NCAA Basketball Scandal

[gunnar hendershow]

Figure this needs its own thread as it looks like it is going to be a massive scandal.

Source: https://sports.yahoo.com/fbi-probe-uncovers-massive-college-basketball-scandal-snaring-big-time-programs-144631716.html

Quote

Tuesday, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York blew this shadowy world open in ways that have never before been seen, indicting 10 men, including active assistant basketball coaches at Arizona, Auburn, Oklahoma State and USC, plus an executive for Adidas, in a widespread case that is sure to rock college basketball to its core.

While only four schools are currently involved, the complaints will provide a treasure map for NCAA investigators as it tells stories of endless payouts and kickbacks in the recruitment of numerous top prospects over the past three years.

And that’s before any of the involved agree to cooperate with authorities.

Among the named defendants include former NBA star Chuck Person, an assistant at Auburn, as well as assistants Lamont Evans of Oklahoma State, Emanuel “Book” Richardson of Arizona and Tony Bland of USC. Adidas executive Jim Gatto is also named, as well as agents and financial planners.

While some other major schools and national championship coaches are not specifically named yet, nearly any college basketball fan can put the dots together on some of the recruiting stories to figure out who is who. The names that are expected to come out will be prominent.

Using a “cooperating witness” who is described as operating an athlete management business (a financial planner who handled the money for pro athletes), the FBI got an undercover agent into hotel rooms, meetings and deals. In 2016, the cooperating witness was accused of committing securities fraud, according to the complaints, and presumably flipped after that. The details are overwhelming.

One case among many in the three complaints, which total nearly 200 pages, states Adidas’ Gatto, financial planner Munish Sood and agent Christian Dawkins “conspired to illicitly funnel approximately $100,000 from company-1 to the family of Player-10, an All-American high school basketball player; to assist one or more coaches at University-6, a school sponsored by Company-1, and to further ensure that Player-6 ultimately retained the services of Dawkins and Sood and signed with Company-1 upon entering the NBA.

“The bribe money was structured in a manner so to conceal it from the NCAA and officials at University-6 by among other things having Company-1 wire money to a third party consultants who them facilitated cash payments to Player-10s family.”

The indictments suggest a mountain of evidence from recordings, written communications, corroborating testimony, financial data footprints and the undercover FBI agent.

The defendants are all legally presumed innocent until proven guilty. None could be immediately reached for comment.

In a statement released Tuesday morning, Adidas said: ““Today, we became aware that federal investigators arrested an adidas employee. We are learning more about the situation. We’re unaware of any misconduct and will fully cooperate with authorities to understand more.”

College basketball has dealt with suspicions of widespread corruption for generations. It’s long operated on a public relations campaign that suggests there are a few bad apples but most schools and recruits are clean.

That will struggle to survive after the federal government got involved in investigating the sport like never before.

The U.S. Attorney has scheduled a noon ET news conference in New York to further address the case. Yahoo Sports will continue to update this developing story.

Further reading: https://sports.yahoo.com/fbi-brings-armageddon-college-basketball-just-tip-iceberg-184524346.html

The second article basically points out that other schools (Louisville) are gonna get caught up in this too. A lot of guys are gonna be out of jobs sooner rather than later, this is a big one.

[Schlitzbrille]

[Pooker]

Pay the athletes something livable and this won't happen as much.

If it's this bad in college basketball, I wonder how bad it is in football.

[DMN in the House]

As long as it's the Trojans and not us, we'll never have to admit how shady the Wooden years were!

[gunnar hendershow]

1 hour ago, Pooker said:

Pay the athletes something livable and this won't happen as much.

If it's this bad in college basketball, I wonder how bad it is in football.

I partially agree but when you create this culture of one-and-dones it doesn't matter. They have zero loyalty to anyone and will take their services to the highest bidder. So even if you're paying them a proper wage they can turn it around and ask for $100,000 to play there for one year despite rules being against it. Basically I think players should be paid but doing so won't change these shady recruiting practices.

That said there's a part of me who thinks because of one-and-dones it might not be noticeably worse in football. Similar stuff goes on but there are more college basketball programs and a smaller amount of high-level talent. Everyone knows they just need one and they'll do whatever dirty stuff they gotta do to get them.

[The Buscher]

Me loading up thread:  "Please be Duke."

Me after reading thread:. 

[Maxx]

Rick Pitino has told his staff that he expects to lose his job

[Meacon Keaton]

Probably not the first time he's told them that. 

[Maxx]

An 11th hour pardon is not walking through that door

[Pooker]

Louisville is cleaning house.

[DMN in the House]

16 hours ago, damshow said:

I partially agree but when you create this culture of one-and-dones it doesn't matter. They have zero loyalty to anyone and will take their services to the highest bidder. So even if you're paying them a proper wage they can turn it around and ask for $100,000 to play there for one year despite rules being against it. Basically I think players should be paid but doing so won't change these shady recruiting practices.

That said there's a part of me who thinks because of one-and-dones it might not be noticeably worse in football. Similar stuff goes on but there are more college basketball programs and a smaller amount of high-level talent. Everyone knows they just need one and they'll do whatever dirty stuff they gotta do to get them.

