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Matt Jones

Know this guy...this doesn't include his DUI's
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09/20/2001 - Updated 08:47 PM ET
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Free agent Strickland in trouble again

From staff and wire reports

WASHINGTON — Portland Trail Blazers guard Rod Strickland has been charged with second-degree assault and a warrant for his arrest has been issued after a young woman filed a criminal complaint Tuesday according to a report from The Washington Post.

Kristine Rachel Murphy, 21, alleges that the former Washington Wizards player, who was waived by the Wizards in February and played the remainder of last season with the Trail Blazers, punched her, knocking her unconscious, when she asked him to stop kicking her friend during a fracas last week outside a Maryland restaurant.

An attorney for Strickland denied that Strickland hit the woman.

"He never touched her," Strickland's attorney, Michael V. Statham told the Washington Post. "That allegation is absolutely not true."

In a report, a Prince George's County police sergeant wrote that two witnesses reported seeing Strickland, soul singer Chico DeBarge and six other unidentified people "punching and kicking" someone other than Murphy in the restaurant parking lot.

"When that fight was over, one of the unknown suspects punched [Murphy] in the face, causing a 1-inch cut on her chin," according to the report. John P. Valente, an attorney representing Murphy, said his client needed stitches to close the wound and was diagnosed at Prince George's Hospital Center as having a concussion.

In a District Court complaint Murphy wrote that one of her coworkers was being kicked "and I don't remember anything else. All of the witnesses . . . said that Rod Strickland was the one that punched me."

Murphy asked Strickland to stop assaulting her male coworker, at which point Strickland punched her in the face with a closed fist, Valente said. Valente said Murphy saw Strickland hit her but at the time did not know his name or that he played basketball professionally. Valente said he has interviewed two other witnesses who also said they saw Strickland hit Murphy.

While a member of the Wizards, Strickland, a free agent, pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol in April and was sentenced to 10 days in jail. In 1998, Strickland pleaded guilty to driving while impaired in the District of Columbia and was ordered to serve one year on probation, perform 30 hours of community service and pay a $425 fine.

In April of 1999 Strickland was again charged with driving under the influence, but was later acquitted.
 
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The proof is in the pudding. Like I said, all you have to do is look what happened at U of L when K-rag replaced Petrino. Weak coaches have these problems.

Do you mean players getting arrested in general, or just Marijuana?

We've allegedly had a little bit of reefer madness on the basketball team over the years at UofL. I don't think of Pitino as a particularly weak coach. He pretty much dealt with it the same way as everyone else including Stoops, you give the guys as many second chances as you can, until you can't anymore.

I'm not making any excuses for Hatcher or anyone else. The bottom line is, the rule is they can't use so if they do and get caught they deserve any penalties. I'm sure Hatcher was told more often than most not to get caught again and he allegedly did get caught so now he's gone.

Don't get me wrong, I agree Stoops is a weak coach, but in this particular area I think he did what all coaches do.
 
Really, how many chances did Chane Behanan or Kevin Ware get. Same athletic department. The kids that do these things are the kids that do these things. You cannot blame a coach or athletic department for the actions of someone who simply doesn't care. You're just throwing stones
Chane got multiple chances.
 
Some of you guys are bouncing back and forth between football and basketball examples. That's fine, but the two sports aren't the same. Football has seven times as many players and undoubtedly poses greater challenges than basketball as far as control and discipline.

As far as basketball is concerned, I'm not sure why Behanan is getting undue attention. When we started hearing about problems, the guy got suspended and barely played during his junior season. (12 games and 19 mpg.)

And I think Behanan is the highest rated recruit that Pitino has landed in the last 6-7 years. He did get a lotta Pitino's attention for about a year, but he couldn't get his act together and got booted. It didn't matter that he was a highly rated recruit, highly rated for Pitino anyway. Same standards.

For those raising questions, what am I missing?

LPT Football: What about Chane Behanan?...
 
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Some of you guys are bouncing back and forth between football and basketball examples. That's fine, but the two sports aren't the same. Football has seven times as many players and undoubtedly poses greater challenges than basketball as far as control and discipline.

Good point, basketball and football are apples and oranges when you talk about number of players to discipline.

There's no doubt in my mind Stoops is a weak coach, after witnessing his player development and in-game coaching. Since Stoops has so many weaknesses, I guess you could make an argument that player arrests is another sign of how weak he is, but I have trouble with this argument just because a lot of successful SEC programs have the same arrest issues and nobody calls Saban weak, for example.
 
I'm guessing a lot of these UK "fans" don't understand their football and scandal history because of their reading comprehension. I think their leaders must pass out issue cards that these "fans" than post here and on their sites. Ignorance is bliss.

I have actually talked with a talented FB player of that era and he was appalled at what was going on. :eek:
 
I'm guessing a lot of these UK "fans" don't understand their football and scandal history because of their reading comprehension. I think their leaders must pass out issue cards that these "fans" than post here and on their sites. Ignorance is bliss.

I have actually talked with a talented FB player of that era and he was appalled at what was going on. :eek:
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Stoops has used playing time to get players, that would never have given UK a second thought under a better coach like Curry or Morris, to visit and sign because of the promise of immediate playing time. This breeds a culture where a running back complains when he doesn't get all the carries or a receiver complains by purposely dropping passes because he doesn't like who is throwing the ball. That's the draw that got Hatcher to UK. Why go to UofL and sit behind Lozo, Brandon, Sheldon, Jermaine, Trevon to name a few when I can head down the road and not have to earn a spot by working for playing time.

UK is digging itself a huge hole with Stoops. It will take years for a new coach to dig that program out from under that type of culture.
CJ
 
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Can you imagine the "transfers" that will happen when Stupes is cut loose, and he will be sooner rather than later? The new coach will have to deal with a true shortage of players because any coach worth their salt will institute strict rules of conduct. That's something that they haven't had under the current administration.

GO CARDS - BEAT EVERYBODY!!! God Bless America!!!
 
Can you imagine the "transfers" that will happen when Stupes is cut loose, and he will be sooner rather than later? The new coach will have to deal with a true shortage of players because any coach worth their salt will institute strict rules of conduct. That's something that they haven't had under the current administration.

That will come down the road but not for a few years. UK owes Stoops too much money to cut him loose for at least 3-4 years.
 
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What was that incredible buyout amount? $18 Million, lol?

Hell, apparently he is worth more than Petrino. Ha ha, you can't invent this crap.

yahtzee
 
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