FBI arrests Assistant Basketball Coaches in Corruption Scheme

[HOFCeluck]

So Rupp Rafters is basically all "LOL Louisville" without any sense of grasping the big picture.

The Louisville is basically Chernobyl.

 

[Consigliere]

Terrific post. #1 and #2 above are completely spot-on.

The NCAA is a joke. "Wheelhouse."

Not to defend the NCAA, but I have to think that once they uncovered ANY knowledge of the scope and magnitude - even if by anonymous complaints from competitive schools they would IMMEDIATELY turn the investigation over to the FBI. Federal wire fraud is no where NEAR their wheelhouse. What will be interesting is to see how long they take to impose any penalties. FBI has Tony Bland in jail today. I believe the precedent has already been set with the initial Penn State rulings that if there are severe sanctions players are given the one time opportunity to transfer immediately and receiving schools were given waivers on the scholarship limits. This is going to be MUST SEE ESPN.

 

[triplethrea]

You're right, but there are two parts to this, I think. I don't think college sports should continue to be the minor league system of the NBA and NFL. The system as it is right now is terrible because players don't get properly compensated for the ability and labor and it leads to shady shenanigans like these or giving a college freshman a $100k line of credit at a jewelry store. The value of some exceptionally talented players far exceeds the actual (not nominal) value of a 4-year scholarship. However, the value of most college basketball players isn't all that much (e.g., some players getting bought off for $100k versus some for $5k). RIght now all the revenue, which has sky-rocketed over the last few decades, generated from high end college sports is funneled to administrators and coaches. Ultimately, all players should share in some sort of actual compensation for their labor, but where college sports gets befuddled is when they're all fighting over the top-25 kids (Top-100 football) who could/can make an immediate impact to a team. Get rid of the one-and-dones or high end recruits and more teams that are built and coached over the long-term will be on an even footing.

You assume only the top players are worth that money. One Big East school I know pays $65,000 for all their players, and those are mostly 3 star guys. We're talking about billions of dollars spread across 50-60 teams with 12-15 players on each team. Each starter should be making 6 figures per year at least. Stars making in the millions.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Next year's Sweet 16 may have a whole new meaning...

There may only be 16 schools eligible for the tournament.

 

[Sherman20]

Sure they did. There are rules, and they broke the rules. You can disagree with the rules but if you break them there should be repercussions. Besides, even if teams were allowed to pay players, there is still going to be extra under the table money to entice players to go to a particular school.

Agree with the first part. But disagree with the last part. Paying players will help reduce corruption.

I don't understand the desire to see kids paid. If we go to a true free market system, I think SU is dead athletically. We don't have the money that the large public institutions can generate. And we know we dont have the heavy hitter "angel" boosters.

A system could be set up to level the playing field within each conference, so schools don't have an advantage over others. A percentage of the conference TV money earned (plus the NCAA tourney revenue) could go into an account for the players each season, which would be distributed after their eligibility runs out. Who gets what percentage would be the big question.

 

[Fly Rodder]

Man this is just crazy! Morbidly entertaining to say the least. Just think, after Hopkins left there was a many a poster wanting to pick up Book Richardson to fill the spots... glad we went with Griffin! I think this vindicates JB to some extent for some of the recruiting decisions he's been lambasted for, there's just so much the average poster is completely unaware and uninformed in.

I know, and here I was expecting to have a productive day at work ... bastages!

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[RF2044]

Not to defend the NCAA, but I have to think that once they uncovered ANY knowledge of the scope and magnitude - even if by anonymous complaints from competitive schools they would IMMEDIATELY turn the investigation over to the FBI. Federal wire fraud is no where NEAR their wheelhouse. What will be interesting is to see how long they take to impose any penalties. FBI has Tony Bland in jail today. I believe the precedent has already been set with the initial Penn State rulings that if there are severe sanctions players are given the one time opportunity to transfer immediately and receiving schools were given waivers on the scholarship limits. This is going to be MUST SEE ESPN.

Doesn't seem that way.

Seth Davis

✔@SethDavisHoops
Investigation was covert until this morning. NCAA was not aware.

11:34 AM - Sep 26, 2017

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[OrangeXtreme]

 

[Frozen]

Statement from U$C AD Lynn Swann:

 

[TinyManInside]

The big sneaker companies have been paying off recruits for years to go to their sponsored schools. Pitino howled about this years ago saying he lost out on recruits because of his sneaker affiliation. Finally maybe this will blow this up. I doubt Nike ever paid a kid to go specifically to SU. These are probably top 15-20 kids and we don't get hardly any of those. Apparently they did pay kids to go to Arizona and Book Richardson their top asst recruiter got caught in the dragnet.

Unfortunately this isn't altogether accurate. I've heard of fringe top 100 kids getting paid. It happens, and it's rampant.

 

[Sherman20]

This is exactly why I'm reluctant to engage in too much schadenfreude. If payments to players are as widespread as many believe, lots of other schools could be targeted.

 

[Deano]

 

[Hoo's That]

The NCAA announced the coaches at Oklahoma A+M, Pacific and Troy will be going to jail as punishment so these big programs never do anything like this again.

You're right they're about to get zapped big time. What was originally known as Oklahoma A&M is now known as Oklahoma State and one of their assistants was arrested.

It's not you, it's just that I'm really, really, really tired of hearing that stale "joke".

 

[Frozen]

Stewart Mandel‏Verified account @slmandel




USC and Auburn must be so flattered the US Attorney keeps referring to them as "top tier basketball programs."

 

[GooseMutt]

Question-

What happens to the recruits taking the money?

What options do non dirty players have if their school is indicted?

 

[Deano]

The FBI gave out a hotline number where you can give the FBI tips about cheating. I'd like to call them to report NC State and Julius Hodge 16 years ago.

or the Kenny Anderson and Stephon Marbury recruitments with that fraud Bobby Cremins.

 

[Jasoncuse]

Next year's Sweet 16 may have a whole new meaning...

There may only be 16 schools eligible for the tournament.

"Good Evening friends, I'm Jim Nantz. Welcome to the 2018 College Basketball National Championship game. Tonight, we have the Salukis of Southern Illinois facing off against America's underdog, the UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs."

 

[Fly Rodder]

I wonder if SU didn't have the dollars that Billy Preston was looking for ... then University-8 said, "Hey we do!"

From the way back machine:

The longer this goes then maybe the better for SU(still think he's a big longshot), but at this point the only school that his mother would sign off on besides USC is Kansas.

In light of today's news, it's very interesting that these were the only two schools the mother was interested in ...

 

[Toga]

NCAA announces investigation into NYU.

 

[AirForceOrange]

Could you imagine if UCLA was/is involved? You might hear Lavar Ball's exploding head from the moon!!

 

[GooseMutt]

Did we open the wallet for Buddy B?

Jim did for 17 years

 

[TexanMark]

SIR: coming in late

Pretty bad optics for the Cards

Mark Ennis‏ @MarkEnnis 44m44 minutes ago

Louisville received its punishment from the NCAA 6/11. A bball assistant was in a hotel room in Vegas w/Adidas conspiring to cheat on 7/27.

 

[SUMBA]

"Good Evening friends, I'm Jim Nantz. Welcome to the 2018 College Basketball National Championship game. Tonight, we have the Salukis of Southern Illinois facing off against America's underdog, the UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs."

Go Salukis!

 

[Frozen]

"You took the purest thing in your life and corrupted it, for what? For what?"