It's sounding like a done deal that the NCAA will announce the ruling tomorrow, and they're not buying the results of Memphis' internal investigation, which — surprise, surprise — found no evidence of wrongdoing.

But apparently those not on the school's payroll were able to find some evidence that the real Derrick Rose had very little to do with Derrick Rose's SAT, and that his brother received $2,260 in free travel. These are both major no-nos.

The current team, under new coach Josh Pastner, won't be punished. But the damage is done - that record '08 season? Gone. And setting an ignominious record is John Calipari, the first man to vacate Final Four appearances at two different schools. So if Kentucky makes it to Indy next April, I wouldn't rush out and buy the t-shirt.

Source: Memphis Tigers to Forfeit Record 2007-'08 Basketball Season [Memphis Commercial Appeal]

First of all, here's Rose's apology:

This photo of me was taken at a party I attended in Memphis while I was in school there, and was meant as a joke . . . a bad one, I now admit. I want to emphatically state, now and forever, that Derrick Rose is anti-gang, anti-drug, and anti-violence. I am not, nor have I ever been, affiliated with any gang and I can't speak loudly enough against gang violence, and the things that gangs represent.

In posing for this picture, I am guilty of being young, naive and of using extremely poor judgment. I sincerely apologize to all my fans for my mistake. I pride myself on being a good citizen, and role model, that young people can look up to and I want to urge all my young fans to stay away from gangs and gang-related activities.

Did anyone out there actually think Derrick Rose was or is in a gang? Or that he's some sort of Gangster Disciples emissary because he once threw their sign in front of a camera and because he's from ... the South Side? That he's endorsing a lifestyle? With a white player, it should go without saying, this would all be chalked up to nothing more sinister than youthful indiscretion. With Rose, however, some jittery people seemed to think there was cause for concern:

DaBullz.com:

There's not really a lot to comment on this picture, other than it looks like there is a lot of smoke in that room, and to say that I hope that Rose isn't down with the gang lifestyle.

Hardwood Paroxysm:

It's common knowledge that there's a very big gang structure in Chicago, particularly on the South Side where Rose grew up. ... Chicago and it's surrounding areas are a hotbed of gang activity. It's a huge, huge city, so that sort of thing happens. But it's also a circumstance of his upbringing that Rose would be associated at all with this sort of thing. It's scary and dangerous that Rose could at all be indebted to Chicago gangs, if it's true. But it's also a fact of his life that he really didn't have much choice.

It's also common knowledge that the South Side is home to a large black middle class and in many ways wouldn't be all that alien to anyone who grew up in, say, suburban Maryland, so let's please stop talking about the area as some lawless, monolithic Dodge City of the Midway. Gangs, however, have always had a special purchase on Americans' fears, and people prone to exoticizing them seem to suddenly forget they're woven into the fabric of certain neighborhoods — like the Englewood neighborhood where Rose was raised. That they are is an unfortunate state of affairs. But that Rose might show some familiarity with the culture of the place where he lived for nearly two decades shouldn't be shocking or scary.

Chicago Bulls' Derrick Rose responds to photo controversy [Chicago Tribune]

Charles Robinson and Jason Cole: Yahoo! Sports has learned tonight—on the eve of the national championship game between the Memphis Tigers and the Kansas Jayhawks—that star freshman guard Derrick Rose has been declared ineligible for allegedly cheating on his college entrance exam.

Jim Nantz: Hello, friends. I regret to report that March Madness has come to a sad end. Every rose has its thorn—and Derrick Rose's shocking suspension has forced the Memphis Tigers to concede tonight's title game to Kansas. Rock, chalk, championship by forfeit!

Billy Packer: CBS will never be able to force me out now. What college basketball needs to get through this horrible crisis is my patented brand of old-man finger wagging.

Mario Chalmers: I'm coming back to Kansas for my senior year. I might've left school early if I had made one of the greatest shots in NCAA Tournament history, but that didn't happen.

