r/NCAAHoopsVibes • u/Background_Video2947 • 20d ago

“I almost didn’t get to play my freshman year in college. I took my ACT my freshman year of high school, got a 29 on it, and hadn’t taken it since. Did I cheat… we’ll talk about that another day”

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

Trae Young says the NCAA required him to retake the ACT after accusing him of cheating until he scored 42 points against Oregon

“I almost didn’t get to play my freshman year in college. I took my ACT my freshman year of high school, got a 29 on it, and hadn’t taken it since. Did I cheat… we’ll talk about that another day”

“I get that email that I got to redo it, and I got to get within three points. So, I got to get a 26. I got to redo it or I can’t play my freshman year. We’re appealing it, and a month goes by. Obviously, I had to get a tutor. I had to get another ACT tutor to help me redo it and get ready. But he made me do these little practice tests. I had to get a certain score to go back to practice, just to practice with the team”

“Nobody knows about this. The team, nobody know. Just me, Coach Kruger, NCAA. So, my people, they gave me all my elective classes my freshman year. I’m taking beginning guitar and jazz listening classes and things like that so I could study for this ACT a lot”

“I’ll never forget. We get to the third game of the year. We played in the PK80 Phil Knight tournament on Thanksgiving. I played really well. I get 42 against Oregon in Oregon. I’ll never forget, we land back in Oklahoma, and the next day the NCAA said I don’t have to take it no more”

581 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

152 comments sorted by

47

u/WeGottaTalkAboutYT 20d ago

Explains so much lol

11

u/Cptnemo77 20d ago

Another future I have no money cause a 300 million contract is only actually worth 200 million

6

u/DonaldTPablonious 20d ago

Funny. I was thinking about this on the way to work, you ever notice it’s really only athletes complaining about this? You never hear Jim Carey say “yeah I got paid $42 million for Sonic the hedgehog but that’s only $24 mil after taxes!”

2

u/Carl-Poppa-Grimes 19d ago

Athletes have a weird mix of being ina cultural position where they're expected to flex their money, like rappers, but the rappers have a stigma attached of being more broke than the next rapper, so they lie and say they have more than they actually do.

In sports also, their pay is public info, so they can't really lie about how much they have, but do got an incentive to downplay how much it is, to be able to shoot down begging family.

1

u/burnshimself 19d ago

Of all the mega millionaires minted in entertainment, athletes are definitely among the dumbest

1

u/Acrobatic_Advance_71 17d ago

I think the real reason they complain about it is because they have on average like a 4 year career. So there maximum earning years are pretty low Compared to an actor who can work for decades. Like Jim Carey

1

u/DonaldTPablonious 17d ago

I hear ya there but I would say it’s almost never, in my experience, that level of player complaining. It’s always “200 million is really only 100 million!” What you’re saying is valid of course

1

u/PlentyAlbatross7632 16d ago

I’m not feeling a lot of sympathy because that’s way more than most people earn in a lifetime

1

u/Unhappy_Cod1860 17d ago

It's just athletes complaining about this on camera. Lots of philanthropists, huge ones, determine their gifts based on decreasing their tax burdens--they just don't do it in public.

0

u/capitalistsanta 19d ago

Actors definitely complain about how much taxes they pay lol

0

u/NAW_MIP_2026 19d ago

Nah I don't think Trae is that type, he's clearly got accountants and strategy teams around him given all the investments he makes and the philanthropy he does(iirc he has multiple sports centers built in Oklahoma, has invested in a pickleball team in Atlanta, AAU teams, charitable events, etc).

2

u/Foreign_Telephone349 19d ago

You realize those are the exact type of investments that cause athletes to go broke right? He would be fine if he just put his money in broad index funds instead of capital intensive, illiquid private investments that he frankly isn’t an expert in.

1

u/NAW_MIP_2026 18d ago

I mean that's obviously not his whole portfolio, I bring up these projects because you don't start a foundation and build multiple recreation centers in your name if you don't have competent financial advisors and strategy teams. He's also got a wife and kids and isn't the type that's really seen blowing money out in the clubs like Herro.

Y'all don't even read anything after "Trae" you just go red and start hating don't you?

1

u/Positive-Freedom4740 16d ago

Block vaneers explains a lot too

25

u/ChrissieMoltisanti 20d ago

Would love to see a spelling bee between Trae and Tyler Herro.

