THE KNIGHT TIMES - October 2017

12 The Knight Times
Sports
NBA stacking up super teams
WILL EDENS
Staff Writer
The National Basketball Association is
becoming a league full of super teams,
and there is apparently no end in sight.
Obviously, teams such as the Cleveland
Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors were
already powerhouses, but it is amazing to
see the pull they have on other teams.
LeBron James is regarded by many as
the best basketball player in the world
right now, and it became very apparent
when the Cavs #2 player, Kyrie Irving,
was traded to the Celtics in exchange for
Isaiah Thomas. It shows that a lot of upper
tier professional athletes want to surround
themselves with guys like LeBron, because
soon after the Irving/Thomas transaction,
Derrick Rose and Dwayne Wade
made their way onto Cleveland’s roster.
Some would call this a power team like
the Warriors, and while there wasn’t too
many transactions made by the Warriors
in the off-season, they are paying a lot of
money to keep that program together.
We have recently seen a new power
team form in Oklahoma City because of
last year’s MVP Russell Westbrook. That
organization acquired NBA All Star Paul
George who said he “admired how loyal
to the city Russell” was and wanted to be
a part of the energy he brings to the court
every game. After George joined the team,
a third superstar, Carmelo Anthony, decided
to add his name to the roster as well
because of the players he could team with.
These are not the only signs of super
teams because we have seen hints of this
on teams like the Minnesota Timberwolves
and our own Houston Rockets.
While these organizations may be on top
currently, there is no way that they can
keep paying the enormous contracts to
keep these guys on the same team in their
prime.
The empires wll crash, there’s no question,
the real question is who will fall first.
Ex-Pacer Paul Geaorge playing in his first pre-season game as a member of the
Oklahoma City Thunder. Photo courtesy of hm3inc.com.
U.S. Mens Soccer player, Fabian Johnson, aggressively leaps into the air for a header
in a Gold Cup game. Photo courtesy of dailymail.com.
U.S. soccer team comes up
short in World Cup qualifier
DANIEL DAVIS
Staff Writer
A nightmare for all U.S. soccer fans came
true this week as the men’s national team
failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup
Tournament, something that has not happened
since 1986.
The World Cup qualifiers were held over
the past few months to determine the teams
that will be competing in the 2018 World
Cup this summer in Russia. The U.S.
men’s team had been playing well with a
couple of upsets in the early stages of the
qualifiers.
Soccer in the United States has been
growing faster and faster each year, especially
after the United States’ strong performance
in the 2014 World Cup in Rio de
Janeiro. In 2014 our squad defeated Ghana
and Portugal and advanced into the Round
of 16 followed by a loss to Belgium. Since
then the men’s nation team has been playing
well, led by star player Christian Pulisic,
a nineteen-year-old phenom.
On October 10, in order to qualify for
the upcoming World Cup, the U.S. team,
ranked 28th in the world, faced 99thranked
Trinidad and Tobago and only
needed a draw to advance to the World
Cup. Unfortunately, the U.S. came up short
2-1 against a major underdog. This ended a
streak of seven straight appearances in the
World Cup for the American soccer team,
the longest streak in its history. The result
was quite surprising after the team reigned
victorious in the CONCACAF Gold Cup
earlier.
It is quite tragic that we will not be able to
see our team participate in the 2018 World
Cup, and we will have to wait another four
years for another chance.
NCAA faces crisis with coaching staff bribery scandal
PRESTON WITT
Staff Writer
NCAA has faced serious problems with
as many as ten college basketball programs
paying players above scholarship
dollar amounts and even the full cost of
attendance, but recently new issues have
surfaced. Some coaches are taking bribes
from agents in exchange for steering their
players toward certain agents. Investigators
have been looking into the idea of
schools being paid by outside sources such
as financial advisors, agents, or companies
in order to receive a “head start” in the process
of acquiring certain athletes as their
associates.
Usually when a scandal hits college basketball,
it involves the school paying recruited
athletes above the standard amount.
With advancement in the AAU circuit over
the past few years, the process of recruiting
college basketball players has grown
to be more difficult and stressing. Coaches
from Oklahoma State, Auburn, Arizona,
South Carolina, Miami, and Louisville are
all schools associated with this recent incident,
including representatives from Under
Armor and Adidas. With these accusations
being levied, many of the colleges want
to take action and search into the matter.
However, with little information or facts
they have yet to obtain, the colleges had
to sit and wait for the controversial news.
A day after the FBI made this announcement
and the story started spreading around
the sports world, Louisville decided to take
action and fire Head Coach Rick Pitino and
Athletic Director Tom Jurich. Along with
the coaches being under investigation, one
student-athlete is being withheld from any
NCAA activities, which include practices
and games. Brian Bowen, the athlete that
is the center of the Louisville scandal, was
one of the names going around for the “pay
to play” recruiting activity. If the FBI were
to confirm that Bowen received benefits
from the school, he would be ineligible to
play and would be reported to the NCAA.
This situation would first be reported to
the FBI to collect all the information, and
afterwards passed down to the NCAA so
they could deal with the punishment of the
student or athlete.
Louisville coach Rick Pitino pondering his decisions over the NCAA scandal after
being fired. Photo courtesy of si.com.