Well I don't have time to refute the entire first post however, I would like to make a couple of points.

 

First of all there was a waiting list of 5 deep for the 8th grade at Rose Hill when Bill enrolled. His mother and Duane Barnes, his AAU coach, were aware of this. He was in the 9th grade at St. Joe, and was promoted from the 8th grade last year.

 

Secondly, if anyone thinks this is about anything other than AAU basketball they are kidding themselves. Mr. Barnes pulled the same stunt 2 years ago with Juwan Brown. Rose Hill complied with the wishes of Brown's mother and Barnes then when they moved Juwan from the 8th grade to the 7th grade during the school year. It was a mistake then and I believe Rose Hill learned their lesson. If a dog bites you once shame on him if he bites you twice shame on you.

 

So there is a pattern to Mr. Barnes and it all comes back to his pursuit of AAU glory. Period! No one can convience me that it is in Bill's best interest to be moved from school to school and from grade to grade all the while losing his eligability.

The Saint seems to be well researched in this topic, and possibly has some great points. I tend to believe that Rose Hill did not gain such prominence over night(essentially) without the aid of others. In the case of BW it is a shame that a kids life is being spewed out over the internet by people who are/were "concerned" about his academic life. Lets face some facts, in reality an education/good environent may be what originally brought a player like Mayo to Rose Hill, but that is essentially all that it took to bring other players to the Hill. In essence he is the drawing card and as long as he is there then the players will be also. The enflux of talent will continue as it has the past 2 years like or not, most like myself chose the latter, but we have to except that not everything in life goes the way we want. With that being said it works just the same way for the rest of us as it does for institutions as Rose Hill. Put it this way, there is a bombshell of a story that could take place after this season that will effect all private schools in the state,it is all speculation right now, but it could take place......SO STAY TUNED.

One reason the NCAA is changing all the rules concerning open periods to were NCAA coaches can watch high school players at summer camps is because of SOME AAU coaches, the NCAA even admits this is one reason.

 

I just hope the national AAU gets a hold of this information and has a little talk with this coach if this is indeed what he is doing, and seems has done in the past. I agree that SOME AAU coaches are out for self Glory! And would do anything and everything just to win! I coach a summer traveling team now, Yes, I want to win, who doesn't? But if we don't and as long as the players learn something and had fun I am HAPPY!

 

It isn't just some AAU coaches, having coached at the Adidas All-American Camps a few years and the Adidas ABCD Camp I see at what lengths some college coaches go to talk to the players, when they know the are NOT allowed to say a word to them. In the dorms our worries were not to watch the players to make sure they stay in line as it was to keep out some college coaches who try to sneak in, one tried to tell me and another coachhe was a pizza guy, when I asked what street his store was located he had no clue ( this was in Cincy so I knew where the nearest store was ). So some college coaches and well as some AAU coaches don't care about the welfare of the players, they ONLY care about their own Glory as others have stated!

If there was any truth to this whatsoever, Id think the one posting it(or Walkers family) would take what was said to the KHSAA.

 

The problem is, you wont see it. Barnes is trying to use Rose Hill as a media pod to try and promote his players.

 

Just curious, but did Jejuan Brown leaving Rose Hill have anything to do with AAU?

CS, Jujuan, and I apologize for misspelling his name, left to go live with his mother in Mississippi which was the right thing for him to do.

 

Bottom line is this: Bill Walker is benefitting none from this move. If he is enrolled in the 8th grade somewhere else he loses at least one year of eligablity. If this was academically driven then hold him back at the end of the year which Rose Hill would have considered but then Bill would not have been eligable for 8th grade AAU this summer, would he?

I would have to agree on that issue, IF the motive was academics then why was he doing well enough to be eligible? I am sure the curriculum at Rose Hill is very strong, yet Bill Walker was passing and able to play. I also, ask, why not hold him back in the 9th grade at the end of the year? Ohh yeah, he wouldn't be able to play on this AAU team.. Again, Bill Wlaker is being used as a pawn, and that s the sad part :(

Sportsguy, you and I are on the same page. Why not hold him back at the end of the year? We know the answer. I would like for someone, A Saint Elsewhere, or someone else to please tell me how this benefits this 15 year old kid. Like sportsguy said he is a pawn.

 

I reread the initial post and one thing that I can't figure out is that if everything is being done for academic interest then why have they moved the kid to 5 different schools in 3 different states in the past 2 years.

I've been reading some of the posts about Bill Walker, and I still don't have a concrete opinion on where I stand about this whole situation. But, I do believe that there were some things that went on that could have been handled better. Hopefully he'll be able to play somewhere next year or whenever, and have a good HS career, and maybe more.

 

Did anybody else notice that Rose Hill said that there would be a spot for BW by October 15? That's the 1st day that the KHSAA allows High Schools to officially start practice...

Originally posted by ColonelCrazy

Did anybody else notice that Rose Hill said that there would be a spot for BW by October 15? That's the 1st day that the KHSAA allows High Schools to officially start practice...

 

I caught that also ColonelCrazy, however, in reading back it wasn't Rose Hill people that said Oct. 15, it was BGP's newest poster, St. Elsewhere, who said RH people supposedly said that. However, if I recall, Walker didn't enroll at RH until mid to late November, or at least that is about when his name started popping up on BGP.

do you believe everything you read on the internet?

bill walker wasnt even enrolled at rose hill on oct 15th, he came after basketball practice had started, and then had to sit out until he was ruled eligible by the khsaa, its hard telling when he will be eligible to play high school ball now, and if its all about academics, tell me where bill is enrolled now? surely they would want him in school somewhere?

