1. Soooo…we should talk about this scandal shouldn’t we?

THE COLLEGES ARE PAYING PLAYERS! WHAT?! /fake, overdramatic gasp/

Not surprised by this at at. I doubt most of the student athletes at major universities go to class or, if they do, they don’t have to do much/any work. These schools and coaches (and Adidas) just happened to get caught. Louisville fired head coach Rick Pitino and athletic director Tom Jurich last week as a result of these charges. This was strike three for Pitino after two sex scandals in the last decade. Oklahoma State also fired assistant coach Lamont Evans. I really wish the schools wouldn’t do this. I wish they would play by the rules. I wish they would just rely on good old fashioned recruiting to land their next stars. But have you ever seen Blue Chips (I haven’t but maybe you have)? Yeah, it’s like that. Everybody’s cheating and you either keep up or lose your job. Just pray that Jerrance Howard and Brennan Bechard don’t receive calls from the FBI soon.

2. Lil Yachty and Bad Dancing

That could pretty much describe any and every Late Night. I only watched a little bit of the event because 1) It’s mostly boring and 2) College football and the Royals were on. I didn’t even watch Lil Yachty. I heard he was good but I’ve never heard of him before. No, I’m not 50. In any case, the scrimmage was fun.

Devonte’ Graham looked good. Malik Newman looked good. But Carlton Bragg looked dominant in last year’s scrimmage, and he had a beyond-disappointing season. Bill Self had a nice pep talk. He said that this team has been knocking and banging on the door of a title for the last couple years – and it’s time to kick the door down. HECK YEA BOIEE!!! Let’s go! I actually clapped while sitting on my couch when he said that. On a scale of one to ten of being ready for the Jayhawks to make a trip to the Final Four, I’m a solid 12. And I’m pretty sure Devonte’ Graham, Svi Mykhailiuk, and Legerald Vick are too.

3. KU Football takes on Texas Tech

Kansas had an off week on Saturday but will get back in action against the Red Raiders next week. TTU QB Nic Shimonek is in the top 10 of the NCAA in pass yards per game. He can sling the rock. Texas Tech is kind of an enigma. They score a lot of points…until they hit conference play. Then they slow down and become a completely average offense. But Kansas has one of the worst pass defenses in college football. So it should be a long day. The Texas Tech defense is pretty bad too, however, so maybe the Jayhawks will be able to score some points as well. I wish that we could take last year’s defense, and put it together with this year’s offense. That would be a good team. Maybe even a bowl team. Cause this team’s defense is absolutely terrible. No pass rush and no coverage. But I digress. This could be a winnable game for Kansas. But every game is winnable. Kansas is never expected to win. Ever. Prediction: Texas Tech wins 68-45.

4. Inside the Paint coming soon!

Nick Weippert, Ryan Landreth, and myself have some schedule coordinating to do but there should be a podcast within the week. I’m really excited to get the season going and talk hoops. It’s going to be a lot of fun. Rock Chalk!

(Ed. Note: Inside the Paint is HERE because I posted this late! Here is your link!)

Landen Fields is a contributor for Rock Chalk Blog. You can check out his archive here.