Did ESPN College Basketball Anchor Ryan Burr Recruit Nerlens Noel For Syracuse?

Ryan Burr, host of ESPN’s College Basketball Final, is now recruiting for Syracuse or coming very, very close to it. The Syracuse grad sent a “Message 2 Nerelins Noel,” the nation’s No. 1 recruit, on twitter asking him how he would “like to be in the middle of the zone” with Fab Melo now turning pro.

He didn’t send a message to Nerlens Noel. The tweet seemed to be rhetorical. However, there are possible NCAA issues stemming from this if he is defined as a booster and the tweet is deemed to have “made contact” with Noel. At the very least, this could have been phrased far less provocatively.

Media-wise just rooting for a team publicly would rankle some of the more ethically obsessed. Encouraging a recruit to sign with your school goes far beyond that.

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15 Responses to “Did ESPN College Basketball Anchor Ryan Burr Recruit Nerlens Noel For Syracuse?”

TimmyTheEnchanter Says:
March 13th, 2012 at 5:34 PM

Alright, someone needs to make a “LEAVE SYRACUSE ALONE!!” video. Thanks bye.

ms621 Says:
March 13th, 2012 at 5:41 PM

The fuck is a Nerlens Noel?

Jim Harbaugh Scramble Says:
March 13th, 2012 at 5:46 PM

Nerlens Noel. nice name.

ms621 Says:
March 13th, 2012 at 5:47 PM

Has anyone checked to make sure that it’s not actually Noel Nerlens?

KC Resident Says:
March 13th, 2012 at 5:51 PM

I always find it funny when someone removes a tweet that has been copied and is now everywhere forever. Own your tweets, Mr. College Basketball Person I Have Never Heard of.

molemaninthemorning Says:
March 13th, 2012 at 5:54 PM

On March 13, 2012, Burr created controversy by sending out a message on his Twitter account to Nerlens Noel, the #1 player in 2012 high school class, that he should come to Syracuse (Burr’s alma mater) to replace Fab Melo, who earlier in the day was ruled academically ineligible and is expected to enter the upcoming NBA Draft.

Good job getting that edit in on his Wiki profile, duffy.

kaiserwilhelmreems Says:
March 13th, 2012 at 5:57 PM

He didn’t send a message to Nerlens Noel.

did you gather this from the way he typed “Message 2 Nerlens Noel” or was it some other fine detective work?

Jason McIntyre Says:
March 13th, 2012 at 5:59 PM

what a brick.

Faulkner Says:
March 13th, 2012 at 6:15 PM

I don’t understand how this is any different than anything any other recruiting “expert” writes in their columns/posts/tweets on a daily basis. This doesn’t even come close to any sort of violation.

Wide Word of Sport (?) Says:
March 13th, 2012 at 6:20 PM

I don’t understand how this is any different than anything any other recruiting “expert” writes in their columns/posts/tweets on a daily basis.

That’s why it was phrased as a question… so if you are playing journalist today, you don’t get play-sued for libel.

JayhawkerJ Says:
March 13th, 2012 at 6:32 PM

The fuck is a Nerlens Noel?

Nerlens Noel is the guy that has the best high top fade since Tiquan Underwood.

molemaninthemorning Says:
March 13th, 2012 at 6:53 PM

Media-wise just rooting for a team publicly would rankle some of the more ethically obsessed. Encouraging a recruit to sign with your school goes far beyond that.

Thing is, if he isn’t a Syracuse grad this isn’t even remotely an issue (not that it is even remotely an issue). All he did was say that a player would be a fit in the team. Syracuse has already offered the kid a scholarship, this is meaningless.

Ty Duffy Says:
March 13th, 2012 at 10:07 PM

Thing is, if he isn’t a Syracuse grad this isn’t even remotely an issue (not that it is even remotely an issue). All he did was say that a player would be a fit in the team. Syracuse has already offered the kid a scholarship, this is meaningless.

No, he tweeted a “message to” a recruit who was considering signing with his school. If he has ever, say, had season tickets to Syracuse basketball he could qualify as a booster. Regardless of whether it leads to anything, it’s still a definite issue of whether that’s appropriate to have your CBB analyst doing that.

If this was football and Kirk Herbstreit and tweeted a “message to” a high-profile recruit that he would look good in Urban Meyer’s offense no one would be terming it “meaningless.”

chatterbox Says:
March 14th, 2012 at 2:56 PM

This is what happens when you hire only Syracuse grads. Nobody at the mother ship thought this was a problem. They all wished they had thought of it first.

GloriousMullet Says:
March 14th, 2012 at 3:04 PM