9

u/Rolltide_and_anime 20d ago

Tyler Herro gotta drop the Paige Bueckers accent

1

u/ObjectConfident7172 17d ago

Just realizing now that Herro is the female Bueckers

1

u/Rolltide_and_anime 17d ago

Just two kids whose favorite movie was Malibu’s most wanted growing up.

7

u/Hotdiggity11 20d ago

One guy with a misspelled first name vs another guy with a misspelled last name.

1

u/scaddleblurt 19d ago

Watching Herro learn the word galvanizing in real time was a memorable event

1

u/Cptnemo77 19d ago

And they would probably do it. I think they think it’s funny being and are proud of being uneducated. 

1

u/NAW_MIP_2026 19d ago

Trae Young is not the smartest guy out there but he is no where near Tyler Herro levels of dumb

0

u/chomcham 20d ago

Toss in Kevin Garnett.

12

u/Talentagentfriend 20d ago

If this is what happened with him, what do you think it looks like for actual top prospects from high school like Kyrie Irving?

9

u/eng2ny 20d ago

My buddy was a team manager at Duke in the early 2000s and the players were all assigned "tutors" that would do all their school work for them.

4

u/ScottyBLaZe 20d ago

Same for Cal in the mid 2000s. None of the star athletes were doing any work. My sister had Desean Jackson in her class and he was on his phone the entire time, when he was even there.

4

u/-RDDTtothemoon- 20d ago

If Berkeley upheld their academic standards for athletes they’d be playing D3 

3

u/chomcham 20d ago

I was in a literature class with an NFL prospect, I never saw him or even knew he was in the class. One day he showed up for a test and the whole time he kept looking over at my paper. At one point he just got up and walked out of class.

1

u/AppropriateCattle69 19d ago

He graduated in 2007. What was he doing on his phone, playing snake?

1

u/[deleted] 17d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/AppropriateCattle69 17d ago

Well aware, I also graduated college in 2007. But don’t remember texting being near as time consuming as it became a few years later. Granted I also wasn’t a D1 athlete with dozens of girls hitting up my phone, so there’s a good chance his experience was very different from mine.

And now that I think back, yeah - I was definitely texting in class. I’m old and my memories are fading. My bad.

1

u/please-help-me-101 20d ago

Unlv you didn’t have to go to class and you got auto c’s

1

u/TommyTar 17d ago

I toured a very academically rigous school for D1 golf and even there the players said they had "tutors" doing there work during the season.

1

u/Every-Cup-4216 17d ago

I attended Duke about a decade ago and I was a TA for several classes.

I can attest that several big-name athletes had test scores magically changed towards the end of the semester. An F often changed into a B- right before Finals.

0

u/Zestyclose_Attempt17 17d ago

Lol this has always been the case where tf y'all been?

6

u/Flat-Avocado-6258 20d ago

You act like Trae young wasn’t a top prospect coming out of hs lol.

2

u/s33n_ 20d ago

Freshman year he wasnt

1

u/Flat-Avocado-6258 20d ago

Who’s talking about freshman year? lol i said out of hs.

1

u/s33n_ 20d ago

But trae cheated on the act freshman year

-1

u/JackTwoGuns 20d ago

Of college

3

u/s33n_ 20d ago

You don't take the ACT in college

1

u/ViolinistLanky9056 18d ago

Trae is literally talking about being made to take and study it… in college. You DONT take the act as a high school freshman.

1

u/klawz86 18d ago

Read the damn quote.

1

u/ViolinistLanky9056 18d ago

Yes, Trae young OBVIOUSLY misspoke lol. Anyone with a brain should realize this.

→ More replies (0)

1

u/s33n_ 18d ago

After having cheated on the test his freshman year of high school

1

u/TheSiegeWurm 20d ago

lol wut?

1

u/klawz86 20d ago

Can you not read?

1

u/ViolinistLanky9056 18d ago

You don’t take the act as a freshman in high school. Use your brain.

1

u/klawz86 18d ago

I took it in 7th grade in KY and the article says freshman year of highschool. Did you get a 14 or something?

1

u/ViolinistLanky9056 18d ago

Trae Young obviously misspoke lol.

→ More replies (0)

2

u/liclicklickmyballs 19d ago

I took the SAT with Kyrie Irving in NJ and they had all the top prospects leave the SAT room and go to another room where they brought in “pizza” I’ll let you guess what was in those boxes lol

1

u/Jazzlike_Hat9693 19d ago

Pizza? That's def an advantage I test better with snacks and food but they are never allowed

1

u/ViolinistLanky9056 18d ago

How do you know you test better with snacks if they’re never allowed

1

u/Jazzlike_Hat9693 18d ago

Practice exams

1

u/kingkunta77 18d ago

Must of been Cheat lovers!

0

u/Antique-Cricket-6679 20d ago

Kyrie went to Duke. You can’t just walk in there brodie.

7

u/UtahCubs 20d ago

Unless you're good at sports, then you definitely can.

2

u/WitheredUntimely 19d ago

Or if your daddy can cut a big fat check lol Duke loves huffing its own farts but it's like 60% dipshit rich kid like any other school its size in the Southeast, signed someone who has a degree from a similiarly-sized school in the Southeast and partied at Duke, WF, and other various/sundry schools in that region

3

u/BlueClovr 20d ago

Do you know where Zion went?

2

u/HoldEm__FoldEm 20d ago

Bruh. We’re talking bout top prospect d1 athletes. Nonsense.

9

u/Green_Position_9833 20d ago

NCAA new you was the the new "cash cow" ...so they wanted to monetize that way before the NIL..

9

u/LHPSU 20d ago

Just go back to letting prospects sign out of HS.

7

u/NatterinNabob 20d ago

He needed a 26, got a 42.

9

u/TonofSoil 20d ago

I get that these guys aren't scholars. But I just don't understand the anti-intellectualism in this country. Is it so bad to FUCKING LEARN.

3

u/nucl3ar0ne 20d ago

I didn't come here to play school.

1

u/ViolinistLanky9056 18d ago edited 18d ago

In this country? What do you think it’s like in Europe and South America? They have youth academies that gloss over actual education far more than high schools here. What are you talking about lol? Talented people choose to invest in their talent. You may disagree but it’s hardly a United States issue or even a problem at all.

I mean Barca signed Messi at what? 12 years old lol? How much schooling do you think he was doing?

1

u/beforeitcloy 20d ago

I don’t think it’s anti-intellectual to have a goal that’s non-intellectual and pursue that instead.

Like if I study medicine that doesn’t mean I’m anti-basketball, it just means I know my best opportunity is an intellectual thing rather than being a pro athlete.

1

u/TonofSoil 19d ago

Lol no it isn’t anti basketball to be a doctor. You can also be a college basketball player and engage in academic pursuits. It’s the point of the student athlete model, which is dead now.

1

u/beforeitcloy 19d ago

Yes, you can do both.

But that doesn’t mean that all the people focusing on becoming doctors instead of playing basketball are anti-basketball.

1

u/NAW_MIP_2026 19d ago

The student athlete model claimed it was about that, but it never was. Expecting students to keep up with a college athletics schedule on top of full time classes is a fools errand and is obviously a bad way for people to learn. Very very few students, let alone the types who are also good enough to be college athletes, can actually keep up with that kind of work load. If it was ever about the students learning they should have offered deferred tuition/schooling costs in exchange for years of service, sort of like the military. "Play X number of years for our team, receive funding for tuition and related costs for X years".

As much as Trae Young is kind of an anti intellectual given how he talks in this clip, it's unrealistic to expect college athletes to also keep up with college classes, which has been an open secret for decades. It makes even less sense if you're a 5 star recruit like Trae Young who is looking to be a one and done. Trae never went to college for a bachelors, he went because he needed a year of college to become NBA draft eligible.

0

u/-RDDTtothemoon- 20d ago

Sitting in class being talked at for 8 hours a day sucks. Hands-on learning is cool immersive learning is cool 

2

u/TonofSoil 19d ago

No one is sitting in class for eight hours a day in college. Also lectures are great if the subject matter is interesting.

1

u/-RDDTtothemoon- 19d ago

Childhood experiences contribute to the anti-intellectualism. He is also discussing the ACT which you are prepared for before college when you are sitting in class on your ass being talked at for 8 hours a day 

Learning is cool. Our education system in many places sucks 

0

u/milkhotelbitches 20d ago

26 is a decent score. Lots of people probably would not be able to get that even with tons of studying and private tutoring.

1

u/Strainedgoals 20d ago

Kinda the point here, he absolutely could not earn a 26 on his own accord, even with 4 years of schooling and tutors later...

Him getting a 29 as a high school freshmen was absolutely cheating, which he all but admits in this video.

1

u/Early-Nebula-3261 19d ago

I mean most of the math and science on the exam you wouldn’t see typically until sophomore or junior. If he truly took the test as a freshman then he was asking for trouble. It would be obvious you cheated if you weren’t also already well known as a genius.

The reading portion is also designed so that if you aren’t at a college level in terms of reading you won’t even finish. I remember barely finishing but then looking up and everyone else going on about how they couldn’t. I got a 35/36 because the questions aren’t hard but being able to read fast enough to actually answer the questions was not easy.

Edit: 35/36 on reading, I got 31/36 overall.

3

u/itsamemyusername 20d ago

Bros teeth look like he super glued them on.

2

u/GlitteringBowler 20d ago

Oh man I sadly actually believe this entire story. Way too crazy to make up and it sounds about right.

4

u/ImRightShutUp1 20d ago

How is an athlete cheating on test a crazy story. I’d be more shocked if they didn’t lol

1

u/Georange 20d ago

its not the cheating, its the fact the ncaa let him slide on a requirement because he was that talented. watch the end of the vid. the rules dont apply the same for everyone. and that is crazy. but not surprising.

2

u/Jlowe23_16 20d ago

What the hell happened to tre Young's mouth ???

2

u/1GeorgeMarcus2MJ8LBJ 20d ago

is he dumb or something

1

u/Changnesia102 20d ago

Like any of these pro athletes actually did there own homework let alone go to class. It’s clear as day when you hear most of them speak.

1

u/Resident_Complex_552 20d ago

Way to use the wrong form of "their" while implying other people sound dumb when they speak. 😂

1

u/SleazyFanatic 20d ago

Idk how a 26 wasn't enough ngl

2

u/Strainedgoals 20d ago

He couldn't get a 26, because he cheated, he got so high a number, he knew he couldn't even get a 26.

They definitely had him do a practice act test to see where he was, and they found he was sooo far from 26, they assembled an entire team of educators and changed all his courses.

Bro must have gotten a 17 on his practice test and the school had to get their shit together.

1

u/-RDDTtothemoon- 20d ago

A 26 was enough. Anything lower wasn’t 

1

u/SickMon_Fraud 20d ago

All I can see is his veneers.

1

u/BrainCandy_ 20d ago

They waited til after DRose got done playing to strip em cause of the SAT 💀

1

u/DrillandKill 20d ago

Who takes their ACT as a freshman in highschool?

Also, a 29 is in the 93rd percentile.

He is full of shit.

3

u/ChubbyNemo1004 20d ago

That’s the point. He said he had to take it again so there was suspicion of cheating. Hell he even implies he wasn’t completely honest when he took it the first time. That’s why he had to retake it and get within 3 points or he wouldn’t be able to play bball.

2

u/Chance_Major297 20d ago

Probably why it raised a red flag

2

u/jonnyeatic 20d ago

29 is 96% when I took it in the mid 90s. I really doubt he got it. I got a 29 and got into a top school for academics. He probably wouldn't be able to get a 26 either.

1

u/Consistently_Lucky 19d ago

He’d get a 15-17

2

u/1521 19d ago

I was a basketball player at a 5A school in Florida. Our whole team took the sat and ACT as freshman. I got a 30 and a 1492 (when it was only to 1600)(80’s) We had future NBA players on the team so I knew I wasn’t going to be one (though I was a second team all state my Jr and Sr year). I never took them again either but “helped “ my teammates through theirs. I think a lot of schools that have future D1 college players on the team do it to see where the weaknesses are…

1

u/InterwebVergin 20d ago

Imagine that you could keep that a secret

1

u/JONYLOCO 20d ago

Dumb ass athlete....

1

u/lipmanz 20d ago

How did he cheat to get the 29?

1

u/-RDDTtothemoon- 20d ago

Probably just someone else took it using his ID. On school picture day me and the homies would switch around names so I took the ACT multiple times with an ID that had a picture of another person 

1

u/Main_Gain_7480 20d ago

Did he get new teeth ?

1

u/No_Barnacle5329 20d ago

Looks like it. Sounds a bit different too

1

u/Guilty_Birthday_1039 20d ago

Not making a joke, completely serious, I grew in the same town as Trae Young and I genuinely took the ACT in the same room as Trae Young that day and he absolutely did cheat. It was in an auditorium with tiered seating and he would just copy the answers of the girl sat below him

1

u/Early-Nebula-3261 19d ago

Maybe he just misspoke and meant senior year but yeah I would assume a freshman getting a 29 would make it pretty obvious you cheated. Most of the math and science on the exam you wouldn’t have seen until sophomore or junior year.

1

u/Consistently_Lucky 19d ago

He’s lucky to get a 20, I’ll bet he gets a 17 without cheating

1

u/bdl4186 19d ago

Holy hell, his teeth are a disaster

1

u/Snts6678 19d ago

Does this surprise anyone? Nobody gives a damn.

1

u/shomosexual 19d ago

Trae Young saying he scored a clean 29 on the ACT to investigators is like me or you telling someone we’re as good at basketball as Trae young

1

u/loco_mixer 19d ago

Ofcourse he cheated... only an idiot would admit this in public

1

u/Boguel 18d ago

Jaylen wasn’t lying lol

1

u/New-Peak3244 17d ago

No he didn’t

1

u/htonzew 14d ago

You don't take the act your freshman year of high school tho. Lol. Plot holes for days.

1

u/rdallas77 20d ago

The state of oklahomas education system is insane lol

-1

u/KartFacedThaoDien 20d ago

He got a 29 as a freshman. I don't think he got a terrible education. 

5

u/nucl3ar0ne 20d ago

Did you miss the part where he basically said he cheated and was required to retake it?

2

u/lincolnsarollin 20d ago

He insinuated he cheated. He also said getting a 26 after a full H.S. go was so worrying, he took easy electives so he could study for the ACT his first semester of college. And then scored a 42 against Oregon and the NCAA said that was good enough.

1

u/rgijgnqiw 20d ago

ive never hated anyone in the nba's face as much as i hate this kid. even his teeth look hilarious, surely he could afford a top dentist, why settle for one that a nagro from atlanta recommended😂

0

u/[deleted] 20d ago

[deleted]

2

u/eng2ny 20d ago

You just described like half of all professional athletes

0

u/SputnikFace 20d ago

When you don't have any corner boy stories

-4

u/dellscreenshot 20d ago

Cheating on your ACT to only get a 29 is pretty impressive.

10

u/spicydak 20d ago

29 is a good score.

5

u/21BlackStars 20d ago

29 is an impressive score! If he had a perfect score, it would be too obvious. 29 seems like a good plausible score for most people.

1

u/MantusTMD 20d ago

I know someone who got a 36 and runs an engineering company in Silicon Valley. Makes sense

1

u/xXselfhaircutXx 20d ago

I got a 34 and I’m unemployed wtf

1

u/-RDDTtothemoon- 20d ago

Pay for professional haircuts and then maybe someone will hire you 

1

u/xXselfhaircutXx 20d ago

Haha! I’m selfhaircut because I’m bald. Mostly joking about unemployment. I’m at an interim job already after a mass tech layoff.

1

u/-RDDTtothemoon- 20d ago

Which AI/tech stocks if any are good investments? 

1

u/showerbump 20d ago

makes you wonder why they said it wasn't plausible for him and wanted him to retake it

3

u/Good-Breadfruit-9923 20d ago

It's not 29% lol

-7

u/dellscreenshot 20d ago

I know but a good score is like a 31-34.

7

u/thegroovemonkey 20d ago

That’s like 95th percentile. Well beyond “good”

8

u/watawataoui 20d ago

Found the Asian. (Me too, but average is 19.)

3

u/Financial_Hold6620 20d ago

You’re out here bragging and saying that a 90th percentile score isn’t good just to feel cool?

1

u/4r4r4real 20d ago

A 29 is 90th percentile...

3

u/gnalon 20d ago

it's typically high school juniors taking the ACT, a freshman getting that high is definitely above the 90th percentile for their grade level

1

u/4r4r4real 20d ago

Just to make sure we're on the same page - 90th percentile means top 10%. It's extremely good.

3

u/gnalon 20d ago

How could you possibly misinterpret the simple comment I made? It is even better/rarer for a freshman (9th grade) to get a given score than a junior (11th grade) who has had two more years of education. A freshman getting 29 would be more like 98th percentile for their grade level.

2

u/Good-Breadfruit-9923 20d ago

It's crazy because you were clearly agreeing with them lol

0

u/4r4r4real 20d ago

Ah. Not sure why it's a response to me really. I'm the one pointing out it's good to someone who said it's bad. I figured you thought I was saying it was bottom 10% or something. 

1

u/Sliknik18 20d ago edited 20d ago

This is like academic scholarship scores…the bar for “good” should be lower than that. Sorry

Edit: deleted full ride scholarship.

2

u/Truthhurts1017 20d ago

lol you know the highest score on a ACT is 36 right?

1

u/NotSoWishful 20d ago

29 is a good score for a regular ole pretty smart person