http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/22553502/fbi-probe-corruption-reveals-basketball-powers-broken-ncaa-rulesQuote:
Schools identified by Yahoo! as possibly violating NCAA rules include Duke, North Carolina, Texas, Kentucky, Michigan State, USC 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.
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.
Tobias Funke said:
The timing of this release, right before conference tourneys, is just maximum chaos. Should be fun to follow along with this story
That joke was already made on this thread.CDub06 said:
Kennedy has been slow playing this the entire time. All of these teams are going to be ruled inelligible and who's going to be left to claim the National Title?
Billy Kennedy - You Genius!
Junkhead said:
Has anyone checked the UK/KU/MSU/etc boards for their take on this story? There could be some gold there.
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Two Texas names are Eric Davis and Prince Ibeh. We even fail at cheating.
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Waking up to the news that three Kentucky players were listed in documents obtained by the FBI was jarring to say the least, but after a deep breath and an hour to digest the story, I'm not nearly as panicked as I was when my phone went off this morning. Let's break down the facts of what has been released and what to focus on going forward.
The facts
Nerlens Noel, Bam Adebayo, and Kevin Knox are all listed on financial documents from ASM Sports (Andy Miller's agency).The immediate concern is Knox
- Nerlens, who briefly employed Miller as his agent, is listed as taking a $4,350 loan
- Bam is listed as taking a $12,500 loan, but did not sign with ASM. In a separate document, he is listed as being a "bad loan" with a $36,500 monetary amount.
- Kevin Knox is one of several players listed on an expense report as meeting or having a meal with former ASM associate Christian Dawkins.
It's important to point out that players are allowed to meet with agents; however, they are not allowed to accept money from them or have those agents pay for their meals. Yahoo did not post the actual expense report from Dawkins listing Knox, so it's unclear who paid. If Knox did let Dawkins buy him a meal, it's a violation and he could repay it and regain his eligibility; however, no one knows how the NCAA will handle any of this. Also, did UK already know about this, and if so, did they disclose it to the NCAA before the season began?
The big question now becomes
Will Knox play tomorrow?
If he does, UK must be confident everything checks out. If not, there may be something there.
Bam's involvement is by far the worst
According to these documents, Bam accepted either $12,500 or $36,500 from ASM, which was by their description a "bad loan" because he didn't sign with the agency. Obviously, this is a way bigger deal than Knox having a meal with Christian Dawkins. The timeline becomes very important here. Bam's $12,500 loan is listed on an expense report from December 31, 2015, so after he signed Kentucky (November 18, 2015). Did the payments come before or after that? If after, maybe it's a good thing Luke Maye hit that shot.
Nerlens' loan is the least of our worries
Nerlens was also listed on the December 31, 2015 expense report as taking a $4,350 loan from ASM, but Miller was his agent from June 2013 December 2016. A professional player taking a loan from his agent is the leas of Kentucky' worries right now.
A rundown of players from other major programs
It's definitely not just Kentucky:There are so many more.
- Dennis Smith, NC State $43,500 loan, total of $73,500
- Markelle Fultz, Washington, $10,000 loan
- Miles Bridges no specific amount, but per expense reports, "hundreds of dollars in advances"
- PJ Dozier, South Carolina at least $6,115
- Wendell Carter, Duke Met or had meals with Dawkins
- Collin Sexton, Alabama Met or had meals with Dawkins
- Tony Bradley, North Carolina Met or had meals with Dawkins
No players from the 2011, 2012, 2014, or 2015 teams are listed
Which means for now, the banners are safe.
John Calipari is scheduled to talk to the media today
Calipari was scheduled to meet with reporters at 2:15 p.m. to preview tomorrow's game vs. Missouri. That has yet to be confirmed this morning, but knowing Cal, I expect it will. Select players were scheduled to meet with the media at 1:45 p.m., but given this morning's news, I doubt that happens.
Harry Dunne said:
If it was made outside the institution and without institutional knowledge players will still certainly be penalized and coaches and institutions might be as well.
Remember in the USC case they found them to be guilty of lax monitoring and failure to control athlete interaction with boosters & still dropped the hammer pretty hard to even though there was no direct evidence of institutional knowledge
This is the FBI, not the NCAA.TMartin said:
Do the big schools really care about this discovery? North Carolina has demonstrated over a long period of time that the NCAA can be beaten. I maintain the two biggest components of the tu athletic program are it's journalism and law schools.
That's a pretty monumental "if" there.Hop said:Harry Dunne said:
If it was made outside the institution and without institutional knowledge players will still certainly be penalized and coaches and institutions might be as well.
Remember in the USC case they found them to be guilty of lax monitoring and failure to control athlete interaction with boosters & still dropped the hammer pretty hard to even though there was no direct evidence of institutional knowledge
Big difference in lax monitoring of boosters as opposed to outside agents. There's no way a school can stop meetings w outside agents...the assumption here is that none of the coaches were involved in setting up meeting.
If no knowledge or connection to the university can be made, this only affects the eligibility of the player.
Selection Sunday is in 3 weeks and I'm really curious as to what the NCAA will end up doing.Quote:
With these latest allegations, it's clear this work is more important now than ever. The Board and I are completely committed to making transformational changes to the game and ensuring all involved in college basketball do so with integrity.
Spoiler alert. It's nothing. They will do nothing prior to this April. Too much cash at stake.AggieBaller98 said:
The timing of these findings is rather interesting.Selection Sunday is in 3 weeks and I'm really curious as to what the NCAA will end up doing.Quote:
With these latest allegations, it's clear this work is more important now than ever. The Board and I are completely committed to making transformational changes to the game and ensuring all involved in college basketball do so with integrity.
No way they do that to all of these programs, that would kill the sport...NCAA is in a tough spot.AggieBaller98 said:
The timing of these findings is rather interesting.Selection Sunday is in 3 weeks and I'm really curious as to what the NCAA will end up doing.Quote:
With these latest allegations, it's clear this work is more important now than ever. The Board and I are completely committed to making transformational changes to the game and ensuring all involved in college basketball do so with integrity.
If Pitino's claim that he knew nothing of what was going on with his players then the NCAA should hand out similar punishment to other programs as well for the same reasons.
Not a big difference at all.Hop said:Harry Dunne said:
If it was made outside the institution and without institutional knowledge players will still certainly be penalized and coaches and institutions might be as well.
Remember in the USC case they found them to be guilty of lax monitoring and failure to control athlete interaction with boosters & still dropped the hammer pretty hard to even though there was no direct evidence of institutional knowledge
Big difference in lax monitoring of boosters as opposed to outside agents. There's no way a school can stop meetings w outside agents...the assumption here is that none of the coaches were involved in setting up meeting.
If no knowledge or connection to the university can be made, this only affects the eligibility of the player.