A new report from Yahoo’s Pat Forde and Pete Thamel released early this morning provides more details, including names of players and programs, that are involved in the FBI’s investigation of college basketball.
Report: High Profile Players, Programs Named in NCAA Basketball Scandal
High profile players
Among the prominent players included in the Yahoo report include Michigan State’s Miles Bridges, Alabama’s Collin Sexton, Kentucky’s Kevin Knox and Duke’s Wendell Carter Jr.
Former college basketball players include Markelle Fultz, Isaiah Whitehead, Bam Adebayo, Kyle Kuzma, Dennis Smith Jr., Malcolm Brogdon and Tony Bradley, a member of UNC’s national title team.
Some of the players mentioned involve particular loans, while others were listed on expense sheets of Christian Dawkins for meals that were allegedly paid for by Dawkins, which would be an NCAA violation. Meeting with an agent is not an NCAA violation, but the violations come into play if the agent pays for anything.
Dennis Smith seems to be the player that took the most money, with the report listing $43,500 but another document implies payment of more than $73,000. Fultz, who was the #1 pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, is listed as receiving $10,000.
The parents of players are also mentioned, including the mother of former Kansas Jayhawk and the #4 pick in the 2017 draft, Josh Jackson. The mother of Michigan State’s Miles Bridges is also mentioned.
High profile programs
With so many players mentioned, many of the nation’s top programs could also be implicated. Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky, NC State, Michigan State, Texas, USC, Xavier, Wichita State and several others could be in line for problems if it becomes known that they had knowledge of the violations.
In the Yahoo story, Xavier head coach Chris Mack was the only one to make a statement.
“I have no relationship with Andy Miller or any of his associates,” Mack told Yahoo. “He plays no role in the recruitment of potential student athletes on Xavier’s behalf. Beyond that, our staff has never created a path for him to foster a relationship with any of our student-athletes while enrolled at Xavier. Any suggestion that I or anyone on my staff utilized Andy Miller to provide even the slightest of financial benefits to a Xavier student-athlete is grossly misinformed. We are prepared to cooperate with any and all investigations at any level.”
It is almost certain that more coaches will release statements as the day goes on. Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, Kentucky’s John Calipari, UNC’s Roy Williams and others will likely be asked about this today. Coaches such as Tom Izzo of Michigan State and “Villanova coaches” are also mentioned.
The full report can be found here.
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