any case, he says the assum ption he and lundy made that the players would not be ke pt from playing was"an expectation based on NCaa rules-that's what commonly happens when players have e ligibility issues before big games. As they look back on the brouhaha, the editors say they feel that, in fact the tim ing was not as bad as it could have been. If the story had run in Sundays larger paper, instead of the following Wednesday, would it have had more impact? Would a Sunday story perhaps have kept the Gophers out of the team selection that was to occur that day? Pressing on in this line of thinking, Garcia-Ruiz asks: What time would have been painless? Before the big Indiana game in February? Or before the Big 10 opener in January? Was there ever a truly acceptable time? Or, as Lundy runs though the timing possibilities: What if we'd held it? Let's say they beat Gonzaga. Then what do we do? Lets say we held it again. Now they ' re in the Final Four. If we didn t run it when they were one of 64, we cant run it now. Now they're national champions Whatever the problems are, the risk of holding it would have only multiplied those problems. As Lundy sees it : The only way we could not be guilty of whatever they thought we we guilty of is if we just ran the story when we were ready For another look at the tim ing issue, here's the david brauer piece from the city magazine Mpls-St. Paul" in June 1999 Before the fall: Was the Pioneer Press's Gopher cheating scoop carelessly timed? by David Brauer You know the basics: The St. Paul Pioneer Press broke a big story on alleged academic cheating in the University of Minnesota basketball program one day before the team played its first round game in the NCAa tournament. First Fan Jesse Ventura called the papers tim ing"despicable. PiPress editor Walker Lundy responded , "We ran the story when it was ready to run and threw a random insult back at the guv. The Gophers, with four players declared ineligible lost to unheralded gonzaga Ventura's judgment was as hasty and unsupported as re porter George Dohrmann's story was credible, but i can't com pletely write off critics of the timing In an editorial colum n the day after the series broke, Lundy challenged those who found the tim ing exploitative to pick another option: run the story early before all facts could be checked; kill the story because it would hurt the u, or hold the story until the boys tournament time had run its course Com pe lling rhetoric, but Lundy set up a straw man-his critics were either advocates of sloppy journalism, Pollyannas, or homers. The issue the paper should have considered andany case, he says, the assumption he and Lundy made that the players would not be kept from playing was "an expectation based on NCAA rules—that's what commonly happens when players have eligibility issues before big games." As they look back on the brouhaha, the editors say they feel that, in fact, the timing was not as bad as it could have been. If the story had run in Sunday's larger paper, instead of the following Wednesday, would it have had more impact? Would a Sunday story perhaps have kept the Gophers out of the team selection that was to occur that day? Pressing on in this line of thinking, Garcia-Ruiz asks: What time would have been painless? Before the big Indiana game in February? Or before the Big 10 opener in January? Was there ever a truly acceptable time? Or, as Lundy runs though the timing possibilities: "What if we'd held it? Let's say they beat Gonzaga. Then what do we do? Let's say we held it again. Now they're in the Final Four. If we didn't run it when they were one of 64, we can't run it now. Now they're national champions. Whatever the problems are, the risk of holding it would have only multiplied those problems." As Lundy sees it: "The only way we could not be guilty of whatever they thought we were guilty of is if we just ran the story when we were ready." For another look at the timing issue, here's the David Brauer piece from the city magazine, "Mpls-St. Paul" in June 1999. Before the Fall; Was the Pioneer Press's Gopher cheating scoop carelessly timed? by David Brauer You know the basics: The St. Paul Pioneer Press broke a big story on alleged academic cheating in the University of Minnesota basketball program one day before the team played its first round game in the NCAA tournament. First Fan Jesse Ventura called the paper's timing "despicable." PiPress editor Walker Lundy responded, "We ran the story when it was ready to run," and threw a random insult back at the Guv. The Gophers, with four players declared ineligible, lost to unheralded Gonzaga. Ventura's judgment was as hasty and unsupported as reporter George Dohrmann's story was credible, but I can't completely write off critics of the timing. In an editorial column the day after the series broke, Lundy challenged those who found the timing exploitative to pick another option: run the story early before all facts could be checked; kill the story because it would hurt the U, or hold the story until the boys' tournament time had run its course. Compelling rhetoric, but Lundy set up a straw man—his critics were either advocates of sloppy journalism , Pollyannas, or homers. The issue the paper should have considered and