Far too many USF notes for a day off ...

Even when I try to take some vacation, try to disengage, as my wife Nicole tactfully puts it, the blog beckons, with entirely too many things to check in about. Wednesday was really supposed to be a finish line of sorts, closing out what has been a real busy season of women's basketball coverage with the Final Four here, but I'm still going. Onto the notes ...

-- Freshman forward Orane Chin is gone, making it six scholarship players granted a release since Stan Heath took over, though none a truly significant loss. We told you a few weeks ago that Chin had made it through the initial postseason interview, but had to prove himself in individual workouts. He clearly didn't. And if this was a third strike against him, Chin fouled off a lot of pitches with an 0-2 count. I wouldn't think of this as Heath running someone off, so much as Chin running himself off. Lots of potential, lots of athleticism, but he never had the commitment or focus off the court, and Heath sent a clear message with Chin's role in Big East play. His last five games at USF? Fifteen total minutes, zero points. After scoring a combined 16 points in his first two conference games, he totaled 20 in the next 16. Heath now has four scholarships left for the spring, but I'd be shocked if he doesn't roll at least one over to next season now. Haven't gotten confirmation yet, but I keep hearing that Krys Faber, the big prep center from Los Angeles who averaged 17.5 rebounds per game, will make a campus visit to USF this weekend.

-- I'm still getting e-mails and comments asking for updates on USF softball pitcher Cristi Ecks, who had a terrible scare last week when she collapsed during practice and needed to be shocked with a defibrillator to restore her heartbeat. Ecks and her family haven't spoken to the media, with the only update being that she was released from the hospital last weekend. But her hometown paper in northern Virginia has some news, as InsideNoVa.com reports that she had a defibrillator surgically implanted to regulate her heartbeat. They report that she's already back in classes, but hasn't been cleared to return to softball. Again, we'll have updates on this end when her family is comfortable speaking publicly.

-- Former USF center Kentrell Gransberry has a big weekend ahead as he competes at the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament in Virginia, a great showcase for guys trying to solidify themselves as draft picks. I drove to the PIT when I was in high school in North Carolina -- it's a great night when you can land autographs from Billy Cunningham, Red Auerbach, Elgin Baylor and Jerry West in the same gym.

Anyway, we'll try to get as many updates on K.G. as possible -- he's one of five Big East players there, along with Georgetown's Jonathan Wallace and Patrick Ewing Jr., Notre Dame's Rob Kurz and Seton Hall's Brian Laing, according to their rosters online. Gransberry's playing for the "K&D Rounds Landscaping" team and had his first game Thursday night: started and got 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting, 7 rebounds and three steals in 24 minutes as his team won 90-78. Kurz is also on his team and got a double-double. Fun names on his team, from Longar Longar to Georgia's Sundiata Gaines. Gransberry has another game Friday and one more -- potentially for the tournament championship -- on Saturday. You can find boxscores here.

-- Even with players like Syracuse's Donte' Greene declaring themselves for the draft, the Big East isn't going to be any easier in 2008-09. This week's SI has an early preseason top 25: UConn 2 (if Hasheem Thabeet comes back), West Virginia 7th, Georgetown 8th, with Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Marquette and Villanova in their top 25. That's half the league ranked, and that doesn't even include Louisville.

-- Some major developments in the sad story of UCF receiver Ereck Plancher, with the Orlando Sentinel breaking news of discrepancies in what actually happened in the practice where Plancher collapsed and died.

-- I'll wait until the morning to break down the spring game football rosters. I can report that tight end Ben Busbee broke a bone in his right hand, but he was practicing Wednesday -- Ben Moffitt style, with a gigantic cast on his hand, ready to bludgeon you with it. You know a walk-on has a chance to stick when he's got a nickname, and receiver Jeffrey Wilson has teammates shouting "Pookie!" every time he makes a catch. And receiver Carlton Mitchell -- who unbeknownst to me and the rest of the media had surgery in February to fix a sports hernia in his groin area -- told me he's not only back healthy after a ton of rehab, but he's going to make it from the spring game Saturday night in time to see Antonio Tarver's fight at the St. Pete Times Forum (ching!). His mother, Angela, works Tarver's corner as his "cutwoman."

