Names were named as the long-simmering college basketball scandal erupted Friday.
More than 20 programs now have been associated with the FBI’s months-long investigation into bribery and corruption in the sport. Four assistant coaches were among the 10 people associated with the sport who were arrested in September. Many more programs and specific players were identified in a Yahoo Sports report Friday.
Here are some of the biggest questions about the scandal, and an attempt to answer them:
Q: Which programs are involved?
A: There are different levels of inclusion in this scandal. Not every program had coaches actively involved like Louisville, Arizona, Auburn, Oklahoma State and Southern California. Some had players accept benefits from agents, possibly without the school’s knowledge.
The full list is: Alabama, Clemson, Creighton, Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, Iowa State, Louisville, LSU, Maryland, Michigan State, NC State, North Carolina, Notre Dame, San Diego State, South Carolina, Seton Hall, Texas, USC, Utah, Vanderbilt, Virginia, Washington, Wichita State and Xavier.
Q: Are current players involved?
A: Yes. The most notable names are potential NBA lottery picks Miles Bridges (Michigan State), Wendell Carter (Duke), Collin Sexton (Alabama) and Kevin Knox (Kentucky). Brian Bowen was a Louisville recruit but is now enrolled at South Carolina while he redshirts this season. One current player, San Diego State’s leading scorer, Malik Pope, has been suspended since the report. Bridges, Carter and Knox are all expected to continue playing after their schools denied any wrongdoing.
Q: Will this NCAA Tournament be affected?
A: Immediately, as in teams could be ineligible? That’s tough to say at this point. It could be hard for the NCAA to make decisions like that on such short notice. Is it possible college basketball’s national championship could be vacated for the second time in five years (since Louisville just vacated the 2013 title)? Absolutely.
Q: Will others join Rick Pitino as unemployed coaches?
A: The early reaction from nearly everyone to these allegations has been to deny and deflect. If players just took money or extra benefits from agents, it’s possible the NCAA sanctions and program-imposed penalties will be (relatively) light. The more coaches can disconnect themselves from the money trail, the better.
One school/coach in particular that could be in deeper trouble than the others is Seton Hall, because Kevin Willard employed Dwayne “Tiny” Morton as an assistant on his staff for a year, and Morton allegedly accepted a $9,000 loan from an agent as well. Willard has been open about adding Morton to his staff in part to land five-star recruit Isaiah Whitehead, who is prominently featured in this report for accepting large sums of money.
Arizona head coach Sean Miller’s seat got hotter late Friday night when an ESPN report claimed the FBI has wiretapped conversations of him discussing a $100,000 payment to ensure star freshman Deandre Ayton signed with the Wildcats.