Friday, September 2, 2011

Mom of Miami basketball player denies payment request

Nevin Shapiro
((ht: miamiherald.com))

Several of the people named in the Yahoo story about rogue University of Miami booster Nevin Shapiro are vehemently denying the allegations.

Among them, the mother and two coaches of UM basketball player DeQuan Jones.

The Miami Herald reached out to Jones's mother Irene Bell who tells them "The whole thing is such a lie".
 Bell says she did her homework and worked hard to provide for Jones and the thought of exploiting or taking money for her sons services would have made her walk away.

Jones's AAU coach and former high school coach added the timeline didn't add up either. They say the Yahoo story alleges the $10,000 payment request for him to come play there came after he was already committed and enrolled at the Coral Gables school.

Read more from the Miami Herald RIGHT HERE

We aren't sure who to believe here. Shapiro claims there is a witness, though Shaprio himself never met the kid and that then Miami assistant Jake Morton took care of the transaction.

The story also goes on to mention Irene Bell didn't need the money mentioned.

The quandry this poses is how do you prove all these allegations and who's story do you believe. And while the NCAA has been proactive thus far and obviously has something to work with as evidenced by the quick suspension of 8 current UM football players earlier this week, the older charges are going to be much harder to prove.

And as much as most Hurricane supporters and almost all journalists want this to be finished already, it's going to take a long time. We don't believe that every allegation made by Shapiro will be proven, quite honestly, we'll guess that maybe 50-percent get proven. But it will be enough to get the school in serious trouble or shut down as many writers have suggested? Well, that remains to be seen...

No comments: