ESPN: Sources: LiAngelo Ball, 2 other UCLA players arrested in China

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The most intriguing part of all this for me is how this effects Lavar's little guarantee that "all my kids will be one-and-done." This middle one was already the lowest regarded of the 3 (not many 3-stars going to the NBA after one year). So if he misses significant time this year or - even better - gets kicked off the UCLA team, how will the Big Mouth Ball spin that?
 

WriterGoph said:
The most intriguing part of all this for me is how this effects Lavar's little guarantee that "all my kids will be one-and-done." This middle one was already the lowest regarded of the 3 (not many 3-stars going to the NBA after one year). So if he misses significant time this year or - even better - gets kicked off the UCLA team, how will the Big Mouth Ball spin that?
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one theft and done?
 

Lavar has a much bigger problem on his hands now. For all the three kids.

Big Brother is truly watching you in China. If they are lucky, the police will complete the investigation in a month and reduce the charges to a minor one. That depends on how much those sunglasses cost.

This process could take weeks even months if they drag their feet. The police have a lot of power in the communist system. If they decide that the property theft crime is high enough to warrant a charge, they can go to prison for some time.

The kids will have to show remorse in the eyes of the courts and apologize. You are guilty until proven innocent.
 

WriterGoph said:
The most intriguing part of all this for me is how this effects Lavar's little guarantee that "all my kids will be one-and-done." This middle one was already the lowest regarded of the 3 (not many 3-stars going to the NBA after one year). So if he misses significant time this year or - even better - gets kicked off the UCLA team, how will the Big Mouth Ball spin that?
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Technically he's still one and done.
 




WriterGoph said:
This is going fantastically. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...om&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=editorial

The question will be (if convicted and released after house arrest), does UCLA suit up 3 shoplifters? I remember when Royce White's whole career at the U was derailed just for being accused of shoplifting at MOA.
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Um ... if I remember right, he was arrested and he pled guilty to theft so maybe you shouldn't make it sound like White was somehow treated unfairly. His career was really derailed when he decided that not squealing in the dorm incident was the way to go instead of cooperating with the police so he could be reinstated. Wish he could have played for the Gophers, but he wasn't a victim.
 

WriterGoph said:
The most intriguing part of all this for me is how this effects Lavar's little guarantee that "all my kids will be one-and-done." This middle one was already the lowest regarded of the 3 (not many 3-stars going to the NBA after one year). So if he misses significant time this year or - even better - gets kicked off the UCLA team, how will the Big Mouth Ball spin that?
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Lavar only says this stuff to get a reaction from people. He will continue saying it as long as people continue to get so worked up about him. I thought LaVar was crazy as well until i watched the Ball's tv show that they have. After watching that i had a different opinion on the whole family. Totally different from the stuff you see in interviews and in the media.
 

Mulligan said:
Um ... if I remember right, he was arrested and he pled guilty to theft so maybe you shouldn't make it sound like White was somehow treated unfairly. His career was really derailed when he decided that not squealing in the dorm incident was the way to go instead of cooperating with the police so he could be reinstated. Wish he could have played for the Gophers, but he wasn't a victim.
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Easy, hoss. It has nothing to do with trying to make Royce a "victim". I just didn't remember all the details.
 



Arash Markazi of ESPN.com provided the status update from a source, who also said there's video evidence showing the three players shoplifting from three stores in a Hangzhou shopping center.

Not good news. I fear that the purported 20 days house arrest can easily escalate. If they are charged of a crime, there is 99.9% conviction rate. You only hope that it never gets to that stage. If it does, it means that the Communist Party may decide to make them an example. Lavar Ball's "It ain't a big deal comment hopefully won't taint the perception. Culturally, you are expected to show obedience, remorse, and apologize to authority figures. There is no rugged individualism in China when it comes to the justice system.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2743666-report-liangelo-ball-ucla-players-could-remain-in-china-for-a-week-or-2

The Communist Police are probably looking at video for the entire UCLA and Georgia Tech players. I bet both teams couldn't wait to get out of China.

Joseph Tsai, the billionaire founder of Alibaba is interceding in their behalf to find a solution which may or may not sway the communist police apparatus.
 


What are the chances that if these three players get a reprieve and allowed to return to LA that they will be expelled from UCLA?

