NCAA Corruption Investigation - Kansas Identified?



  • Not the news I wanted to see this morning. Some highlights from the article:

    “Schools identified by Yahoo! as possibly violating NCAA rules include Duke, North Carolina, Texas, Kentucky, Michigan State, USC and Kansas. At least 25 players are linked to impermissible benefits, including Michigan State’s Miles Bridges, Alabama’s Collin Sexton and Duke’s Wendell Carter.”

    "At least six players were identified in the documents as receiving payments exceeding $10,000. They include Dallas Mavericks point guard Dennis Smith Jr., who received $73,500 in loans from ASM before he played for NC State; Brooklyn Nets shooting guard Isaiah Whitehead, who received more than $37,000 around the time he was a freshman at Seton Hall; and 2017 No. 1 NBA draft pick Markelle Fultz, who received $10,000."

    "Other teams with current or former players who allegedly received payments were South Carolina, Louisville, Utah, Xavier, Wichita State, Clemson and Alabama. Other players named include former LSU guard Tim Quarterman, former Maryland center Diamond Stone and former Kentucky center Edrice “Bam” Adebayo."

    http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/22553502/fbi-probe-corruption-reveals-basketball-powers-broken-ncaa-rules



  • I’ve said this from the start. If we’re going down, all of college basketball is going down with us.



  • @HighEliteMajor Meh. Big nothingburger as far as KU is concerned still. That was about as vague as it possibly could be. It gave out all of the hard information that it gathered listing Bridges (YAY!), Abedayo (YAY!), Smith Jr , Fultz, Wendell Carter (YAY!)

    But still no KU player. Mentions KU as possibly, but again, no hard facts. Not even a player they mention.

    And all of it doesn’t matter if KU didn’t know the player had received payments.



  • @HighEliteMajor My favorite comment on the article from ESPN’s stable of fans who comment on every article:

    “Whew, Duke is involved so nothing will happen. Thought this was significant at first glance.”



  • @HighEliteMajor Did not want to see that, but given the previous rhetoric, not surprising. Many players and teams affected. What are they going to do? Vacate wins from many, many teams last year? Hold a bevy of players out of the Tourney? This is a mess that has been years in the making.



  • Funny they list all of the players that got paid and the school associated with that player but left out Kansas? If they are going to group KU in the mix at least tell the reader how KU is involved? As far as I can tell KU (assuming they know) sidelines their Guys if they think there is a problem. This article is garbage and KU should get their lawyer involved to have their name removed unless ESPN can provide sufficient evidence as to KU’s infraction.



  • Josh’s mom took money, which isn’t a surprise. Even Fred Van Vleet and Miles Bridges. If you are a parent and wanted to get paid, it seemed pretty easy.

    https://www.yahoo.com/amphtml/sports/exclusive-federal-documents-detail-sweeping-potential-ncaa-violations-involving-high-profile-players-schools-103338484.html?__twitter_impression=true



  • @Kcmatt7 In one, JJ’s mom was mentioned.



  • There are players on that list that haven’t played college basketball in a long ass time. So I would assume those are legal loans after the fact? I really don’t know. But EJ is on there as taking a loan and obviously he graduated awhile ago.



  • “Apples Jones, the mother of former Kansas player Josh Jackson, received $2,700 according to documents.” – From @BShark’s link



  • @BShark I’m hoping it is one of these guys…

    0_1519395005944_Screenshot_2018-02-23-09-08-53.png



  • @mayjay It mentioned the Turkish team he played for further down. So I would assume he took this loan while playing in Turkey. Which I can’t imagine would be an issue. There are other players on the list that were pros and the perceived time of the loan as well.



  • Lol these amounts are WEAK AF. This is Yahoo’s big bomb?



  • @mayjay So, in closing, the lawyer in you would argue that there are many Elijah Johnson’s in this world, and it could be one other guys? Unfortunately, NCAA rules don’t have a “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard. But I like it … heck, I knew a guy that went by EJ when I moved furniture in college. Might be that guy.



  • Good Luck NCAA!



  • BShark said:

    There are players on that list that haven’t played college basketball in a long ass time. So I would assume those are legal loans after the fact? I really don’t know. But EJ is on there as taking a loan and obviously he graduated awhile ago.

    Agents often loan potential draftees money when they sign. As do you, let’s hope it was after the season ended. If not by a booster or prearranged by the school, taking money upon signing should be ok. We have had lots of players start prepping for the draft before school ended, and those flights and workouts get paid for by someone.



  • @HighEliteMajor Actually, that is the fan in me. The lawyer in there is wishing he still practiced so he could get a piece of this. Fortunately, the fan is still in control.



  • @mayjay Looks like it was Feb/Mar of 2016. So he would still have been a recruit.

