Ohio State Basketball: Scandal rocks college basketball before tournament
Yahoo! Sports published a report on Friday revealing corruption and widespread rules violations in college basketball. It doesn’t appear there were violations associated with the Ohio State basketball program but apparently at least one Big Ten school is being investigated.
The news is not really new. Last fall the Federal Bureau of Investigation and federal prosecutors announced the arrests of several people who had been under investigation since 2015 for actions related to fraud and corruption schemes.
At the heart of the investigation is former NBA agent Andy Miller, Christian Dawkins and Miller’s agency ASM Sports. Records reveal cash advances, entertainment and travel expenses and other impermissible benefits being given to high school prospects and their families.
Former Louisville Cardinals’ coach Rick Pitino was the first to fall.
Now over 20 college basketball schools are part of the investigation. The list is a who’s who in college basketball.
Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky, Michigan State North Carolina State, Arizona, Auburn, Xavier, Clemson, Kansas and many others are part of the ongoing investigation.
Since the Ohio State basketball program hasn’t been mentioned it speaks well of former head coach Thad Matta and his staff.
As expected, most of the schools under investigation began issuing denials.
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There is outrage among many tied to the sport.
Not from me.
I’m not saying what allegedly occurred is acceptable, it’s not. I just think the outrage is ridiculous.
Politicians break rules and businesses teeter the edge between ethical and unethical conduct all the time.
As far as I can tell, only one person is sitting in jail for crimes committed that led to the 2008 financial crisis.
Why do we expect purity and ethical behavior in college sports? The system is designed to encourage the types of actions being investigated.
"NCAA President Mark Emmert said, “These allegations, if true, point to systematic failures that must be fixed and fixed now if we want college sports in America.”"
I agree with him that there are systemic failures, most notably the networks, schools and coaches making obscene amounts of money on this sport and expecting the players to refrain from trying to get a piece of the action.
As we can see, there are many willing to bend the rules and break the law to help the players get it.
The outcome from all this, besides prosecutions and firings, will be additional rules and regulations that give more power to those already holding it.
Next: Ohio State ready to reclaim top spot in FBS
That’s not change. That’s more of the same in different clothing.