Federal documents detail sweeping potential NCAA violations involving high-profile players, schools

[Russ Smith]

NCAA is apparently investigating LSU and Will Wade now over questions on how he's recruiting at LSU.

 

[BW52]

The Miles Bridges one is funny too. His mom allegedly got 400 bucks and Bridges a 70 dollar meal. MSU investigated, found no evidence that was true but surprise they found out his family members had in fact met for a meal with a different agent, without Miles knowing of course, so he had to donate 40 bucks to charity to get reinstated.

So they issued a statement saying he was completely cleared without ever mentioning the NCAA had in fact suspended him until he made that donation. So now we know his family met with another agent why would we believe them saying they didn't meet with Dawkins? They could be telling the truth but they already apparently met with an agent and didn't tell their son so why not 2 agents.[/QUOTE

Not knowing is not supposed to be a legitimate excuse according to the NCAA.Anyway thats what the NCAA said in dealing with Louisville.Of course Emmert and his band of bastards will refuse to do anything to anybody else.If Miles Bridges had to pay 40 buck to get reinstated then doesn`t that mean every game he played in he was a ineligible player? That means forfeit if the NCAA follows its own rules.Of course that won`t happen because the NCAA is corrupt,vindictive ,arrogant ,hypocritcal ,and a bunch of lying ********.

 

[Russ Smith]

NCAA has a policy that any amount under 200 is allowable as long as the player pays it back by donating to a charity. You don't have to vacate games as long as you do that. That's why Bridges mom is insisting the 400 dollars in cash from ATM didn't happen, first it's very difficult to prove cash, second it's over teh 200 dollar threshold.

 

[BW52]

NCAA has a policy that any amount under 200 is allowable as long as the player pays it back by donating to a charity. You don't have to vacate games as long as you do that. That's why Bridges mom is insisting the 400 dollars in cash from ATM didn't happen, first it's very difficult to prove cash, second it's over teh 200 dollar threshold.

My point is that in order to be reinstated you have to be ineligible.So therefore he was playing in games while ineligible..Will the NCAA follow the rules...i doubt it.You can`t be both.I expect nothing right to be done by Emmert and his band of bastards.

 

[Russ Smith]

My point is that in order to be reinstated you have to be ineligible.So therefore he was playing in games while ineligible..Will the NCAA follow the rules...i doubt it.You can`t be both.I expect nothing right to be done by Emmert and his band of bastards.

They get around that by saying he's not ineligible until they declare him ineligible and in this case they didn't declare him retroactively ineligible because the amount was so small.

Just to be clear, I don't believe for a minute that Bridges and his mom didn't get more.

one of the points being claimed here is this documentation provided came from Dawkins and it's not reliable because he's using it in an expense report to justify getting repaid money he put out, or to explain expenses he may have spent money on something else and then just said gave 400 bucks to Miles Bridges mom when he really spent it at a strip club. But apparently the emails they got off the ASM computers don't in any way contradict what Dawkins' expense report says. That is in emails he talks about contacts with players and parents and coaches, that are also mentioned in the expense reports. So if he is in fact just making this up to cover money he's spending on something else, he's covering it up consistently.

Based on what we know about Dawkins it certainly wouldn't surprise me if he's fudging some numbers, he was using an NBA playersmoney without his knowledge for example. But given what we know about him this throwing money around to impress potential clients is EXACTLY what everyone says in describing him

 

[Russ Smith]

My point is that in order to be reinstated you have to be ineligible.So therefore he was playing in games while ineligible..Will the NCAA follow the rules...i doubt it.You can`t be both.I expect nothing right to be done by Emmert and his band of bastards.

You've probably seen it but in case not, Pete Thamel is reporting that Steve Alford will push hard for the Louisville job after UCLA's season is done.

Wouldn't shock me, UCLA has a highly rated recruiting class but honestly no real impact recruits, they lose their top 2 players and probably top 3(Wilkes too likely). Alford is on the hot seat this team is good enough it shouldn't be on the NCAA bubble right now. Alford doesn't love LA and Louisville is close to home.

I doubt he'd be the favorite but Louisville is also probably looking for a coach with a clean reputation and so far at least, Alford has not been implicated in teh FBI story at all.

 

[Ronin]

Dan Kane‏Verified account@dankanenando 14m14 minutes ago
Breaking: N.C. State has released the subpoena in the FBI's investigation into college basketball. Seeks info on Dennis Smith, Mark Gottfried and coaching staff.

 

[Ronin]

Jeff Goodman
@GoodmanESPN

Cal State Northridge response to ESPN in regards to FBI subpoena to ex-NC State and current CSUN coach Mark Gottfried: "We did our own due diligence and, as both Coach Gottfried and officials at North Carolina State have said, there are no red flags whatsoever."

 

[Russ Smith]

Jeff Goodman
@GoodmanESPN

Cal State Northridge response to ESPN in regards to FBI subpoena to ex-NC State and current CSUN coach Mark Gottfried: "We did our own due diligence and, as both Coach Gottfried and officials at North Carolina State have said, there are no red flags whatsoever."