    Still, to me, this is such a small amount it won’t be a big deal. Sexton’s dad took $10k and still got to play basically all season. NCAA penalty was like 5 games or something weak like that.



  • EJ being taking the most (of a KU player) that we know of is kind of hilarious. But yeah assuming it was after he was done at KU then it shouldn’t matter. This is from 2015, so he had graduated.

    @Kcmatt7 we are talking about Elijah Johnson, he took 15k.



  • They actually don’t even list EJ in the article but he is in the documents. That’s what makes me think it was after he left Kansas. If he was at KU even possibly taking 15k, that’d make Forde so delirious he couldn’t contain himself.



  • BShark said:

    They actually don’t even list EJ in the article but he is in the documents. That’s what makes me think it was after he left Kansas. If he was at KU even possibly taking 15k, that’d make Forde so delirious he couldn’t contain himself.

    where’s the full document?



  • The document I saw EJ on was the balance sheet . “as of December 2015”. (I’m not an accountant) but that is after he left KU, could that be a remaining balance for over 2 years? I doubt it, they would have written it off as a “bad loan” right?



  • @BeddieKU23 https://www.yahoo.com/amphtml/sports/exclusive-federal-documents-detail-sweeping-potential-ncaa-violations-involving-high-profile-players-schools-103338484.html?__twitter_impression=true

    As much as you can see of it is there.

    Malik Waayns is on the loan list so there are definitely guys well past playing college hoops on there.



  • @Kcmatt7 Truthfully, the federal indictments don’t bother me. Nor the federal investigation, for that matter. That is “weak af” in my opinion, if I’m tracking with the “af” portion of that. NCAA rules violations concern me.



  • @mihawk They didn’t list EJ as receiving the payments before he turned pro whereas they did with other players on the list that are now pros. You know Forde would be all over that. Oddly enough Fred Van Vleet did apparently. But just 1k.



  • @HighEliteMajor A lot of this appears to be the parents of players taking loans/cash advances while the player is still in school. Thankfully Josh is the only KU player on the list in that regard. We found out about Cliff and nipped it in the bud so my assumption would be that KU didn’t know Apples took that $2,700 but maybe I’m overly optimistic.



  • Kevin Knox is on the list, I wonder if he will play tomorrow…



  • @BShark Maybe optimism … but the question that tests integrity is what if KU found out after the fact? And then did nothing. Did not self-report.



  • BShark said:

    @BeddieKU23 https://www.yahoo.com/amphtml/sports/exclusive-federal-documents-detail-sweeping-potential-ncaa-violations-involving-high-profile-players-schools-103338484.html?__twitter_impression=true

    As much as you can see of it is there.

    Malik Waayns is on the loan list so there are definitely guys well past playing college hoops on there.

    Looks like my work browser is blocking it, will try and view it on the phone.



  • BShark said:

    Kevin Knox is on the list, I wonder if he will play tomorrow…

    You already know the answer to that. Same with Bridges and Carter, Sexton



  • HighEliteMajor said:

    @BShark Maybe optimism … but the question that tests integrity is what if KU found out after the fact? And then did nothing. Did not self-report.

    I say good luck proving that!



  • @HighEliteMajor Lol even still. These amount wouldn’t have vacated wins.

    Unless Bill or a coach orchestrated the loans through Miller, I don’t expect us to get hit with anything based on this report alone.

    The report is underwhelming, even if you include NCAA violations that could be put on schools from it.

    Finally, the NCAA needs to be careful right here. If they try to make a point and crush all of these schools, that might be all of the P5 needs to just up and leave the NCAA and start pocketing all the money themselves.



  • @HighEliteMajor Fortunately, Self’s relationship with JJ was and is good. I was always afraid of a CJ Giles or JR Giddens getting pissed they were forced out and then, out of spite, revealing that they had been taking impermissibles w/o KU knowing. Or worse, fabricating that KU arranged it.



  • BeddieKU23 said:

    BShark said:

    @BeddieKU23 https://www.yahoo.com/amphtml/sports/exclusive-federal-documents-detail-sweeping-potential-ncaa-violations-involving-high-profile-players-schools-103338484.html?__twitter_impression=true

    As much as you can see of it is there.

    Malik Waayns is on the loan list so there are definitely guys well past playing college hoops on there.

    Looks like my work browser is blocking it, will try and view it on the phone.

    Dawkins flipped his entire books.

    Xavier head coach Mack responded pretty aggressively: He said: “I have no relationship with Andy Miller or any of his associates. 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.”



  • Kcmatt7 said:

    @HighEliteMajor Lol even still. These amount wouldn’t have vacated wins.

    Unless Bill or a coach orchestrated the loans through Miller, I don’t expect us to get hit with anything based on this report alone.

    The report is underwhelming, even if you include NCAA violations that could be put on schools from it.

