The WSJ on the Pistol Whipper

In April 1993, as a high-school junior, Mr. Bullard was arrested for trying to sell crack cocaine to an undercover cop. In October, he was indicted. In November, he signed with Mississippi State.How much -- or even whether -- the team's coaches knew about Mr. Bullard's problems is unclear. But he was from Long Beach, Miss., and he could play -- all-state as a junior, 60 points in one game as a senior. In August 1994, Mr. Bullard pleaded guilty to possession and was sentenced to three years' probation. Mississippi State officials reviewed the case and allowed him to enroll that fall.Coaches, teammates and lawyers describe Mr. Bullard as polite, intelligent and hard working. He carried a B average and was on schedule to graduate, and, they agree, was good enough for the NBA. They learned not to inquire about his troubled background -- a brother in prison, a violent father, extreme poverty, drugs.Bart Hyche, who roomed with Mr. Bullard on the road, once asked him about his upbringing. "He said, 'Bart, man, I love you to death, but that's something I never want to talk about. Got it?' ""He lived two lives," says Jim Davis, a lawyer who has represented Mr. Bullard.Mr. Bullard averaged 6.4 points and 6.4 assists a game in the NCAA tournament. Four months later, Mr. Hyche dropped him off at the student union after a few games of one-on-one. Later that day, Mr. Bullard hit a student from a rival fraternity in the head with a .380-caliber pistol.For violating probation, Mr. Bullard spent almost a year in prison. He declined an offer from Mr. Williams to return to school but not play for a year as punishment. "He felt he had paid his debt to society," says Bob Cuccaro, Mr. Bullard's high-school coach and surrogate father. Mr. Bullard enrolled at a small, non-NCAA school, but quit after he was arrested for marijuana possession. (The charge was dropped.) He declared for the 1998 NBA draft. The San Antonio Spurs were interested, Mr. Cuccaro says, but backed off.Marcus Bullard at a probation hearingMr. Bullard played in a U.S. minor league, Venezuela, against the Harlem Globetrotters. But he couldn't avoid home. In 2002, when police stopped him for traffic violations on separate occasions, they found cocaine and ecstasy. Mr. Bullard pleaded guilty to possession charges and last April was sentenced to 12 years in prison. Now 30 years old, he is in the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman, Miss. He couldn't be reached for comment.Did Mississippi State fail to monitor Mr. Bullard closely enough? Should it have admitted him at all? "I have a hard time blaming anybody other than Marcus," Mr. Cuccaro says. "But I don't know if they really looked out for the kid." According to the coach, Mr. Bullard accepts responsibility for his actions.Mr. Williams says nothing troubles him more than Mr. Bullard. He recalls meeting the player to talk in a Wal-Mart parking lot, usually after Mr. Bullard had spoken with his imprisoned brother. "He cried like a baby," Mr. Williams says. "But back on the streets with his buddies and he was a bad guy."The coach says he felt like he failed, but also says there's only so much a college basketball program can do. "He had an opportunity to change," he says. "He didn't take advantage of that opportunity."


***For some reason the WallStreetJounal did a story on the Final Four MSU basketball team. This is the section on Marcus Bullard. They even addressed Dontae Jones and the 30 hours he got in summer school. Still the single most ridiculous thing MSU basketball has ever done. There is no way you can complete that many hours in a summer, especially Dontae Jones.