To understand how the burgeoning nationwide point-shaving scandal hangs over this men’s college basketball season, especially at the mid-major level, consider this quandary:
The NCAA has been warning schools that certain players are under scrutiny for possible wrongdoing.
Those schools will generally respond by holding those players out of competition.
But the players are merely under suspicion, and neither the NCAA nor U.S. attorneys have officially accused them of wrongdoing. So schools might not announce the reasons for holding the players out—and might not announce anything at all.
With no announcements, sportsbooks will continue to offer betting lines reflecting the expectation that those schools have full rosters available.
People who are privy to inside information about a player being held out can then take advantage of the misguided betting lines by betting against that school.
And who would be privy to that information?
The players who are under scrutiny for possible wrongdoing.
This is a college basketball catch-22. The effort to clean up the gambling underbelly of the sport is being muddied by secrecy—perhaps a necessary way for the feds and NCAA investigators to do business, but the season will begin awkwardly.
In this hypothetical scenario, no performances would be rigged. But according to last week’s indictments out of the Eastern District of New York, the Department of Justice views any bets based on non-public information as a federal crime.
A grand jury indicted former NBA guard Damon Jones and co-defendant Eric Earnest for two felonies, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, for allegedly wagering based on inside information. Jones and Earnest were not accused of betting on the allegedly rigged performances of NBA players Terry Rozier or Jontay Porter. Jones and Earnest allegedly bet on NBA games based on non-public injury information and lineup plans.
The very real scenario of players being held out is already unfolding.
On Sunday, Dayton men’s basketball announced that it is withholding Iona transfer Adam Njie from competition due to “[eligibility] matters that occurred prior to his enrollment at the university.” The school says it was notified of the issue by the NCAA. Sources tell that Njie’s situation is connected to the ongoing nationwide college betting investigation. It is unclear if Njie is under scrutiny from both the NCAA and federal investigators, or just the NCAA.
SI reported Thursday that Western Michigan has received notice from the NCAA that transfer guard Justice Williams is a player of interest in its ongoing gambling investigation in the sport. As with Nije, it’s not clear if Williams is under scrutiny from the feds in addition to the NCAA.
Williams transferred to Western Michigan from Robert Morris after starting his college career at LSU. Robert Morris is one of the schools under scrutiny, multiple sources tell SI, though it is not one of the six the NCAA has publicly named.
A related situation is unfolding at Eastern Kentucky, where Alabama State transfer guard Amarr Knox “is currently ineligible under NCAA rules to participate in games,” Eastern Kentucky said in a statement to SI. Alabama State is a school of interest in the ongoing probes, sources say.
While the Eastern District of New York led the NBA investigation, the Eastern District of Pennsylvania is spearheading the college inquiry. The NBA probe exploded in the headlines last week with the arrests of 38 people, including a ring of gamblers conspiring to make wagers based on inside information. SI has reported that at least two of the defendants in the NBA case, professional gamblers Shane Hennen and Marves Fairley, are at the heart of the investigation into colleges. Hennen and Fairley have extensive criminal records.
In September, the NCAA announced it was investigating gambling-related infractions cases involving 13 players at six different schools. The players were not named, but their former schools were: Eastern Michigan, Temple, Arizona State, New Orleans, North Carolina A&T and Mississippi Valley State.
When all cards are laid on the table in the federal and NCAA college inquiries, the number of affected players and schools are likely to grow considerably.
The EDPA case is expected to lead to indictments, and those will provide some clarity about what the U.S. attorneys and FBI believe happened. In the meantime, the NCAA is working to expedite infractions cases involving current players, and it is becoming increasingly likely that the season will begin without any news from the EDPA. More than 100 games involving Division I schools are scheduled for Monday, with the first one at 8 a.m. Pennsylvania time.