Comments

[jarred]

Wow Greg, putting in a late night huh? Atta boy, it is nice to know your are going the extra mile when their is news to be covered. It is glad to hear that Ecks is back in class. I didnt spot her at the USF Lecture Series last night. Featuring Rondae and Tiki Barber, which it seems every athlete was required to attend, not to say I disagree. I think it is a good idea for our students athletes to hear what some players who were outstanding on and off the field have tosay. But one thing I noticed was that FB Richard Kelly had a prety serious cast or wrap around his arm which was also in a sling. I did not know it was that serious, any word on his condition. My friend, who subscribes to Josh Newberg, who reads your blog as well, said on Josh's site that Kelly would be returning soon but from the looks of things I am not so sure. The rosters for the green and gold game are up at gousfbulls.com and it looks like it will be pretty lopsided with the green team taking Grothe, and most of the key defense with pretty much the whole starting defensive line. However the white team does have TJ and Mitchell in their receiving core so you never know with guys that explosive.

[G.A.]

Kelly broke a bone in his hand two weeks ago, same day Mo Plancher and Aston Samuels were injured. None of the three is listed on the spring roster, so you shouldn't expect them to play.

[Josh]

My heart truly goes out to Plancher's family. At first it seemed these "other" accounts of what happened were possibly rumors but I have heard several news outlets now reporting these other players stories. I will pray for his mother and father and the safety for the rest of the UCF football players. As an alum of USF and Ohio State I really don't care for UCF or UM but if this is true...working a player to death and then cursing at him for lack of effort as his body is giving up on life...may God have mercy on your soul Mr. Oleary.

[mulham shbeib]

The UCF administration should hold Coach O'Leary accountable for his tactics. You dont coach men by exceeding the limits their bodies can handle. This is mental and physical torture. UCF and the NCAA should do a thorough investigation into what actually happened. They should fire O'Leary immediately if it is proved that he went to far. He called out someone who was on his last breath. This is immorally reprehensible and UCF alumni and the Orlando community should be staging protests against this coach. Players have collaborated the story that O'leary went to far. How can UCF in good conscience keep OLeary as coach? What does he tell a future recruit? NOTE TO FUTURE UCF RECRUITS - RETHINK YOUR DESIRE TO GO TO UCF. YOU HAVE A COACH WHO PROBABLY WILL PUSH YOUR LIMITS MORE THAN THEY SHOULD BE PUSHED. YOUR LIFE MAY DEPEND ON IT.

[Herman Momart]

Guys lets not start calling O'Leary a murderer. Sometimes people tickers stop ticking, even in a regular excersice routine. My good friends father who was in great shape and worked out everyday took a simple jog one morning and died of a heart attack. It was a freak incident. Every football coach pushes their players to their physical peek. Yes, even Jim Leavitt. You think Leavitt and Burnham dont get on a kids a** if he is dogging it in practice or they think he is too tired when he shouldnt be? Im sure 4th quarter and overtime practices are brutal. I know there haven been times when I played basketball and coach had us doing suicides to an extreme. If one of my teammates died and if we were asked we may have responded "yes the coach was taking it too hard". It should be monitored, it shouldnt be done, but it is done in sports everywhere and on every level. Im sure O'Leary and his staff didnt think he was dying if they were calling him out on his last breath. Cmon, you guys are better than that to take cheap shots because they guy is the coach of UCF.

[Ron]

We don't know yet what happened to Plancher, but we do know that O'Leary doesn't always tell the truth. These four players stand to gain nothing and lose everything. What possible motive could they have for lying to the media?

Preliminary "Truth-O-Meter" has to go the players in this instance.

[USFMike]

Krys Faber is visiting DePaul April 10th according to a quote from his high school coach. Hopefully, this has changed.

[Stephen]

Hey Greg, did you go looking for some unnamed players after Mr. Dorsey's death? Fact is, I hardly doubt anything the Sentinel says as we all know that Lynn Hoppis is nothing more than hack for the Gators.

A good reporter would have waited until the actual autopsy results were released. Saying that UCF was running the same types of drills that 99% of every other college runs is not ground breaking. If those phantom four were truely concerned about Erick, I would like to ask why the Sentinel did not ask them what they did at that time.

[G.A.]