This is an international embarrassment for UCLA, the Pac 12, and USA Basketball.
 

hungan1 said:
What are the chances that if these three players get a reprieve and allowed to return to LA that they will be expelled from UCLA?

This is an international embarrassment for UCLA, the Pac 12, and USA Basketball.
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If they end of admitting/being convicted, I can't see how an upstanding school like UCLA could allow them on the court this season. ;)
 




My buddy, who went to UCLA, says that when Jerime Anderson (now playing in Belgium) got busted for stealing a computer from the student center a few years back, he was "suspended a few games because it was only a misdemeanor and not a felony." Hearing that, I feel like it's not out of the question that they could be back on the court by January. Seems like at Minnesota, either of these crimes would have led to a lengthy suspension.
 

die hard gopher said:
I'd be surprised if UCLA suspended or expelled them. We'll see.
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Yeah, this doesn't seem like that kind of situation.

If this happened locally, there would be much less attention on it. Being in China, where the police are much less restricted, is the reason we all are talking about it.

Also, Ball being involved adds a ton of media attention. I bet any headline involving that family gets a ton more clicks than average articles.
 

So stupid on so many levels.

First off, even if you're a thief, take a break for the week while you're on the team trip to China. You get caught for this on your time it's one thing. To get caught while representing the school on an international trip is a whole other deal. Plenty of time for thieving back in LA.

Second, how do you think you're going to walk into Louis Vuitton, a high end store that's sure to have high security and lot's of attentive sales people, in a group of extremely tall, young, Black Americans & not have every set of eyes on you the whole time?

Lastly, Ball is not a broke ghetto kid. His brother's got a fortune, his Dad does really well, I'm sure he's got plenty of walking around money. It's not like he was starving to death and stole the Louis Vuitton because he was hungry.
 

Costa Rican Gopher said:
So stupid on so many levels.

First off, even if you're a thief, take a break for the week while you're on the team trip to China. You get caught for this on your time it's one thing. To get caught while representing the school on an international trip is a whole other deal. Plenty of time for thieving back in LA.

Second, how do you think you're going to walk into Louis Vuitton, a high end store that's sure to have high security and lot's of attentive sales people, in a group of extremely tall, young, Black Americans & not have every set of eyes on you the whole time?

Lastly, Ball is not a broke ghetto kid. His brother's got a fortune, his Dad does really well, I'm sure he's got plenty of walking around money. It's not like he was starving to death and stole the Louis Vuitton because he was hungry.
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I think he got a Lamborghini for his birthday. He's fine
 

Maybe the Chines Government will take into account and demand Lamborghini like restitution (official bribe) and a cushy two months house arrest in a luxury hotel.

Money talks, BS walks. Communist Chinese make good capitalists.
 

On the halftime of the Champions Classic, Jay Williams just said they should get a 3-game suspension "and move on". Seth Greenberg about blew a gasket. Both he and Rece Davis agreed that these 3 should not be able to play this year for UCLA - practice, maybe, but not play
 

WriterGoph said:
On the halftime of the Champions Classic, Jay Williams just said they should get a 3-game suspension "and move on". Seth Greenberg about blew a gasket. Both he and Rece Davis agreed that these 3 should not be able to play this year for UCLA - practice, maybe, but not play
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Saw that as well. 3 games would be ridiculous but I wouldn't be shocked if it was short.
 

I feel like if few a few players shoplifted in the U.S and weren't nearly as big of names as Liangelo Ball is, then most programs would only issue a suspension for a few games and not the entire year. If one or two of our players got caught shoplifting in dinky town or downtown, most on this site probably wouldn't be calling for a season long suspension or expulsion from the U. It's not exactly the same thing as sexual assault or domestic violence, two things that certainly would merit that type of punishment.

UCLA will probably be forced to issue a harsher punishment than it otherwise would due to public outrage if they don't but I don't think the team or school should punish the players based on how high profile the crime was. I hope they punish them the same as they would if they were caught shoplifting in LA and didn't have the name recognition that Ball already has. In other words, I hope they get punished because they shoplifted but the fact that it was an embarrassment for the program, school and country should not play a part in determining the punishment. Just my opinion.
 

die hard gopher said:
I feel like if few a few players shoplifted in the U.S and weren't nearly as big of names as Liangelo Ball is, then most programs would only issue a suspension for a few games and not the entire year. If one or two of our players got caught shoplifting in dinky town or downtown, most on this site probably wouldn't be calling for a season long suspension or expulsion from the U. It's not exactly the same thing as sexual assault or domestic violence, two things that certainly would merit that type of punishment.