John Calipari: Considering all of these accusations, I believe it's for the best that I step down as the basketball coach at the University of Memphis.

The Door: (Creaks open, then closes. Forever.)

Erin Calipari's Facebook status: This is all Pat Forde's fault.

Chad Ford: We're hearing that Derrick Rose is plummeting out of the lottery. GM after GM has told us that Rose is untouchable because of perceived "character issues." With Pavel Podkolzin having pulled his name out of the draft, the Bulls are now strongly tied to Italian teenager Danilo Gallinari.

David Stern: With the first pick in the 2008 NBA Draft, the Chicago Bulls select … Derrick Rose from the University of Memphis.

Jeff Zeleny, New York Times: Vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin claimed today that Democrat Barack Obama "palled around" with the Chicago operatives who allegedly rigged star hoopster Derrick Rose's SAT test.

Dan Balz, Washington Post: In a historic election year, Barack Obama became the first African-American to secure his party's nomination for the presidency. Tonight, he became the first African-American to lose to John McCain. "My opponent ran a brilliant campaign," Obama said. "Those ads where they superimposed Derrick Rose's face over Willie Horton really worked."

John McCain: There is no place for a playoff in college football. The bowl system has worked just fine for a century and I don't see any reason to change it. Back when I was a boy in 1902, I remember going to the first Rose Bowl …

Jim Nantz: Rock, chalk, another championship. Mario Chalmers and Kansas have done it again!

Billy Packer: I don't care what the final score says, Jim. I'm giving the trophy to Tyler Hansbrough and the North Carolina Tar Heels. What a tough, scrappy, hard-working, effort-giving champion.

Pete Garcia, Florida International athletic director: We have conducted a comprehensive search to find the finest disgraced basketball mind in all the land. Today, we are proud to announce that John Calipari is our new head coach.

John Calipari: It is an honor and a privilege to be here. Now I'll let the newest FIU Golden Panthers, John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins, say a few words.

Isiah Thomas: It is an honor and a privilege to be in my living room, still unemployed.

Pat Riley: It is an honor and a privilege to become the coach at my alma mater, the University of Kentucky. I have the ingredient UK needs to get back to the promised land: slicked-back hair.

Myles Brand: After an exhaustive investigation, we have discovered no irregularities in Derrick Rose's SAT scores. Please carry on.

Report: NCAA accuses Memphis men's basketball of major violations [ESPN]
Memphis Tigers find no proof Derrick Rose cheated on SAT [ESPN]

CBS Sports is reporting that Robert Dozier—who graduated from Memphis as the winningest player in college basketball history—originally tried to enroll at Georgia, but the school would not take him because his SAT score was "fishy." He took the SAT a second time, but the school was still not convinced his score was legitimate. So instead he went to Memphis and joined the most successful class in NCAA hoops history.

The problem with this accusation—and the similar accusation against Derrick Rose—is that it's nearly impossible to prove unless they were caught in the act, which they weren't. It's just a suspicion that something was amiss and as Memphis rightly pointed out in the Rose instance, he was cleared to play by the NCAA. So the sports cops can't exactly come back a year later and blame the school. Plus, if the cheating happened in high school is that Memphis' fault? Or are they ultimately to blame for admitting a kid who cheated on his SAT, even if they were duped too?

Conspiracy hounds would say that of course Memphis knew what was up, because these kids can't have a sandwich without a recruiter knowing about it. Even if they didn't know, does that fact they would ignore the warning signs when another school was so suspicious saying something about the Tigers ethics? But without proof (and with Rose and Dozier long gone) it won't make much difference one way or the other. Memphis (and John Calipari) won't be punished and those who think they're both dirty will never be convinced otherwise. And that's why we all love college sports!