Why would the Sentinel wait until an autopsy report? They weren't writing about the cause of death, they were
writing about contradictions in the accounts of what happened leading up to Plancher's death. That's newsworthy regardless of the results of an autopsy and raises questions as to why there are such discrepancies.

Again, I think fans sometimes forget what a newspaper's role is in covering a team or school.

[Stephen]

So did you go out and try to see that what USF reported in Mr. Dorsey's death actually happened?

It might have been news worthy if they actually were professional enough to write an unbiased story. Not once in the story did they ask the players why they did not say something to the coaches. I can tell you why though, because in every drill like this there are some players that will slack or struggle. What happened to Erick, while tragic, was nothing new when it comes to performance. Those are the facts, and you know that as well as I do.

As I said, it is easy to write a story then say your sources are not to be named. If the Sentinel wanted to be objective, they would have tried to find someone that would have gone on the record.

As I have said, this story would never have been written about the Gators. That is another fact.

[G.A.]

My paper doesn't like unnamed sources as a general rule. This is the kind of story that absolutely allows for an unnamed source: someone who has information but knows they would hurt themselves by coming forward with that information publicly. If it were one player unnamed, I'd question it more. This is four players, with corroborating stories. The newspaper knows who these four players are. Before you question them because you don't know their name, ask yourself: If they're still on the team, what do they stand to gain by this? What would be their motivation other than getting a more accurate version of what happened out there?

[G.A.]

And Stephen, you're wrong about the Gators. I understand that readers will think a paper loves a team based on more coverage or higher placement of stories, but if you cover a team, you want to cover every aspect of that team, positive or negative. I've read people questioning the timing of this story, thinking the Sentinel is trying to take away from the spring game. It's a ludicrous statement to make. First, a spring game is such a non-event that you really can't take away from it. And more importantly, this is a huge story, something that a newspaper will put out as soon as they're fully confident that what they have is accurate. This is a story that's on ESPN, in every college football roundup in the country, and not because there's a spring game this weekend. Again, there are a lot of people who don't understand what a newspaper's job is in covering a team.

[Ken]

Very interesting. Do you recall that there were disputes immediately--and that were copied into this blog--about the accounts that were coming from the UCF administration about his death?

[Herman Momart]

God Bless this kid. I truely feel for him and his family.

Its a complete freak incident. There is no story here. How many kids are there on the UCF football team that were in that practice? I'd say at least 50. One kid tragically died. Maybe he didnt eat enough...dehydration...too scared to stand up and say he cant go anymore..unknown pre-existing conditions...whatever. If his family sues the university for his death I hope they get millions, but I honeslty believe its a complete accident and these kids are speaking out for either being in Olearys doghouse or pissed that that practice was too strenuous, but even if it was there was only one person truely affected out of app. 50.

[Dave W]

I think it is really common for coaches to underestimate an injury. GA's blog mentions that Leavitt expects guys to play with broken hands; that isn't life or death, but I bet when the guy broke it, Leavitt would be pretty upset if he asked out of practice. When I was in high school, I got knocked out for about 5 minutes and the coach made me drive home. Somehow I made it, but my dad called the A.D. and the coach was consequently fired. My teammates backed up my story of constant underestimating of injuries (one kid, like 15/16 years old was looking awful, and the coach made him continue. He collapsed in the locker room, but turned out alright due to a good trainer, like in Ecks' case). O'Leary probably really did think that Plancher was dogging it, and probably never thought about the condition he was in. In no way do I offer support or sympathy for O'Leary's actions, if true, but rather, I think this shows the reason for player deaths: coaches seem to ignore the signs and instead push the player too hard. We don't know if that is the case with Keeley, Darling, Korey Stringer, and the others who died, but to me, it seems quite possible.

On the issue of credibility, if a paper prints it, I think that generally means the writer fought with the editors for it and put his/her own reputation on the line. Additionally, GA makes a good point: why would a player lie about such a thing? Football players don't mind pushing themselves hard, many like it. But they know when negligence is occuring, and this seems like the case here.

[Dave W]

I should add that my comments are purely speculation based on the very limited amount of knowledge I have on the specific instance combined with my general knowledge of how football works on the high school level. I can only assume that the intensity level increases in college.

