Allegations Arise Over Rose, SAT Cheating

By Benjy Lipsman in News on May 28, 2009 8:20PM

Derrick Rose returned to town last fall with high expectations, as both the top overall draft pick in the NBA draft and a local boy made good. On the court for the Bulls, he lived up to everybody's high hopes -- winning himself the Rookie of the Year award while comporting himself with a humbleness rare in athletes of his stature and at his age. But a possible chink has been discovered in his armor.

According to documents from an NCAA investigation of the University of Memphis basketball program, alleged major violations took place that may involve Rose. The supposed violation involved a player who only played for the school during the 2007-08 season. Rose was the only player at Memphis who matches that description as he entered the NBA draft in 2008 following his freshman season.

It is alleged that [blacked out] prospective men’s basketball student-athlete failed to deport himself in accordance with the generally recognized high standards of honesty and sportsmanship normally associated with the conduct and administration of intercollegiate athletics for his knowing fraudulence or misconduct and administration of intercollegiate examination. Specifically, on [blacked out] an unknown individual completed [blacked out] SAT, with [blacked out] knowledge, which was used to obtain his admission into the institution and to certify his NCAA eligibility. [Blacked out] subsequently competed for the men’s basketball team through the 2007-08 season, which included his participation in the 2008 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship.

Did Rose have somebody else take his SAT for him in order to gain admission to Memphis and meet NCAA qualification guidelines? It doesn't seem at all in character with the Rose we've come to know, but as we've learned these days, nothing is out of the question. While his college eligibility is a moot point now that he's in the NBA, we'd really hate to see something like this linked to him.