That Memphis club, which won 38 games before falling to Kansas 75-68 in the title game, was spearheaded by freshman point guard Derrick Rose. And after a lengthy investigation, the NCAA ruled that something just didn’t smell right when Rose took the SAT on May 5, 2007.

After failing to achieve a qualifying score on the ACT each of the three times he took the test in Chicago, someone, presumably not Rose, achieved the SAT scores needed on that early day in May.

Only this time the test was taken in Detroit, which also happens to be the home of William Wesley. You might know Wesley better as World Wide Wes, a confidant of Calipari. You do the math.

Calipari will do his usual song and dance when pressed to disclose whether or not he knew of possible indiscretions with Rose’s test score: Deny, deny and deny some more. It’s all in the past, right? It’s the same tune currently being belted in Lexington by fans who are desperate for a winner after Billy Gillispie flamed out last spring in the NIT.

The fact is that Calipari made history on Thursday when he became the first coach to have Final Four appearances at two different schools vacated. That’s certainly not a distinction one aspires to place on their resume. Nonetheless, congrats on the achievement, Cal.

Thursday’s ruling only reinforced the sad reality that more often than not, the NCAA fails to get it right. To call the penalty of vacating the season a slap on the wrist would be giving it too much credit. Rose is now a millionaire in Chicago, Calipari bolted for a record-setting pay day at Kentucky and Memphis will move forward relatively unscathed if the school can keep its nose clean for three years. Not exactly what I would call dropping the hammer.

The penalties given to Memphis are far less substantial than the NCAA sanctions slapped on Kelvin Sampson for excessive phone calls, which led to the dismantling of the Indiana program. Call me crazy, but using a player who committed academic fraud to achieve eligibility is more reckless than a three-way call with a recruit and Rob Senderoff. But this ruling proves that the NCAA doesn’t see it that way.

This story will be top of mind in the college basketball world for a few more days and then it will sink from the surface as an afterthought. Rose will be an NBA all-star soon enough and Memphis should continue to be a powerhouse in Conference USA under Josh Pastner. As for Kentucky, Calipari will probably hang some sort of banner in Rupp Arena. The only question is: How long before that banner comes down too?

Pros: John Calipari is a proven, lifetime winner at the collegiate level. His all-time record is 409-135, and while that number is inflated by the easy 20-ish wins Memphis picks up in Conference USA every year, the fact that Memphis is in a position to cruise through their conference so easily is solely thanks to Calipari’s program-building. Memphis doesn’t just run through C-USA — they are a perennial national contender, because Calipari might be the best recruiter in the country.

Once Calipari assembles his talent, his Memphis Attack offense (derived from Vance Walberg’s dribble-drive motion offense) is one of the most exacting, difficult offensive styles in the country. It forces teams to isolate each player defensively and dares them to stop Chris Douglas-Roberts or Derrick Rose from getting to the hole. The notion that players like that might one day be running Cal’s DDM offense in Assembly Hall is enough to make an uptempo hoops fan’s mouth water. (Hint: My mouth is watering.)

Cons: It’d be disingenuous to say Calipari’s near-legendary recruitment process always seems above-board. At the very least, he’s an admitted and open associate of William Wesley, and while that’s not a violation — Wesley’s a “friend of the program,” surely no different from many IU boosters — Wesley also happens to have a strange, iconic relationship with young talent. The upshot of this is that a Calipari IU program would be stocked with the best talent in the country. The downside is a nuclear scenario of someday finding out the creepy ways that talent got there.

Bottom Line: Calipari might be interested in the IU job, and the Hoosiers should give him at least a cursory look, but at the end of the day IU’s squeamishness about Calipari’s recruiting undertones will probably prevent them from getting too serious.

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Via Zagsblog:

It appears unlikely that the 6-foot-9 Ebanks, who had 22 points in the Hargrave game, will attend Indiana given the recent firing of Kelvin Sampson and a handful of schools appear to be in the running for his services, including Memphis, Rutgers and Texas.

St. Thomas More head coach Jere Quinn said he planned to meet later this week with Ebanks, his mother, Yvonne Jackson and Ebanks’ AAU people, including Lawrence McGugins, the head of Team Takeover.

“We’re going to try and make a quick assessment of what they’re trying to do,” Quinn said Wednesday by phone. “We’re hoping to get together soon.”

Memphis has made a push with Ebanks, and Quinn said that might be an option.

“Memphis has contacted us,” Quinn said. “I know they’ve contacted his AAU people.”