It won't be as bad in football because sneaker companies don't hold as much sway there. Obviously pay for play is happening all around the NCAA, including at your school of choice (but not mine because come the fuck on, if UCLA was paying for athletes you think we could win the conference once in a while), and there's likely more total money thrown around in CFB, but it's mostly from boosters who want to see their school of choice win, rather than from corporations (agents excepted, obvs).

[million$$man]

Players from basically the top 20 basketball powerhouses have been named.... 

Either the NCAA quickly revises their rules on payments to players or this year's final four will look like South Florida, Duluth, South Saginaw Valley State, and Hobart....

 

Players from more than 20 Division I men's basketball programs have been identified as possibly breaking NCAA rules through violations that were uncovered by the FBI's investigation into corruption in the sport, according to documents published by Yahoo! Sports.

Schools identified by Yahoo! as having players who possibly violated NCAA rules include Duke, North Carolina, Texas, Kentucky, Michigan State, Southern California and Kansas. At least 25 players are linked to impermissible benefits, including Michigan State's Miles Bridges, Alabama's Collin Sexton and Duke's Wendell Carter.

 

The documents obtained by Yahoo! detail the work of former NBA agent Andy Miller and his agency, ASM Sports. Yahoo! reports that the documents show cash advances and entertainment and travel expenses paid for college prospects and their families.

ESPN previously reported that as many as three dozen Division I programs, including many of the sport's traditional powers, might be facing NCAA sanctions once the FBI releases information it acquired during its investigation. A source familiar with the investigation -- which includes more than 4,000 conversations intercepted through wiretaps and financial records, emails and other records seized from Miller's office -- had told ESPN's Mark Schlabach that many of the sport's top coaches and players might be implicated, calling Miller's records "the NCAA's worst nightmare."

Friday's report from Yahoo! begins to name the teams and players allegedly involved.

At least six players were identified in the documents as receiving payments exceeding $10,000. They include Dallas Mavericks point guard Dennis Smith Jr., who received $73,500 in loans from ASM before he played for NC State; Brooklyn Nets shooting guard Isaiah Whitehead, who received more than $37,000 around the time he was a freshman at Seton Hall; and 2017 No. 1 NBA draft pick Markelle Fultz, who received $10,000.

Other teams with current or former players who allegedly received payments were South Carolina, Louisville, Utah, Xavier, Wichita State, Clemson and Alabama. Other players named include former LSU guard Tim Quarterman, former Maryland center Diamond Stone and former Kentucky center Edrice "Bam" Adebayo.

"These allegations, if true, point to systematic failures that must be fixed and fixed now if we want college sports in America," NCAA president Mark Emmert said in a statement Friday. "Simply put, people who engage in this kind of behavior have no place in college sports. They are an affront to all those who play by the rules."

Emmert noted that the formation this past October of an independent Commission on College Basketball intended to provide recommendations on cleaning up the sport.

"With these latest allegations, it's clear this work is more important now than ever," the NCAA president said.

Kentucky, South Carolina, NC State and Xavier all issued statements saying they would cooperate with authorities.

Wildcats coach John Calipari denied having any relationship with Miller or his associates, nor "utilized any agent ... to provide any financial benefits to a current or former Kentucky student-athlete." UK athletic director Mitch Barnhardt and university president Eli Capilouto said there also would be an internal review.

NC State AD Debbie Yow said the university disassociated itself from Miller in 2012, sending a 10-year disassociation letter to the agent and his businesses. The letter cited NCAA reports that indicated Miller worked closely with an AAU coach, which "creates a vulnerability" for the school "that we cannot tolerate."

Xavier coach Chris Mack, in a statement to Yahoo!, also said he has no relationship with Miller or any of his associates.

"Beyond that, our staff has never created a path for him to foster a relationship with any of our student-athletes while enrolled at Xavier," Mack said. "Any suggestion that I or anyone on my staff utilized Andy Miller to provide even the slightest of financial benefits to a Xavier student-athlete is grossly misinformed."

The FBI has been investigating college basketball bribes and corruption for at least two years.

Last week, a federal judge in New York declined to dismiss criminal indictments against Adidas executives James Gatto and Merl Code, as well as Christian Dawkins, a runner who worked for Miller's ASM Sports. The men are among 10 people who were charged with wire fraud in September after the government accused them of funneling money from Adidas to the families of high-profile recruits. Their trial is scheduled to begin Oct. 1.

Also last week, the U.S. Attorney's Office in New York dropped federal charges against Jonathan Brad Augustine, a former AAU director in Orlando, Florida, who had been accused of conspiring with the others to persuade two high school players to sign with Louisville and one with Miami. 

[Maxx]

It's Rhode Island's year now bay bay!

[gunnar hendershow]

Malcolm Brogdon getting lunch for $64 is hilarious. What the fuck kind of scandal is that?

[million$$man]

• 
  Mark SchlabachESPN Senior Writer

FBI wiretaps intercepted telephone conversations between Arizona coach Sean Miller and Christian Dawkins, a key figure in the FBI's investigation into college basketball corruption, in which Miller discussed paying $100,000 to ensure star freshman Deandre Ayton signed with the Wildcats, sources familiar with the government's evidence told ESPN.

[gunnar hendershow]

This scandal might hit so many programs the NCAA changes the way it treats benefits and ends the one-and-done era. Like Sean Miller should be heavily punished but a lot of these are just guys getting small gifts from agents who will want to sign them after they declare for the draft following their one year in college.