Don

May 8th, 2023 at 8:26 PM ^

One of the twitter comments:

"A point shaving scandal would make everything about Brian Ferentz's offense make a lot more sense."

LOL

stephenrjking

May 8th, 2023 at 8:33 PM ^

Both Iowa and Iowa State this week, Bama baseball just recently. 

Starting to feel like maybe we're seeing a dam breaking. 

And that make me a bit nervous, because there's nothing innately superior about Michigan teams that would immunize them from having similar issues, other than it being harder to shave points without Brian Ferentz as an OC. 

Too much experience with scandals popping up in other institutions, feeling moral superiority... and then finding out that such feelings are completely illusory. 

Leaders And Best

May 8th, 2023 at 8:38 PM ^

College sports is more vulnerable to the rise of the online gambling industry. Harder to police on campus and less to lose compared to the pros. As the NCAA says in the commercial, "almost all of them will be going pro in something other than sports" so the temptation to cash in is going to be much higher.

NittanyFan

May 8th, 2023 at 9:09 PM ^

These days, you can bet on:

  • Obscure college baseball games 
  • Obscure college hockey games  (remember when Brian would joke in the hockey previews "point spread???  this is college hockey, what is wrong with you???"  Well, it's not a joke anymore)
  • The upcoming NCAA lacrosse tournament!  (Michigan +2 against Cornell; Delaware -6 against Marist in the play-in game!)
  • The recently concluded men's NCAA volleyball tournament.

I suppose all that is great for the degenerate gambler.  They can have action everywhere!

But .... yes, absolutely, the dam is going to break.  It's way too easy to bet (just download an app!), there are way too many obscure games out there where stuff could be manipulated, and for non-rich college students, there's a lot of $$$ that could be made.

I'd be shocked if there isn't an absolutely huge scandal within the next 5 years.

Blinkin

May 9th, 2023 at 6:23 AM ^

The risk is huge to the point where it feels unavoidable at this point. I'm afraid this has the potential to end college sports as a form of entertainment entirely. If fans have reason to stop trusting that all competitors are legitimately trying their best (and that referees are impartial), then sports devolve into something like the WWE, except incalculably worse because no one controls the script. 

I really hope it doesn't come to that but I'm beginning to fear that avalanche has already begun. 

Maizinator

May 8th, 2023 at 8:35 PM ^

"from baseball, football, men’s basketball, men’s track and field, and men's wrestling, as well as one full-time employee of the UI Department of Athletics."

Well, that seems like a lack of institutional control.

Leaders And Best

May 8th, 2023 at 8:41 PM ^

Not to laugh at Iowa, but this could happen anywhere including Michigan as another poster said above with the rise of legal online gambling today. It must be really hard to police this when you have hundreds of athletes and student managers surrounded on campus by thousands of students, any of whom could try to hit up your athletes and support staff for information.

Leaders And Best

May 9th, 2023 at 3:35 AM ^

Huh? I'm not worried about anything legal. I'm worried about the illegal potential. The sound of this report is that these players and students potentially committed crimes, not just NCAA violations. Were they betting on their own sport or other Iowa games with insider information? That is not legal in many cases.

There are issues in the college game compared to the pros that makes the collegiate game more susceptible to illegal activity. There are so many unpaid student staff and players that are more susceptible targets. Universities and conferences have no requirements to share injury reports like the pros have done to promote more integrity in the game. Reporters have more access to coaches and game day preparations like shoot-arounds in the pros.

Leaders And Best

May 9th, 2023 at 3:58 AM ^

I read a report somewhere that there are some companies  that do monitor this along with other things like patterns for suspicious betting/line moves for leagues and universities. But like the poster said in a reply, I don't know how you would be able to monitor a friend, family member, or another student/classmate who was placing bets for the athlete or in coordination in some sort of financial arrangement.

Blinkin

May 9th, 2023 at 6:27 AM ^

But worse than previous instances of lack of control. Because 1) it could happen anywhere, 2) there are almost no methods to create institutional control that don't involve draconian invasion of privacy for students, and 3) because the betting companies make it so deliberately addictive and easy. 

As a society, we've effectively stocked the vending machines with only opioids and meth. And now we're surprised there's an addiction crisis.