    Finally, the NCAA needs to be careful right here. If they try to make a point and crush all of these schools, that might be all of the P5 needs to just up and leave the NCAA and start pocketing all the money themselves.

    For a bombshell I’d say KU got out of this pretty well with the extent of it being Apples Jones took $2,700 before Josh turned pro. If there is more later we will find out but you know Yahoo put all they could out there and Forde certainly would mention any KU player. They wouldn’t sit on something this big.



  • @Kcmatt7 If the NCAA doesn’t do anything or at least launch an extensive investigation, they leave themselves open to suits by anyone they did punish during this time. Organizations are able to adjudicate stuff with their voluntary members, but the courts are willing to step in when the organization doesn’t follow its own rules or engages in serious favoritism (which this one would be).

    I think it is likely there will be a big investigation, lots of hand-wringing, a couple of public punishments for schools with staffers implicated, and then a comprehensive settlement with voluntary monetary penalties for all the schools concerned.

    The NCAA will do enough to make sure no previously sanctioned school can sue and force discovery of its enforcement investigations in general, and of the details on this one.



  • Did you guys also see that Michael Beasley is mentioned a few times in the docs?



  • @mayjay Sounds pretty much spot on. 💯



  • @mayjay Right. I’m saying they need to slap everyone on the wrist, but don’t try to make everyone the example. They need to find that sweet spot of a hefty fine, but probably no sanctions. They can put everyone on a “probation” period.



  • Kcmatt7 said:

    @HighEliteMajor Meh. Big nothingburger as far as KU is concerned still. That was about as vague as it possibly could be. It gave out all of the hard information that it gathered listing Bridges (YAY!), Abedayo (YAY!), Smith Jr , Fultz, Wendell Carter (YAY!)

    But still no KU player. Mentions KU as possibly, but again, no hard facts. Not even a player they mention.

    And all of it doesn’t matter if KU didn’t know the player had received payments.

    I read an article where Josh Jackson and/or his mom had received a 7,500 loan,



  • Hawk8086 said:

    @Kcmatt7 In one, JJ’s mom was mentioned.

    So how many does it take? - - you say one. - so does it need to be 2 - -5 - -10 - -20? - -how many does it take?



  • @jayballer73 Um, link? I’ve only seen $2,700 cited.



  • At least this isn’t really a KU problem We already knew agents preyed on players and their families.



  • The NBA is the one causing this with the OAD imo. So, the NCAA needs to start thinking outside of the box on rules to prevent this. Idk if maybe they require players to graduate or else they have to pay back the entire amount? Does that help? Can they themselves offer players loans up to a certain dollar amount per year? What about paying players based on academics? Every semester you complete, you get paid $2k. If they offer these incentives, they can make the punishments more harsh I think.

    They need to make it an environment that players and parents don’t feel like they need to go to agents to get extra cash. I’m not sure exactly how to do that, but there are brighter minds than me that could help to solve the problem.



  • @Kcmatt7 the hypocrisy is with the NCAA Tournament. There is no way that the NCAA is going to punish all of these teams to the point of them missing the tourney… they would miss out on a TON of revenue with the best programs in the country not going to the tournament.



  • I just gonna be honest I’d be pretty ticked if we had to vacate wins because JJs mom took $2,700. This is an interesting road because the NCAA hasn’t penalized the kid several tiems if they had no knowledge of it example Cam Newton’s dad getting 200K with no punishment. To make it the schools responsibility to keep not only try and keep track of the kids but what’s their parents are doing is a little crazy. Make it illegal for agents to speak to anyone related or the kids themselves. The AAU circuit and these agents are most of the issues with what’s happening IMO.



  • BShark said:

    @jayballer73 Um, link? I’ve only seen $2,700 cited.

    ya, my bad - -your right - -it was 2,700 so many figures in this thing. - - There is no way the NCAA can hand down sanctions o all these schools - this thing will blow up in the NCAA face.

    Can you imagine if they penalize or try to penalize all these schools. - - Kentucky - - N Carolina - - Michigan State - - - Louisville - - KU- - - and so on and so on and so on - -going to be interesting what ends up happening - -this could be the straw that breaks the /camel’s back ( NCAA ) where all schools back away from the NCAA. - this thing I think is still going to take a lot of time to wrap up. - - ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY



  • This report is some crazy transparency into the underworld. Without the details of everything how can the NCAA do anything.



  • Guys this will blow over because a Duke and Mich St player is mentioned. So the media will fawn over the condescending words of K and the tough words of Izzo. THey will both blame the dirty agents and not players or families. If this was just UK or Louisville or even us it would be a whole different ball game.



  • @kjayhawks

    If they question Apples its not like she has to talk. They have zero power to do anything. Her son no longer is in College or has anything at stake to risk talking