That was such an odd hire. They fired Theus, he got into a scuffle with the AD or something crazy over it. And they then go out and hire a coach that was known to have a kid directly implicated in the FBI scandal. And there has been a rumor out there since the Yahoo story broke, that the reason ex UK star Bam Adebayo was on the list of kids who got paid, is that NC State used an agent to pay Adebayo through a friend, trying to get him to join Dennis Smith Jr at NC State.

Nobody knows for sure what happened but to fire your coach in an ugly way and then go out and quickly hire a new coach who is obviously at least of interest in the FBI case is crazy. And the story shows how useless these "internal investigations" are, NC State says Gottfried is clear, now the FBI has a subpoena. USC said they were clear, no other problems, a week later Thamel implicated 2 more starters and possibly a 3rd. If you can't get access to what the FBI has, you're not getting the truth.

 

[Russ Smith]

Also of note in the Gottfried story, ASU assistant coach Anthony Coleman is implicated in the story. The FBI asked NC State for a bunch of documents and communications and Coleman is listed in them because of his ties to Adidas at the time the Dennis Smith Jr recruitment was happening.

 

[Russ Smith]

Nice story about AAU, shoe companies and how in the hell is the NCAA letting Marvin Bagley III play this year.

http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/page/the_loyalty_game.html

 

[Ronin]

Jeff Goodman
@GoodmanESPN

Auburn AD Allen Greene on Bruce Pearl: “The FBI investigation is a long process. We’re going through that process to make sure that we, as a university, are doing what it is that we’re supposed to do to comply.”

 

[Ronin]

Dan Wetzel‏Verified account@DanWetzel 19m19 minutes ago
Federal prosecutors have filed additional counts against ex-Adidas rep Jim Gatto in college basketball fraud scandal. Involves payments to the families of former players at Louisville, Miami, Kansas and N.C. State.

 

[Ronin]

Dan Wetzel‏Verified account@DanWetzel 18m18 minutes ago
Sources say six former players are named in the new charges, including Dennis Smith Jr. (NC State) and Josh Jackson Jr. (Kansas).

 

[Ronin]

Kyle Bonagura‏Verified account@BonaguraESPN 4m4 minutes ago
A superseding indictment filed today alleges Adidas exec James Gatto, on his own, agreed to pay the family of a recruit approx $90,000 to attend Kansas.

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[Ronin]

Kyle Bonagura‏Verified account@BonaguraESPN 7m7 minutes ago
And kick in another $20k to get the teenager "'out from under' the deal to attend the school sponsored by the rival athletic apparel company."

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[Russ Smith]

If I'm reading all this right I think ESPN's stuff from Bonaguara is wrong and Schlabach is closer to being right.

My take is that Adidas paid Billy Preston's mom 90K to go to Kansas. THe dates are off by a year for it to be Jackson so it has to be Preston. That is presumably why Kansas didn't play Preston this year, the story was about the car he was driving I assume either they found out he got that car(from Adidas?) in a violation or he got the car using the money his mom had gotten and they suspended him. He never played and the report specifically says the payments were done with great care to conceal them from Kansas, so I assume Kansas is fine on this one.

The 20K stuff is for an entirely different player, it's for Silvio DeSousa, he apparently was paid, or his handlers were, by Under Armour to go to Maryland. At some point he indicated he'd prefer to go to Kansas, but in order to do so, he needed Adidas to "buy him out" of the deal with Under Armour. So he got money from UA, AND money from adidas was paid to them on his behalf. And again it says they took great pains to hide it from Kansas so Kansas is presumably in the clear.

If true, DeSousa will likely declare for the draft because he'll presumably be declared ineligible, I can't imagine the NCAA will let him pay back when he took money twice in such short order, especially since it makes it fairly clear the player knew about the payments. I don't think Kansas will get hit on this either since again the reports are pretty clear that the payments were hidden from KU.

now yes this means in the last 2 years they have had 3 kids paid by Adidas to go to Kansas, Jackson, Preston and DeSousa. Jackson apparently was being paid by 2 different agents, his mom was, so it's quite possible he'll be retroactively declared ineligible but not clear if they'd have to vacate games. Remember when it came out Tyler Honeycutt had an agent while in college, the NCAA didn't vacate any games for him because they ruled there was no way UCLA should have known, I suspect that will be the same case with Jackson.


There's also some innuendo that leads me to think Lonnie Walker of Miami is one of the 6 players involved in payments. and it's also looking like Bam Adebayo is one of the 6 too but in his case a family member apparently took money from Adidas to steer him to NC State, and he still wound up at Kentucky.

 

[Russ Smith]

https://sports.yahoo.com/kansas-pla...nkling-many-college-basketball-204538312.html

 

[DWKB]

https://sports.yahoo.com/kansas-pla...nkling-many-college-basketball-204538312.html

Really, Pat Forde? Be better Russ.