[Stephen]

Tell me then Greg, why call the Planchers today or yesterday and ask about funeral expenses? The Sentinel just did that, now they also called UCF and UCF told them that they are paying the expenses as they are coming in, but that was not good enough for the Sentinel to actaully call Erick's father, a man that just put his son in the ground two weeks ago.

Greg I am no reporter and thank God for that, because I can't think of the type of person that could call a family two weeks after such a tragic event and try to stir things up. I know you will defend them because you are one of them, but that hardly makes it right.

Oh and as far as the Gators go, I'm calling BS on that one, show me one negative story about UF in the Sentinel's front page. Show me one story where they trash a head coach there that was written by the Editor, who is a UF grad.

[Stephen]

Greg, here we go again. Tell me the purpose of the Sentinel doing a Steven Moffet interview? What does this have to do with the situation, it is a witch hunt that is back firing on the Sentinel. Steven Moffet, are you kidding me, he got yelled at by GOL, how shocking. The kid was horrible and was beaten out by another average QB.

Greg, please defend what is now the 4th story by the Sentinel. They started with the workout story and now are writing about players getting yelled at.

Sad point, Kyle Hightower was sitting next to Kevin Smith for over an hour yesterday at the spring game. Not once did he try to interview him, why not? Could it be that the Sentinel would not get what they want?

I am looking forward to your response, from a professional in their business, please explain to me their objectives.

[Stephen]

Greg, I did not think you could defend their actions.

[G.A.]

Stephen, it's nothing that needs defending. They have a national story breaking on one of their few beats that's actually in their city. Any major paper in the same position would put a huge amount of resources into finding out anything they could. That certainly includes calling former players -- if you feel current players will only speak anonymously for fear of retribution, turn to former players no longer under UCF's authority, and simply ask them what their experience was. Either way, it's worth writing about and adds depth to the reporting already done.

The only people who think this is over the top are UCF fans. From a journalistic standpoint, they've done nothing wrong. They're pursuing a story that's drawn national interest.

The Plancher family has not shied away from this story. I've seen multiple TV interviews conducted since the initial Sentinel story. If the parents were uncomfortable speaking about the matter, they'd only need to say so; instead, they've been public by choice in asking questions about UCF.

[Stephen]

Wow, I guess we know where you stand on ethics, but mayby you should go real the Sentinel's own ethic standards on their page. Their story witht he four players specifically goes against their own ethics.

Oh and you say that only UCF fans are against what they are doing, here is a list of media personalities that said that these are just personal attacks on O'Leary:

Brady Ackerman, Dan Selio, Pat Clarke.

It seems the you are more in the minority. Go read the responses on the Sentinels board from Gator, Nole and Cane fans, they agree as well.

Tell me Greg, why Steven Moffet, why not Kevin Smith, why not someone else. Tell me you did not laugh when you read his comments about being yelled at.

[Stephen]

Another question Greg. You want to commend the Sentinel for what they are doing because it is a "breaking national story."

You broke a story about the Moffitt situation and there was one comment in there that was major. You said that Patrick St. Louis said to Shauna "I know your name should be on that diploma. I know you did all the work."

Tell me Greg, did you follow up on that, that a graduate assistand was aware of the cheating. Did you do a follow up story on that?

[G.A.]

I didn't talk to Patrick St. Louis. I think you're thinking of someone else.

I did talk with several people who said that even if a strength and conditioning graduate assistant were aware a player wasn't doing his own work, there was not any direct oversight or authority at a level high enough that such an instance would not merit any kind of sanctions from the NCAA.

I think you're seeing considerably more national interest in the UCF story than the Moffitt story. You saw some blogs pick up the blogs, but nothing on the level that the Plancher story has gotten.

As far as the lack of quotes from Kevin Smith, he's getting drafted in a few weeks. You'll be hard-pressed to find a college player publicly questioning a college head coach -- one whose previous job was in the NFL -- while that coach is still getting calls from potential NFL employers.

Remember, too, that the Steven Moffett comments came in a column, which is intended to be opinionated. They also ran a full transcript of the interview for a more unfiltered view of what he said.

[G.A.]

On the ethics of using unnamed sources, again, I fully believe newspapers should use them sparingly and only when necessary. I also believe this is an instance where it was appropriate to use an unnamed source, as I mentioned a few posts back.

Auman did not write that quote about St. Louis. Though that should have been thoroughly looked into.