NCAA Men's Basketball Corruption Case may involve up to 50 top teams
According to some reports (linked below), the corruption probe involving Louisville, Adidas and a few assistant coaches may expand greatly based on banks records of Andy Miller and Christian Dawkins currently in possession of the F.B.I. and wiretaps:
Multiple sources who’ve been briefed on the case and are familiar with the material obtained by feds told Yahoo Sports that the impact on the sport will be substantial and relentless. Sitting under protective order right now are the fruits of 330 days of monitoring activity by the feds, which one assistant US Attorney noted Thursday was “a voluminous amount of material.” That includes wiretaps from 4,000 intercepted calls and thousands of documents and bank records obtained from raids and confiscated computers, including those from notorious NBA agent Andy Miller.
“This goes a lot deeper in college basketball than four corrupt assistant coaches,” said a source who has been briefed on the details of the case. “When this all comes out, Hall of Fame coaches should be scared, lottery picks won’t be eligible to play and almost half of the 16 teams the NCAA showed on its initial NCAA tournament show this weekend should worry about their appearance being vacated.”
I say blow it all up.
February 15th, 2018 at 9:31 PM ^
If MSU, Duke, and UNC aren't on that list, you might as well not even call it a report.
February 15th, 2018 at 9:33 PM ^
February 15th, 2018 at 9:54 PM ^
I'm not holding my breath on Duke or MSU. UNC I expect to see, but Izzo and Coach K are treated as the moral backbone of college basketball by some, despite mountains of evidence they are both hypocritical assholes.
February 15th, 2018 at 10:07 PM ^
February 15th, 2018 at 10:31 PM ^
Two 5 stars and a high 4. Class rankings are less meaningful in basketball than in football because of the great difference in class sizes, but that's ranked well above our terrific five player class. UNC has had several classes lately in the top ten, despite having a scandal hanging over their heads. Of course, I'd expect them to recruit well without cheating.
UNC pulls in quite a few 5 stars. You know who doesn't? Louisville. Bowen was the only one they had in a number of years. If you just looked at their recruiting, you'd think Louisville was clean.
In any case, I don't think the feds are going to worry about protecting any blue blood programs. It will be interesting to see who does get caught up in this, but they aren't going to be catching everybody. If a booster paid a parent to send their kid to some school, that's not likely to end up in this case. Even with the number of schools being thrown around, this is only an investigation into a part of the cheating that takes place.
February 16th, 2018 at 7:55 AM ^
But Engler will just call this an unjustified witch hunt devised by ESPN for clicks.
February 16th, 2018 at 8:24 AM ^
I am highly confident that Coach Calimari will have the squid ink squeezed out of him on this one. If that doesn't happen, the investigation will be a total sham.
February 16th, 2018 at 9:24 AM ^
advntage of loopholes in the NCAA rules. Their players live in luxury condos next to their practice facilities. Legal because they allot just enough spaces for non-athletes.
The investigation is not a sham. It's not being run in any way by the NCAA. It's geared towards those breaking the law, not NCAA rules.It's not going to catch all of the cheaters.
February 16th, 2018 at 10:24 AM ^
UK is a given to be found, but also nobody is surprised because Cal gets busted all the time for this stuff and nothing really comes of it. I mean, who looks at UK and thinks "oh yeah, clean program."
February 21st, 2018 at 9:32 PM ^
You're purposely misleading people. The top 10 guy, Nassir Little, only committed after Arizona got pulled into the big FBI thing. He wouldn't be at UNC otherwise. Coby White was a generic 4 star like their other committ, Rechon Black, before he started jumping up the rankings *after* committing. Before this year they hadn't had a great class since 2014.
February 21st, 2018 at 9:30 PM ^
Triple post
February 21st, 2018 at 9:31 PM ^
triple post
February 16th, 2018 at 10:21 AM ^
They had a top-10 class this year and another in 2014. They've also had top-15 classes a couple of times recently as well. So it's not out the realm.
Also, UNC has been the cross-hairs for a while; there is just more people sniffing around. Nobody seems to ever look at Duke for anything, and MSU fights any level of external review so hard that, until recently, it worked.
February 15th, 2018 at 10:16 PM ^
Taking a risk with rational thoughts on the interwebs but here goes...I'm assuming Izzo's open hated for Michigan makes everybody on this blog hate him but get real. Take off our homer glasses and just accept that he is one of the greats. The majority of his talent has come from Michigan, something not too difficult when UM was deep in scandal. Until the last few cycles he has missed on most of his blue chip players who he thought he had in the bag, because he doesn't get dirty like Duke, UNC, Louisville, Kentucky. Putting him in with the likes of Cal, Pitino, Coach K, Pearl, etc. is bologna. I've met him on 2 separate occasions and he's a very down to earth, likeable guy off the basketball court. If he was our coach everybody would be gushing over him. Hate on Sparty, but give credit where credit is due.