 

[Russ Smith]

Really, Pat Forde? Be better Russ.

I just posted the link I didn't comment on it.

I think it's clear the stories say Adidas went out of their way to conceal the payments from the schools so in that sense yes Kansas is the "victim". I also as I've said with Arizona and every other school so far involved, I don't believe for a second that Adidas or Nike are steering players to schools without the coaching staff being aware of it.

That's why as a UCLA fan we're all waiting for the shoe to drop on Adidas and the Compton Magic programs prior connection to UCLA. We're all assuming some of those kids may have been steered and if they were, UCLA's coaches would have known.

I think Self is a terrific coach, but I don't believe he didn't know adidas was helping him get players.

Coaches are virtually all control freaks, they know what's going on.

 

[GatorAZ]

Always thought Self had a guilty look on his face.

 

[DWKB]

Always thought Self had a guilty look on his face.

You must be registered for see images

 

[Russ Smith]

Always thought Self had a guilty look on his face.

I don't think he's as bad as others I give him full credit for suspending Preston this year. But if you check the archives you'll note I was complaining on ASFN when Preston was still playing in Redondo Beach that I couldnt' understand why UCLA was recruiting him given how unlikely it was he'd ever qualify. His academics were terrible, his mom was a known headcase(not Lavar Ball bad but very outspoken) and it simply made no sense for UCLA to recruit him. I was thrilled when they finally dropped him. I was very surprised Kansas took his commitment I didn't expect him to ever play college ball and he didn't.

But at least when Self saw enough to believe somethign was wrong, he suspended him.

I just don't believe you can have a shoe company steering kids to ANY program and the head coach isn't somewhat aware of it. That's what this whole thing the FBI story should be about IMO. The idea that schools are victims I can somewhat agree with, but the coaches are not, the coaches know, the coaches are benefitting from the system. The system is set up to give the coaches plausible deniability, that's what made it so unusual when Book, Bland and the rest were caught directly involved in the money trail.

 

[TJ]

I don't think he's as bad as others I give him full credit for suspending Preston this year. But if you check the archives you'll note I was complaining on ASFN when Preston was still playing in Redondo Beach that I couldnt' understand why UCLA was recruiting him given how unlikely it was he'd ever qualify. His academics were terrible, his mom was a known headcase(not Lavar Ball bad but very outspoken) and it simply made no sense for UCLA to recruit him. I was thrilled when they finally dropped him. I was very surprised Kansas took his commitment I didn't expect him to ever play college ball and he didn't.

But at least when Self saw enough to believe somethign was wrong, he suspended him.

I just don't believe you can have a shoe company steering kids to ANY program and the head coach isn't somewhat aware of it. That's what this whole thing the FBI story should be about IMO. The idea that schools are victims I can somewhat agree with, but the coaches are not, the coaches know, the coaches are benefitting from the system. The system is set up to give the coaches plausible deniability, that's what made it so unusual when Book, Bland and the rest were caught directly involved in the money trail.

Not sure Self had any other options. With the cloud of the investigation hovering over NCAA basketball, it would've been stupid to justify Preston being on the team given all of the physical evidence and pretty much asking for unwanted attention. That, or KU knew its business was being investigated.

You've asserted that the head coaches should/will be held responsible because the NCAA's statute about HCs maintaining a clean program irrespective of situations that may happen behind their backs, so if that's true, there will be punishments against all HCs implicated.

 

[Russ Smith]

Not sure Self had any other options. With the cloud of the investigation hovering over NCAA basketball, it would've been stupid to justify Preston being on the team given all of the physical evidence and pretty much asking for unwanted attention. That, or KU knew its business was being investigated.

You've asserted that the head coaches should/will be held responsible because the NCAA's statute about HCs maintaining a clean program irrespective of situations that may happen behind their backs, so if that's true, there will be punishments against all HCs implicated.

Well of course he had a choice, Sean Miller played ALkins, now he didn't get caught driving in a car he couldn't explain like Preston did but there's as much smoke about Alkins as there was about preston. Self could have played Preston and didn't, I give him credit for that like I do Enfield suspending a key player for the whole year.

I think head coaches are control freaks so I seriously doubt Self didn't know somethign about this and yes there is an NCAA rule that says a HC can be held accountable for actions of his assistants but in this case, nobody has alleged the KU assistants were involved. Nobody is saying Townsend et al were dealing with agents like Dawkins. In the Arizona case they were, Book is under indictment and Pasternack has come up in the original story and the Yahoo story.

So the 2 are different, the NCAA rule says HC is accountable for the actions of his assistants, that applies to Arizona and USC, but at least at the moment wouldn't apply to Kansas.

So if what we know now is all there is, I would expect that Miller and Enfield would be treated more harshly than Self because their assistants were directly involved, his weren't.

Now what we know may change. and as I keep saying it won't surprise me at all if Adidas steered kids to UCLA and if they did, I would not believe for a second that Alford didn't know. Head coaches know what's going on, and if they don't, they should.