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Former UNC guard Rashad McCants refuses to back down from academic fraud claims

Rashad McCants celebrates

GREENSBORO, NC - MARCH 14: Raymond Felton #2 and Rashad McCants #32 of the University of North Carolina Tar Heels celebrate their upset of the Maryland Terrapins in the quarter final game of the ACC Tournament on March 14, 2003 at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina. (Photo by Craig Jones/Getty Images)

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Friday an ESPN Outside the Lines report focused on former North Carolina guard Rashad McCants and his assertion that he took phony classes during his time in Chapel Hill. According to McCants not only did those courses help him avoid academic ineligibility during the 20024-05 season, but the courses also resulted in his making the Dean’s List with straight-A’s.

North Carolina head coach Roy Williams, who was McCants’ coach at the time of the alleged academic issues, vehemently denied McCants’ claims and has seen many former players rush to his defense. Wednesday, McCants was once again discussing his time at North Carolina on the ESPN show, and he stood by his statements last week regarding not only the phony classes but the statement that Williams knew what was going on.

On Wednesday, McCants also stood behind an allegation he made directly about Williams: That, when he was possibly headed toward ineligibility during the 2004-05 national championship season due to grades, Williams told him in a meeting that a summer session could be swapped out with a failed class to improve his GPA.

Williams adamantly denied Saturday that he ever discussed swapping any classes with McCants; further, he said he did not recall such a meeting “at all.”

But on Wednesday, McCants said: “Maybe he’s getting a little old. You know, that’s something that I can’t ... I don’t have any control over what he remembers. All I know is the truth. And I’m not up here to lie about anything.”


At this point the situation is a matter of “he said/he said,” with many pointing out McCants’ flaws both during and after his time in Chapel Hill as a reason why he shouldn’t be deemed to be credible. However during his appearance on ESPN’s Outside the Lines on Wednesday McCants also issued a challenge of sorts to his former teammates who have denied his claims.

That challenge: for them to make their own transcripts public, noting that “the truth is there in the transcripts.” The question now is whether or not his former teammates will take McCants up on his request.

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