A history of forfeits, both real and on the big screen

Published 12:55 pm Thursday, March 8, 2018

Last week, there was inference in this space about the possibility of several major NCAA men’s college basketball programs being declared ineligible before the 2018 March Madness tournament could even begin.

Well, Selection Sunday is approaching, and it’s less likely this will happen. That doesn’t mean there isn’t still a cloud of an FBI probe looming over this branch of college sports.

What the NCAA may be rooting for this year more than ever is to have that improbable mid-major Cinderella run all the way to championship Monday. “Please let the champion be somebody nowhere near this Most Wanted list.” “Go Xavier.” “Go Gonzaga.” “Go Nevada.” “Go Wichita.” “We’ll take the TV ratings hit so we don’t have to do the give-and-take thing three or four years from now.”

(Look up Louisville 2013 if this does not make sense.)

Right now, the Georgia High School Association is handing out state championship basketball trophies to boys and girls teams for the 2017-18 season. This year’s series of tournaments will long be remembered for an unprecedented action by the GHSA. For the first time ever, a team was disqualified from the playoffs while said playoffs were still ongoing.

AJC.com reported that Tucker High School’s girls, in the Class 6A bracket, were ruled ineligible just one day before their Elite 8 round game against Harrison High. This team did not win its region, but was ranked No. 8 in the state and won its first two games of the tournament. The ruling came down from executive director Robin Hines that the Tucker program was in violation of a by-law regarding recruiting and undue influence.

It’s in the AJC web story that six girls basketball players transferred to Tucker High before the 2017-18 school year began. Four of these players were supposedly part of the same AAU team and were coached by the father of a returning Tucker student-athlete.

So, there had to be a bit of a scramble. Harrison High needed an opponent, because surely the GHSA wasn’t going to give it a bye into the semifinals. The two teams Tucker beat in the playoffs – Bradwell Institute and Grovetown High – were given a chance to play each other the day after the scheduled Tucker-Harrison clash. The winner would then meet Harrison the following day.

Those two schools did play with Bradwell winning 37-35. Harrison then crushed Bradwell 69-37, creating another unprecedented occurrence. Bradwell in essence became the first team to be eliminated twice from the same playoff. Great trick question: How can you play four games in a 32-team tournament and not reach the semifinals? (Yes, I know, its game with Tucker doesn’t count, but they did play the game. You can’t get that expended energy and effort back.).

Harrison, by the way, will have its fifth game of the playoffs when it faces Lovejoy for the 6A title on Friday at Georgia Tech.

I guess the timing of it all is what gets to me. According to AJC.com, the investigation against Tucker lasted 11 days. This means this matter didn’t come to the GHSA’s attention until the start of the state tournament.

Yes, now is the point in the commentary where we look back at some notable forfeitures in state high school history.

The best one that comes to my mind is the 1994 Brunswick High football season. On the field, those Pirates won 10 games and lost two. I covered their only regular season loss, 7-6 to Wayne County. In the second round of the playoffs, Brunswick hosted and lost to Valdosta High 28-8.

News starts surfacing afterwards that this Pirate team had a transfer from Valdosta who should not have been allowed to play. The GHSA agreed. You can find the scores of all the games, including the 10 with numbers that favor Brunswick, but all are now listed as ‘L’s.’

What you may not know is that the head coach of that Brunswick team – and about 20 others – was in attendance at the last two Vereen Shootout basketball tournaments on William Bryant Court. John Willis’ daughter is the head coach of Brunswick girls basketball. How sincerely touched I was that, as we spoke, the old coach from my Glynn Academy rival remembered me after all these years.

Now the Bradwell and Grovetown girls teams did not have the fortune of taking a second chance in the state tourney all the way to the finals, not like the fictitious football team from the movie “Facing the Giants” that was produced and filmed in Albany. Yes, this film featured the cameo by then University of Georgia head coach Mark Richt. That team went on to score a major championship upset over a powerhouse Giants.

Speaking of movies, I feel like there’s a need for a remake of “Blue Chips.” No, this is not one of the all-time sports movie classics like “Rudy,” “Hoosiers” or even “Pride of the Yankees.” But the same theme is being played out right before us. Surprise, surprise, the gist of these investigations making news in 2018 is … “impermissible benefits!”

What was this “Blue Chips” I speak of about? It centered on a college basketball program that was winning championships right and left for a number of years, but then fell into the world of mediocrity. Why? It had a coach (played by Nick Nolte) who wanted to do things strictly by the book. Problem was, nobody else around him felt the same way, and they were now getting the glory.

Another star of the film was a budding pro superstar named Shaquille O’Neal. He was one of three players who wound up going to this college (called “Western” but played in a gym that looked a lot like UCLA’s), with the help of a sleazy booster type. But just one win, the season opener over Bob Knight’s Indiana club, is enough for the coach to break and admit how this team got together. Nolte should have at least earned an ESPY for the performance, even if those awards didn’t yet exist.