Below is a link to an article regarding university spending on basketball and how it equated to seeding in the 2013 NCAA Tournament:

http://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/blog/2013/03/more-spending-can-equal-higher-seeds.html

NCAA’s Injury Responsibility

In Sunday’s NCAA Tournament regional final (“Elite Eight”) game between Louisville and Duke, the Cardinals’ Kevin Ware suffered a compound fracture to his lower leg in what was one of the downright nastiest injuries in sports history. The sight was so horrific that players and coaches were doubled-over and crying on the court. What may potentially be lost in the fray of a situation involving a serious injury is the financial repercussions for both the player, school and NCAA. Dave Zirin of edgesports.com highlights that Ware’s injury may cost him his basketball future and he could stand to lose scholarship money or any money he may have earned in the future as a pro. He also states that the NCAA does not hold any liability if Ware were to re-injure the leg in the future, despite the fact that he injured it during an NCAA-sanctioned event. Below is a snapshot of some of Zirin’s tweets following the incident Sunday evening.

Click to enlarge.

Background Information

Here are a few links giving some background information on the topic of NCAA reform:

• http://www.cornellsun.com/section/opinion/content/2013/01/28/editorial-joining-push-ncaa-reform
• http://www.hoopsworld.com/ncaas-passing-of-reform-package-is-a-milestone/
• http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/story/21638903/whos-running-the-ncaa-anyway-doesnt-seem-to-be-the-schools
• http://www.rantsports.com/ncaa-basketball/2013/01/27/overhaul-or-demise-ncaa-chronicles/
• http://www.ibtimes.com/sportsnet/will-government-step-reform-football-1053704
• http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/story/21597895/in-era-of-technological-financial-change-has-college-football-peaked
• http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-ncaa-external-review-20130206,0,273793.story
• https://www.usatodayeducate.com/staging/index.php/sports/division-i-schools-spend-more-on-athletes-than-education
• http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/dennis-dodd/21651874/ncaa-vice-president-approved-payment-to-attorney-of-miami-booster

These links simply serve as a primer for our topic of reform in the world of college athletics. It has obviously been a very touchy subject, specifically over the past 10 years, and looks as if it will continue to be this way for quite a while. Our research will range from whether or not student-athletes should be paid, to athletes receiving improper benefits, to the amount of money that schools spend on their student-athletes. We will use specific examples of schools violating NCAA code and explore how the NCAA responded to each example and how they could’ve reacted differently. We will also look into the top level of administration within the NCAA and determine whether or not that their way of running college athletics at a national level is ethical and acceptable.