Originally posted by shooterx3

do you believe everything you read on the internet?

bill walker wasnt even enrolled at rose hill on oct 15th, he came after basketball practice had started, and then had to sit out until he was ruled eligible by the khsaa, its hard telling when he will be eligible to play high school ball now, and if its all about academics, tell me where bill is enrolled now? surely they would want him in school somewhere?

 

No, I don't believe everything that I read on the internet. Not even close. I just don't know much about this topic, except what I read on here. Forgive me please.

I have no idea where Bill Walker is enrolled right now, and honestly, it doesn't really matter to me. It does not matter one bit to me where he goes, just as long as he and his family are happy where he is and that he is getting to play the game that he loves.

 

 

Like I said, I don't know much about this topic, and A Saint Elsewhere claimed that RH said a spot would be open by Oct. 15, and I had not heard any other conflicting stories, so I assumed it to be true. All the other things that A Saint Elsewhere said that were not true, were immediately pointed out. This was not.

 

 

I too would think that they wanted him in school somewhere, but it's not my business where he goes to school and where (if anywhere) and in what age group he plays basketball. I just pointed out something that I noticed was a little bit ironic, that a 6'5" kid, with pretty good basketball skills (I guess, I haven't seen him play and I don't know if I should believe it) was to be enrolled at a small school with a basketball team with a lot of hype, on the first day that practice is allowed.

Colonel, shooterx3 is correct he did not enroll until after basketball started. I did not bother to argue this particular statement with the thread originator because I cannot say for sure what someone at the school said to Mrs. Walker nor do I know Bill's date of enrollment.

 

I do know that the Walker's inquired about enrollment fairly early in the school year and were told that the 8th grade was full. My impression was that he decided latter to transfer some St. Joe where he was in the 9th grade and enroll at Rose Hill as a 9th grader.

 

All of this brings up an interesting point. If he was in the 7th grade last year as St. Elsewhere claims how could he have enrolled in the 9th grade at St. Joe. Was he double promoted? I keep hearing academics as the reason for this move yet he was able to be double promoted the previous year. Somehow this doesn't hold water.

I have followed this whole thing, trying to remain neutral and not get too involved, but after reading the 1st post on this thread I would have a couple of questions that Mr. Elsewhere needs to address:

 

1. Mr. Elsewhere (I refuse to call you a "saint"), tell everyone where Billy is attending school right now? The last day he was at Rose Hill was Janurary 24 (I believe); His "handlers" and mother told the school he was sick, but he looked healthy in Richmond on Sunday sitting up in the stands. Tell us Mr. Elsewhere, is Billy enrolled anywhere?

 

2. Didn't Billy play aau ball as a 7th grader this past summer?

 

3. Didn't Billys mother enroll him at Huntington St. Joe as a 9th grader last August?

 

4. Didn't Billys "handlers" and mother try to strong-arm Rose Hill into moving him from 9th grade to 8th grade?

 

5. If they didn't try to strong-arm Rose Hill and this wasn't about aau basketball; then why did his mother and "handlers" wait until right before the state tounament to do what they did? Didn't they believe that this was when their "leverage" with the school was best?

 

Sadly, the one who will probably lose the most in this is Billy Walker, and he really is a good boy. The school did exactly the right thing, even though they were face to face with a possible State Championship, they didn't cave-in to the temptation put before them.

 

Those are my thoughts on this subject, I seriously doubt Mr. Elsewhere will ever answer my questions.

 

Now, how about we get back to some high school basketball?

Its a real shame that thes school children are approached by adults who say "we only have your intrests at heart", and then proceed to destroy his eligibility, and his academics. I would surmise that right now ...he is an awfully angry young man with almost every adult he knows...to blame.

Originally posted by Royal mom

I have followed this whole thing, trying to remain neutral and not get too involved, but after reading the 1st post on this thread I would have a couple of questions that Mr. Elsewhere needs to address:

 

1. Mr. Elsewhere (I refuse to call you a "saint"), tell everyone where Billy is attending school right now? The last day he was at Rose Hill was Janurary 24 (I believe); His "handlers" and mother told the school he was sick, but he looked healthy in Richmond on Sunday sitting up in the stands. Tell us Mr. Elsewhere, is Billy enrolled anywhere?

 

2. Didn't Billy play aau ball as a 7th grader this past summer?

 

3. Didn't Billys mother enroll him at Huntington St. Joe as a 9th grader last August?

 

4. Didn't Billys "handlers" and mother try to strong-arm Rose Hill into moving him from 9th grade to 8th grade?

 

5. If they didn't try to strong-arm Rose Hill and this wasn't about aau basketball; then why did his mother and "handlers" wait until right before the state tounament to do what they did? Didn't they believe that this was when their "leverage" with the school was best?

 

Sadly, the one who will probably lose the most in this is Billy Walker, and he really is a good boy. The school did exactly the right thing, even though they were face to face with a possible State Championship, they didn't cave-in to the temptation put before them.

 

Those are my thoughts on this subject, I seriously doubt Mr. Elsewhere will ever answer my questions.

 

Now, how about we get back to some high school basketball?

 

HUMMMMMM! :eek: Preach on sister! :ylsuper: