Don't count him out -- these are still Sonny days

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- The speech started like any other, just a man in black pants and a blue shirt introducing himself and telling his story. He mentioned how this crazy life began, touched on the Michael Jordan phenomenon he created and shifted back and forth between the past and the future, between what he has already done in basketball and what he plans to do next.

And then it got wild.

I mean, just loud and pointed and wild.

Vaccaro, seen here in 2003, creates quite a stir during a speech in Memphis. (Getty Images)

Sonny Vaccaro -- the so-called Godfather of Summer Basketball and the man in the black pants and blue shirt -- suddenly transformed from a calm storyteller into a passionate lecturer, pleading with a group of students and various professionals to "open their eyes" and "do something" about the way the NCAA is running a huge and profitable "business" despite tax-exempt status suggesting otherwise.

Vaccaro was the keynote speaker at Thursday's Issues in College Sport Symposium on the University of Memphis campus, and his rant that seemed equal parts frustration and anger made the morning interesting for the few hundred people in attendance, among them Tiger basketball players Chris Douglas-Roberts, Willie Kemp and Chance McGrady.

"I don't think this is where (they) thought I was going today," Vaccaro said at one point, aware his message had shifted and grown in volume. "But I've been waiting for this damn day for six months. Six months!"

Honestly, it was quite a scene -- and further proof that Vaccaro has no intention of retiring and relaxing and simply enjoying the life he has built with his wife and closest confidant, Pam. He's 68 years young, full of energy and vitriol, and still a major player and person of influence in this game, in case you didn't know.

Take the Derrick Rose issue, for example.

Rose is the possible No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft, a star point guard at Memphis who has been closely connected to agent Leon Rose (no relation) through William Wesley for years. That's one of the main reasons Rose ended up at Memphis, because of his -- and his brother Reggie's -- connection with Wesley and Wesley's connection with Tigers coach John Calipari. And so it's been assumed for as long as anybody can remember that Derrick Rose the prospect would sign with Leon Rose the agent the moment he announced he was entering the NBA Draft.

And then came Darren Rovell's Sunday story at CNBC.com.

Rovell cited sources and claimed Rose was actually on the verge of signing with Arm Tellem, which was shocking in basketball circles. Somehow, Derrick and Reggie Rose had been lured away from William Wesley, Leon Rose and even John Calipari, to some degree. And it didn't take long to connect the dots and figure out how the Roses might've ended up in a relationship with Tellem given the their longstanding relationship with Vaccaro and Vaccaro's well-documented relationship with Tellem (Vaccaro is the godparent of Tellem's child).

"Sonny's keeping quiet about it," said one basketball insider. "But this has his fingerprints all over it."