FBI Corruption Probe

[rjl]

Hopefully, some non student-athletes got some money so 8 years from now the NCAA can announce there are no penalties.

[WheatShock]

A booster game me a free beer once when I was a student. Does that count?

[Kel Varnsen]

Curious if Carlos O'Kelley's has been implicated in any of this?

If that's a serious question, the answer is no. The commercial was filmed (and I'm assuming the players were paid) well after the season ended.

[BOBB]

Fred and his family just bought his banner out of the rafters for $3k. This makes me terribly sad.

Easy now. X and AC and Cliff are up there. You think they weren't getting some bennies?

[shock]

Did it come out through the FBI?

[Shoxthemonkey]

It wouldn't surprise me to find out that they had some impermissible benefits, lot of that was going around NCAABB back then. But I have never seen their names on a ledger. Apples to oranges. And it doesn't make this sandwich taste any better.

[CBB_Fan]

I don't think we know everything, or close to it. This is just one agency over a relatively small number of years. But from what we do know, Fred's $1000-3000 his senior year is significantly different from the tens of the thousands of dollars given to recruits before the picked a college. In fact, it is close to the least significant value we've seen for the smallest amount of eligibility. That said, we probably should expect that time to be vacated.

And I would guess this is just the tip of the iceberg. It has been common knowledge that AAU in general is dirty at the top levels, and this barely delved into that. I wouldn't be surprised that we learn quite a bit more, about ourselves and others.

Bottom line, I'm disappointed but not extremely so. It barely matters in the end; it did not impact any decision Fred made while in college. He did not choose to come here for money, he did not choose to stay or leave for money. Many other universities are dealing with far worse. I'll wait till we hear further info and see punishments before my opinion solidifies.

[ShockCrazy]

I would be shocked if we have a bag man. If that is true, you are saying 3G is an unscrupulous liar, as he makes it a point to always say his staff is squeaky clean. I know they all say that, but I choose to believe we have one of the good guys on our team.

I did not say that 3G is a liar. I said most likely case is we have one that coach/university is unaware of.

[Cdizzle]

I don't think we know everything, or close to it. This is just one agency over a relatively small number of years. But from what we do know, Fred's $1000-3000 his senior year is significantly different from the tens of the thousands of dollars given to recruits before the picked a college. In fact, it is close to the least significant value we've seen for the smallest amount of eligibility. That said, we probably should expect that time to be vacated.

And I would guess this is just the tip of the iceberg. It has been common knowledge that AAU in general is dirty at the top levels, and this barely delved into that. I wouldn't be surprised that we learn quite a bit more, about ourselves and others.

Bottom line, I'm disappointed but not extremely so. It barely matters in the end; it did not impact any decision Fred made while in college. He did not choose to come here for money, he did not choose to stay or leave for money. Many other universities are dealing with far worse. I'll wait till we hear further info and see punishments before my opinion solidifies.

I think there is a lot of truth in this.

Truth that has a decent chance of having me give up on college basketball altogether.

[ShockerPhi]

I'm certainly not mad at Fred. I'm mad at the NCAA, shoe companies, and agencies for creating this culture. Even a couple thousand dollars and a player's reputation can be ruined. Hell, some players that were reported took even less than Fred. One guy got $71. And yet he and his school will be brought up in this.

The real cheaters are the schools who knowingly give money to recruits to come play for them. Like Louisville. And other schools yet to be proven at the moment.

[Shock Top]

Fred knew it was against the rules. He didn’t have to take the money.

[Shox The Revenant]

What really sucks is why the FBI decided to focus on basketball first? D1 football is where the big fish are and undoubtedly the scope and breadth of corruption and impermissible benefits involved in that sport certainly exponentially larger than basketball.

[Cdizzle]

Disagree. What sucks is that someone associated with WSU was involved. Cheating/illegal actions should be rooted whenever/wherever they are taking place.

[Cdizzle]

I'm certainly not mad at Fred. I'm mad at the NCAA, shoe companies, and agencies for creating this culture. Even a couple thousand dollars and a player's reputation can be ruined. Hell, some players that were reported took even less than Fred. One guy got $71. And yet he and his school will be brought up in this.

So it's your opinion that Fred and these other players did not know it was against the rules to take money from shoe companies and sports agents?

[Jhook89]

All though extremely disappointing, this will not be the end of the world. I am willing to bet my house Marshall and staff had no part in $3,000 being exchanged between an agent and Fred and his Dad. We might be looking at some vacated wins Fred's senior year, but we didn't even make it out of the opening weekend that year. The real causality here may be FVV's legacy...

[shocker43]

Fred had to know that this information was coming out. Do you think he had warned Marshall and the AD that eventually it would come out that he accepted money?

[Kel Varnsen]

Someone can probably find it, but there was definitely a roundtable discussion that Fred, Ron, Evan, Paul S., and Bob L. (could have that wrong) had regarding paying players their senior year. Would be interesting to go back and watch it.

[shock]

Was the loan repaiid?

[AndShock]

I’m actually curious as to what Fred’s response to this will be. Will he apologize for making a mistake or blame the NCAA for their treatment of college athletes?

[Kel Varnsen]

http://www.kansas.com/sports/college...e42171975.html

If you were commissioner of college basketball, what would you change to help athletes?

VanVleet: I think the benefits could be more. I’m not saying put us on salary or anything. That’s probably pretty hard to do with Title IX and everything. I think the stipend could be a little more.

I think the school should be able to fly parents to at least the (NCAA) tournament games, if not regular-season games sometimes.

Wessel: For the tournament games, paying for so many family members to go. The NCAA makes so much money – you can get four family members to go, or even two. That way it’s not coming out of your parents’ pocket. That would help a lot. We’re all happy now with being on scholarship and getting our school paid for and being able to live. You look and see what everyone makes, and all that stuff, off of you guys playing and you kind of want a little bit more. At the same time, I’m glad to be where I’m at.

Baker: The most important thing is just the little things. I’m here all the time. I feel like I should be able to go eat on campus three times a day. And if I don’t, then I’d have some money, maybe, more to my stipend, to go eat somewhere.

It’s kind of skeptical why our families aren’t in on what we’re doing, as far as going to these games. These are lifetime games and I want my family to be a part of them. It would be nice if the NCAA could help out there. There’s a lot of big topics that go on about it, but the little things are what, I think, as an athlete are the ones we kind of talk about the most.

VanVleet: I just want a grocery card. Even $100 a month, that doesn’t come out of my stipend.

[shock]

..