UCLA will probably be forced to issue a harsher punishment than it otherwise would due to public outrage if they don't but I don't think the team or school should punish the players based on how high profile the crime was. I hope they punish them the same as they would if they were caught shoplifting in LA and didn't have the name recognition that Ball already has. In other words, I hope they get punished because they shoplifted but the fact that it was an embarrassment for the program, school and country should not play a part in determining the punishment. Just my opinion.
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You are probably right but the difference is Dinkytown is in Minnesota which is in the United States. Doing this in a different country with different rules makes it a little bigger than a theft at Goldy’s Locker Room. I am surprised they were released back to the United States. Someone high up did some work to make that happen. This could have been a pretty decent international situation with implications larger than the reputation of the UCLA b-ball team.


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Kind of like how the NCAA gave University of Null Classes a harsher penalty due to public outrage. Call me a cynic when it comes to the blue bloods, but I’m guessing a game or two suspension.
 

Trump tweeting out basically calling out the 3 UCLA players for not thanking him publicly yet. Such a clown
 

All 3 players suspended indefinitely. Will not practice or play until UCLA has an internal review.
 

GophersInIowa said:
Saw that as well. 3 games would be ridiculous but I wouldn't be shocked if it was short.
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I go back and forth on this a little. I think this is one case where the fact that one of Lavar's kids is involved makes people want to be really harsh on the players because of how much they dislike him (which I totally understand because the guy is a moron).

On the flip side it was shoplifting, not some kind of assault so I think the idea that they should have to sit for the whole year like many seem to want seems overblown (of course it would be fun to see Lavar lose it, assuming he even cares about his middle kid who isn't as talented as the oldest and youngest it seems).

UCLA plays 2 weak teams before playing a couple solid teams and then returning to cupcakes for a bit leading up to the conference season. I won't be shocked to see them back in time for those early tough games but I hope they sit until the start of conference play at a minimum. They deserve to be punished for what they did but they shouldn't have their lives destroyed over some sunglasses and a case of stupidity.
 

Costa Rican Gopher said:
So stupid on so many levels.

First off, even if you're a thief, take a break for the week while you're on the team trip to China. You get caught for this on your time it's one thing. To get caught while representing the school on an international trip is a whole other deal. Plenty of time for thieving back in LA.

Second, how do you think you're going to walk into Louis Vuitton, a high end store that's sure to have high security and lot's of attentive sales people, in a group of extremely tall, young, Black Americans & not have every set of eyes on you the whole time?

Lastly, Ball is not a broke ghetto kid. His brother's got a fortune, his Dad does really well, I'm sure he's got plenty of walking around money. It's not like he was starving to death and stole the Louis Vuitton because he was hungry.
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Great post. It got me thinking... serious question, was this theft planned by the Ball family? Liangelo isn't exactly known for being a prized recruit, could this be propaganda for their reality TV show, as maybe they don't care all that much if Liangelo plays? Lavar certainly believes there's no such thing as bad publicity. Really sucks for his teammates, but I don't feel bad for them as they shouldn't have been so stupid (your "second" take accentuates their stupidity very well).
 


UCLA student newspaper, the Daily Bruin: Timeline - How the arrested players spent their time in China
http://dailybruin.com/2017/11/15/timeline-how-arrested-basketball-players-spent-their-time-in-china/

Prior to the trip

UCLA men’s basketball coach Steve Alford met with the team and had a talk in order to remind his players of the expectations and responsibilities that go along with representing UCLA abroad.

Monday, Nov. 6

On the first full day of the trip, the team toured the Alibaba campus and met Joseph Tsai, vice chairman and co-founder of Alibaba Group.

The shoplifting occurred later that evening. The student-athletes were given 90 minutes of free time, during which they were allowed to explore the town of Hangzhou, China.

UCLA men’s basketball freshmen LiAngelo Ball, Cody Riley and Jalen Hill used this time to visit several stores adjacent to the team hotel, at which point they took items from three stores without paying for them.

Reports have indicated those stores could have included Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and Salvatore Ferragamo.
 

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