Dozier went to Memphis, not Georgia, because of SAT flap [CBS Sports]
Memphis: We didn't cheat [AP]
Memphis Responds… and Guess What, Everything Was a Big Misunderstanding! [Rush The Court]
[Photo via Memphis Commerical-Appeal]

The Sun-Times is now reporting that four student-athletes at Simeon High School in Chicago, including Rose, had grades changed on their high school transcripts after graduation. The grades were changed for a brief period before the transcripts were mailed to prospective colleges, and then changed back once they were sent. No one knows who changed the grade or why, and it would not have affected their high school eligibility, although Rose and two of the other athletes that were allegedly involved starred on Simeon's back-to-back state championship teams.

The idea that a guy who spent one year in college before jumping to the NBA might have needed (and received) a whole lot of under-the-table help to get into college must surely be shocking and appalling to you, but Rose is already in the NBA so your righteous anger will need to be funneled somewhere else. How about the spelling bee?

Derrick Rose's high school grade altered [Chicago Sun-Times]

So that's what he was hiding behind The Door. The allegations include "knowing fraudulence" (that's really a word! I looked it up.) or "misconduct" on an SAT exam by a player on the 2007-2008 team, and that they also provided over $2,000 in free travel to an "associate" of that same player. The player's name is redacted in the letter sent by the NCAA to Memphis and obtained by the Memphis Commercial Appeal, but he only participated in that one season—which included 38 wins and a national championship appearance—so that pretty much narrows it down to one-and-done Tiger hero Derrick Rose.

There are many people out there who are of the opinion that Calipari is a slimy no-good swindler and this just makes his convenient shuffle on down to Kentucky (more on them later) that more more slippery. Those people will be happy to know that Calipari was not named in the letter and will face no repercussions. Neither will current coach Josh Pastner or anyone one else on present or future Tiger teams. Rose is long gone, so they can't touch him. So what, you might be asking, is the point? Well, if the Tigers are found guilty it's possible that they will be forced to "vacate" their record 38 wins from that year, taking away the four-year win record that belonged to this year's senior class, give up a Conference USA championship, I suppose, and also take down any Final Four banners that they may or may not have. In other words, nothing.

As I've noted before, vacated wins and records are a common NCAA punishment that actually punishes no one. Remember, this is a "major" violation, but both Calipari and the Memphis athletic department were adamant that no one currently in college basketball will be scarred by this. So if the allegation is true, it means that Memphis helped a player who had no intention of ever graduating cheat so he could enroll in school for one year, then he helped the school to its greatest season ever and skipped town with no repercussions to anyone except the stat guy who has to buy more erasers. The Memphis golf team (which is also part of the investigation) will probably suffer more.

Seriously, great job all around.

Report: NCAA accuses Memphis Tigers of violations [Memphis Commercial Appeal]
Geoff Calkins: Allegations like this come with the Calipari territory [Memphis Commercial Appeal]
Report: NCAA accuses Memphis men's basketball of major violations [ESPN]

Derrick Rose isn't practicing Monday after needing 10 stitches to close a gash in his arm. The Bulls said Rose suffered the injury when he rolled over onto a knife he was using to carve an apple while in bed.

Rose shouldn't miss any time, but that has to go pretty high up on the exalted list of bizarro athlete injuries. Maybe not as bad as throwing out your back while putting on socks, but it's close.

Rose injured. You gotta hear how. [Chicago Tribune]

Now one has to wonder what Rose was afraid his teammate was going to say about him. "What do we think of him? I mean, once you get past the premature ejaculating and toenail eating, he's a pretty nice kid who can make things happen on the court. It's a good thing too, we almost forgot his Cabbage Patch Kid doll on the trip. That really would have put us at a disadvantage tonight."

Derrick Rose Does His Best Clay Davis Impression [The Sporting News]

(Aside: Snipped from this 30 seconds of press conference goodness was John Calipari using my favorite noncommittal phrase. "There ya go." It can basically get one out of any situation without breaking a promise, lying, or letting someone down. "Hey, maybe we could go to my sister's volleyball game after dinner." It's almost instinctual, the reaction. But in this case it's the cynic's catch-all safety valve. Just a remarkable phrase all around.)