At this point, save for some Herculean effort by the IU coaching staff — and which coaching staff would that be? old or new? — it looks like Ebanks is peacing out of Bloomington before he even got there. And really, who can blame him. There’s a lot of talk about kids playing for “the name on the front of the jersey,” but I just don’t think that’s the case anymore. Kids come to schools because of the head coach and his staff first and foremost, everything else is just an added bonus.

Might want to ask Eric Gordon about that one.

Garcia, ranked No. 27 overall in the class of 2008 by Rivals.com, chose Memphis over Indiana. Garcia moved to the U.S. last season and played at East Chicago (Ind.) Central High. He played this summer for the Puerto Rican National Team at the under-19 championships in Serbia, where Memphis assistant coach Chuck Martin traveled to watch him play.

While not a favorable outcome for the Hoosiers, coach Sampson and staff still have a shot at landing Tyler Zeller and Kevin Jones to help round out the 2008 class. The early buzz last winter was that Garcia was leaning towards IU, but it’s no secret that things can change in the blink of an eye in recruiting and the impact Martin had on this recruitment was more than I originally believed it to be.

Best of luck to Mr. Garcia at Memphis, where I believe he’ll thrive under Calipari’s up-tempo style and reach his goal of getting to the NBA.

He’s been kind enough to share his e-mail and the response he received from Wolken with all of the readers, so thanks are in order for that.

First, here’s what Kelin sent over to Wolken:

Dan-

As an Indiana guy I think you are way off on the Garcia prediction. IU has no one at his position after this year and the style of play will vastly change given the type of players we have in this year’s class and next year. With Eric Gordon, Jamarcus Ellis and other “transition type” players, the days of the motion offense are gone. Yes Calipari produces NBA guys…lets not forget Dajuan Wagner! I think Memphis has a shot but the reasons you are stating really don’t hold the weight. I am for certain Indiana will receive far more national exposure than Memphis over the next few years, including this year. Being an Indiana kid, I think Angel knows that.

And here’s the response Wolken gave with his rationale:

Thanks for your note.

Every fan of every school thinks every recruit should come there and can give a list of reasons why, and I’m fine with that. I’m not a fan, so I base all my commentary on what I observe and what I’m told from my sources. I based my prediction about Garcia on the following factors:

1) Calipari has gotten many players from Puerto Rico over the years, both at UMass and Memphis. This is not a coincidence. If Garcia comes to Memphis, he’ll also be playing for an assistant coach who is Puerto Rican.

2) There is a pretty stark difference between Memphis and Indiana in style of play. Memphis is selling that hard.

3) Whether you think it’s true or not, Calipari is perceived in the basketball/recruiting world as a coach who gets players ready to go to the NBA.

4) Angel isn’t an Indiana kid. He’s from Puerto Rico.

5) Memphis is on ESPN/ESPN2/CBS 10-15 times per year, which is about as many as any program outside of Duke. They’re No. 1 or No. 2 this year in every preseason poll. Outside of Duke, Carolina, Kentucky, UCLA and Florida, Memphis gets about as much national exposure as any.

Like I said yesterday, I’m thinking this could go either way. With Garcia, Tyler Zeller and Kevin Jones all still possibilities for this class, you can’t say enough about the recruiting job that Coach Sampson and staff have done. It’s been nothing short of remarkable. If one of these kids come to IU, we’re looking at another top five class. If two of them come, you’re probably looking at a top two or three class.

By the way, I haven’t forgotten about the All-Big Ten preview. That’ll be back next week as I’ll reveal the fourth player on the first team as well as my pick for player of the year.

1. Forward Angel Garcia will commit to Memphis in the next few weeks: The talented 6-11 Puerto Rican told Rivals.com is deciding between the Tigers and Indiana. That’s very good news for Memphis, which badly wants Garcia to go along with already committed twins Marcus and Markieff Morris from Philadelphia. The Tigers are a better fit for Garcia’s style of play — similar to Shawne Williams — and have a big edge due to John Calipari’s history of developing players for the NBA. It also helps that assistant coach Chuck Martin is of Puerto Rican descent.

Mr. Wolken may end up being correct, but at this point, I’d say it’s a total crap shoot on where Garcia ends up. I’ve always heard that he likes Indiana first and foremost, but I wouldn’t count out John Calipari and his hair gel.

And I don’t buy the fact that having an assistant coach with Puerto Rican descent will end up making much of a difference, but hey, I could be totally off base. By my estimation it comes down to the tradition of the program, the coach, the facilities, the atmosphere around the campus and the style of play. What Memphis and IU have to offer are both very different.

It’ll be interesting to watch Garcia’s recruitment unfold over the next couple of weeks.