February 15th, 2018 at 10:16 PM ^
Username checks out
February 16th, 2018 at 7:57 AM ^
Well he's met Izzo twice, so everything he says must be true. Apparently Izzo wasn't wearing his "I'm a cheater and enabler" t-shirt on either occassion.
February 16th, 2018 at 11:09 AM ^
I always love this one. "I shaked someone's hand once at an event where he/she was all fake smiles and hand shaking, and he seemed nice!" People say the same thing about fucking serial killers - "I lived next door to him for 30 years. He was quiet and polite!"
February 16th, 2018 at 11:27 AM ^
bet your neighbors lose control of their bodily functions when they see you outside mowing the lawn....in the clown uni.
February 16th, 2018 at 11:33 AM ^
"He was our next door neighbor, very charming, the boy next door, the last one we would ever want to suspect."
-Ted Bundys neighbor
February 16th, 2018 at 12:15 PM ^
Well my knowledge of him goes beyond 2 in-person meetings, and the interactions with him were not at public PR events, they were on Counterstrike.
I have family who went to school with him in Iron Mountain and know another one of his close friends who is a businessman in East Lansing. I'm an anonymous internet poster so ridicule as you will.
I'm a graduate of Michigan. I love my school but the holier than thou attitude of our fanbase kills me. It's ok to respect schools that you hate. It would absolutely kill me to see them win another ship, but I respect their programs. You can continue to put together a narrative to try to assasinate Izzo. If these reports come back with substance I'll gladly climb down from my hill and take my punishment, and let people know that I was duped. Based on the majority of responses on the board and the general state of the country, facts aren't really relevant anymore, so I doubt if his name is cleared it will change anybody's mind either way.
I've been reading the boards for 9+ years now. Finally decided to post to try to engage in some reasonable discussion but the general board logic is: say anything bad about michigan/good about rival= BAD; say anything good about Michigan/bad about rival= GOOD.
I already know...I'll have fun in Bolivia, I won't be missed, and I won't let the door hit me on the way out. Go Blue, beat ND and (likely) get in the tourney!
February 16th, 2018 at 12:21 PM ^
is not that I want to character assasinate Izzo or anything, I just think that he is an overrated coach and I am glad we have Beilien instead. (Who by all accounts is about the nicest and most ethical guy on the planet and habitually beats MSU now).
February 16th, 2018 at 12:37 PM ^
February 15th, 2018 at 10:32 PM ^
February 15th, 2018 at 10:52 PM ^
February 15th, 2018 at 10:53 PM ^
likeable guy. He's a salesman. That's part of the gig.
He's also a rape enabler. So that's a pretty good reason to hate him too.
February 16th, 2018 at 7:51 AM ^
I'm assuming Izzo's open hated for Michigan makes everybody on this blog hate him but get real. Take off our homer glasses and just accept that he is one of the greats.
Izzo is the opposite of one of the "greats". Great coaches don't run shady programs, including sheltering the likes of Keith Appling and Adreian Payne. Winning is both important and necessary to being a great coach. So is character and integrity.
Tom Izzo has the winning part down remarkably well, but is sorely lacking in the character and integrity parts.
February 16th, 2018 at 8:32 AM ^
Unfortunately, the difference between a "winning" coach and being a "great" coach is not well demarcated. In my time, Bo and Woody were both winning and great coaches. As much as we may hate Woody for his personality, there is no indication that he cheated to win or coddled athletes who didn't conform to team and societal standards. Neither did Bo.
Joe Paterno, on the other hand, is also considered a "great" coach, due to his long history of success, and even though the Sandusky saga has forever tarnished him, I suspect that in the annals of football history, many years down the road, he will still be considered among the coaching greats. Bobby Bowden ran a scandal-ridden program, but as time marches on, he will always be considered among the coaching greats. I don''t endorse this; but I'm afraid that's the way it will turn out.
So, Izzo? I think the same thing will proably happen. Whatever comes of this investigation, hisotry will ultimately look myopically only at his coaching record and continue to honor him as one of the greats. "The end justifies the means." -- Machiavelli
February 16th, 2018 at 9:15 AM ^
guess I just don't think Izzo is that great. He has always been a master manipulator of information, and is very effective at creating a narrative that enhances himself and how people see him, in particular. He cultivates an underdog narrative, so that his reputation is enhanced if they win but he avoids scrutiny if they lose. Looking back on teams like the 2008 and 2009 Final Four teams. Those teams are looked upon as "cinderella runs," creating an illusion that their successes had to do with the "magic of Izzo." BS. Those teams were loaded with 4 and 5 star recruits, and really had no excuse for getting absolutely demolised by UNC and losing to fricking Butler a year later. But you don't hear any of that, because he had them posited as those "never quit upstarts from East Lansing" even though their Rivals profile for the years preceeding it is that of a blueblood powerhouse.
