(1) The test pattern was more than just two tests and a modest jump. It was three consecutive test results that were well below the necessary qualifying score, followed a few weeks later by a mysterious fourth test 315 miles away that jumped two quintiles. While I can buy the argument that a person could let the test slip up on him the first time, here was a guy who knew he needed to make the score to qualify, and who knew that virtually the whole sports world was watching. He would NOT have taken it lightly, especially the second and third times. But suddenly he appeared in World Wide Wes’ home town and took the test seriously, and experienced a phenomenal jump in score, after which he refused to take the test again to substantiate his alleged tremendous improvement.

By the way, where have you read that there was only a 5 point jump? That would make no sense, because the two sets of tests were vastly different, from ACT to SAT. They are not even graded on the same scale. I’d love to see the source if anyone has it, especially since I can no longer locate the source for my note that the jump was two quintiles.

(2) Both letters from ETS were in fact delivered to Rose’s residence, according to the ETS. I don’t know who signed for them, but only the recipient or his guardian should have been permitted.

(3) Memphis has had the wins stripped for two reasons. First, even if it had been totally duped by Rose and were totally innocent in the matter, the NCAA cannot in all fairness allow the instution to play an ineligible player and still count the wins. That would not be fair to all of the rest of the teams that played by the rules. The fact of the matter is that the team that Memphis fielded was flat out ineligible, and no one could argue that Rose was just an insignificant part of that team (something the NCAA does judge).

When you play guys whose academic eligibility has been questioned, you have to live with the consequences of that decision if you guess wrongly.

Second, it is clear that Memphis DID in fact know of the challenge to the bogus Detroit SAT score no later than October 2007, when it also learned of the fraudulent grade changes Rose had from Simeon High School. That is when Memphis actually started its own “investigation,” although giving Memphis credit for having held an investigation is stretching it. Basically all they did was ask Derrick whether he cheated on the SAT as well as the grades, or just on the grades. They did supposedly get a teacher to recant her statement that Kevin Johnson took the SAT in question, but the point is that all of this came BEFORE Rose played a single game, not after he had left, as has frequently been alleged on this and other sites.

Only the formal NCAA Notice of Potential Violations came after the season. Memphis knew before Rose played a single game that CPS had caught Rose with fraudulent grade changes, and that it was also calling BS on the SAT score. They chose to play Rose anyway, despite knowing he had submitted a bogus grade transcript, and despite having turned up nothing to back up Rose’s claim to have been in Detroit on the date in question.

How guilty is Memphis here? Well they KNEW he was a cheat, based on the grade changes. They SHOULD HAVE KNOWN he was a cheat with respect to the SAT as well, because they could generate no evidence that he had taken the test. That’s enough for me.

Others go further and say that it’s at least likely if not obvious that with a few weeks left before the start of classes and three consecutive failures on the ACT, Calipari or others arranged through World Wide Wes for Kevin to take Derrick’s test in another state where nobody would have reason to recognize his name or face.

I don’t know about that. I rather doubt Cal is that stupid or that crooked. I am quite comfortable with what the NCAA has done to Memphis, though, just based on the fact that it put a team on the field that was not eligible according to the rules all NCAA schools agreed to live by. Derrick put them back on the map. They should take their lumps and move on.

Most of the misconceptions people have can be cleared up just by reading those. It’s not clear what other facts your “this” is intended to reference.

The CPS Audit red flag has been public knowledge for almost two years — that audit was the one that uncovered Rose’s other cheating — the admitted changing of grades by Simeon High School. The question isn’t whether Rose committed academic fraud, just how much. Grades AND SAT, or just grades.

The letters to Rose from ETS gave him three options: (1) provide ANY evidence to allow us to substantiate your alleged attendance in Detroit (2) submit the question to a panel of education bureaucrats for a ruling, or (3) just take the damned test again and settle the thing once and for all if you did in fact improve that much. He was informed that his failure to choose an option from among the three would be treated by ETS as an admission that the scores were fraudulent, and he was implored to cooperate.

In the face of these inquiries, Rose failed to cooperate or respond in any way. The ETS did the only thing it could do when the student at issue refuses to cooperate to give them anything to go on — they invalidated the results.

The NCAA gave Rose and Memphis another opportunity to prove Rose took the test, and again, there was no evidence offered by either Memphis or Rose at the hearing.

All of this is widely disseminated on the ‘net now, except perhaps the 60 page report is not yet out. I’m sure it will be posted somewhere soon. Check the Memphis papers.

…demands that Memphis produce the report of the handwriting expert, and identifies her by name. If the NCAA had hired her, I cannot see why it would demand that the university provide them with the report of their own expert. It just doesn’t work that way. Plus it explains the tepid conclusion drawn: Rose is “probably not” the person who took the Detroit test.

Despite what some bloggers are now claiming, Memphis was informed of the bogus SAT in October of 2007, before Rose had played a single game. Memphis claims to have done an investigation, which apparently included the hiring of the handwriting expert. Memphis also claims that the teacher who told CPS that Kevin Johnson actually took the suspect SAT told them that she had not made that statement. I wonder about that as well.

This is where in my judgment Memphis has egg on its face. Its alleged “investigation” — which it conducted before Rose played a single game — uncovered the fact that Rose’s handwriting sample did not match the sample on the subject test, and failed to secure from Rose even a single piece of evidence that he had been in Detroit on the weekend in question. No affidavit from Aunt Flo, no gas receipt, no toll road receipt, no ticket stub, no credit card entries, no pictures, no nothing.

But Memphis somehow concluded that he took the test — a conclusion that is supported by nothing other than Derrick’s unsupported assertion, “I know I took the test.”

I don’t know who signed for the ETS letters, but they were not left without signature.