Chicago Sun-Times Sticks By Anthony Davis Story, Media Members Stick By Ripping Them

by Glenn Davis | 6:58 pm, August 6th, 2010

You might remember a couple days ago, when the Chicago Sun-Times published a controversial, flimsy-sounding story about the supposedly dirty recruitment of top high school basketball prospect Anthony Davis.

Well, the University of Kentucky wasn’t happy about having its name dragged into the story, and let the Sun-Times know as much, but the paper isn’t backing down. In fact, they released another story today (view it here), and this is what people will talk about the most:

Sources from three separate universities told the Sun-Times that Davis Sr. asked for money in return for his son’s commitment, with the amounts ranging from $125,000 to $150,000.

…of course, not all that talk will be about how true people think it is. SI’s Stewart Mandel, who ripped the original story, tweeted this today to CBS’ Gregg Doyel and The Big Lead’s Jason McIntyre:

I’m guessing [reporter Michael O'Brien] turned typical “I heard such and such … ” gossip into “news.” I hope [the Sun-Times] gets sued.

Strong words. And while CBS’ Gary Parrish, who also condemned the initial story, noted:

The Sun-Times didn’t report a member of the ath department offered money. They described it as “someone who wanted Davis to commit to UK.”

…that was as sympathetic as he got:

FYI: I still believe Wednesday’s story was insane and embarrassing, and this one remains sloppy. Just pointing out something I noticed.

But the harshest words, as they often do, came from Doyel. Namely:

I’m calling BS on this sentence in S-T: Sources from three separate universities say Anthony Davis Sr. asked for money …up to $150,000.

THREE universities? Really? S-T got THREE schools to admit they were asked for money? THREE?!? Who covers preps for S-T, Woodward-Bernstein?

Karen Sypher thinks the Sun-Times story blows

If I’ve not been clear: I think the Sun-Times made up the “fact” that three colleges are saying a recruit was for sale. Utter fabrication

[FOX' Jeff] Goodman, [ESPN's Andy] Katz, Parrish, [ESPN's Pat] Forde, none of them could find ONE school to say it. The S-T’s preps guy found THREE schools to say it? Riiiiiiiight

Very, very strong statements, ones we emailed O’Brien about. If he responds, we’ll update this post.

As it stands now, this is looking like a situation that will leave no one looking good. Kentucky and Davis look worse for having their names associated, The Sun-Times looks bad as long as people are ripping them, and it casts a pall (or adds to the pall already long cast) over college basketball. Not the most heartwarming tale.

Photo via