He also constantly disguises excuses, sometimes even before games, by mentioning them in relation to an answer to a unrelated questions so that people don't really know they are hearing them but they are and they believe them.
He won one national championship, with what would be 4 NBA players, coming out of a weak bracket against a pathetic Final Four lineup. They have had some nice years since then but have folded like a lawn chair when the lights were shining brightest.
Not a fan. And I wasn't long before what has been alleged with him and the sexual assault stuff with their past teams/players.
February 16th, 2018 at 11:43 AM ^
"I'm not going to sit here and make excuses, that's not who we are at msu. But pull up a chair, I'm about to give you 30 minutes worth of nothing but excuses and backhanded compliments to the team that just beat us".
-Every Izzo press conference following an important loss
February 16th, 2018 at 10:32 AM ^
Google "Sam Gilbert and John Wooden" and let's revisit the "Great coaches don't run shady programs" bit.
February 16th, 2018 at 1:08 PM ^
John Wooden is considered one the greats, yet it was an open secret UCLA was breaking NCAA rules left and right under his watch. As it was said about UCLA,
"On the court at UCLA, John Wooden called the plays. Off the court, Sam Gilbert called the players."
February 16th, 2018 at 2:07 PM ^
Yep.
Username note: Love your Armada. Not a huge fan of Herman Menderchuk.
February 16th, 2018 at 10:01 AM ^
is that you?
February 16th, 2018 at 12:28 PM ^
We need to stop projecting. Izzo hates the University of Michigan due to rampant cheating throughtout the 80s and 90s that made it almost impossible for honest coaches like him and Judd to compete.
February 15th, 2018 at 10:17 PM ^
February 16th, 2018 at 9:52 AM ^
February 15th, 2018 at 10:58 PM ^
BB, you're an insightful guy, so I'm kind of surprised by this. Here's why:
This is not an investigation by the NCAA. It's not something done by people with an interest in the sport. It's not the media, it's not schools.
It's the Feds.
They don't care if Izzo and Coach K are reputed to be the "moral backbones of the sport." If they are implicated, that dirt is going to come out with everything else. If they're not, then... well, perhaps they're not as hypocritical as they seem.
I'm honestly surprised that only half of the teams in the top 16 are rumored to be implicated, but we'll see what happens.
BTW, I think it's possible that someone like Izzo or Coach K might have once tried to do things the right way and eventually turned to the "dark side" as they saw that blatant cheating was never caught and was the only way to get elite players. Whether there was ever an era where college basketball was relatively clean, though, the lack of serious enforcement on any top teams when anyone paying attention knows dirty stuff is going on is proof that it's everywhere.
I'm with the OP, btw. Blow it all up. And I mean I'm ok with that even if it destroys the NCAA tournament and/or big time college athletics as we understand it today. I think we're looking at the pay-for-play equivalent to doping in cycling here and have been for decades.
February 15th, 2018 at 11:48 PM ^
February 16th, 2018 at 6:44 AM ^
He may have studied the ways of Coach K who, by the way, will be the last dirty coach standing. (I hope he falls at the end.) The man has friends in high places.
February 16th, 2018 at 1:33 PM ^
..that i can only upvote this once. blow it up. also, my GOD but i love john beilein, for all kinds of basketball reasons,but mostly because, wherever tom izzo and coach ratface are located in the moral universe, our guy is at the bright place farthest from.
February 16th, 2018 at 9:41 AM ^
February 16th, 2018 at 12:56 PM ^
This is beyond NCAA. For good reason!
February 15th, 2018 at 9:35 PM ^
February 15th, 2018 at 9:40 PM ^
nice diary post, by the way.
February 15th, 2018 at 9:55 PM ^
Yeah, it would be rather astounding if Beilein's name was on this list beyond "these coaches all should have followed Beilein's example and run good, clean programs."
February 15th, 2018 at 11:00 PM ^
Wasn't he the runaway winner of an anonymous poll of basketball coaches who were asked who runs the cleanest program?
It would really be something if, for once, holding the moral high ground actually paid off and Michigan was one of the few prominent programs left standing.
February 16th, 2018 at 8:55 AM ^
Here are the Big Ten schools that I believe are LEAST likely to be caught up in this investigation:
Michigan
Northwestern
Wisconsin
Iowa
(then I might add PSU and Rutgers, only because they don't seem to compete for high ranking recruits).
I would not be surprised to find any of the other schools in the B1G on the list.
February 16th, 2018 at 9:38 AM ^