Syracuse Orange: College hoops bribery allegations are stunning, yet unsurprising

Just as the college-basketball season gets set to start, the federal government unveiled a potentially massive scandal. ITLH takes a look.

College basketball is easily my favorite sport.

Not merely because I attended Syracuse University and absolutely adore Syracuse Orange hoops.

There are so many wonderful attributes surrounding collegiate ball.

Preseason tournaments. An intense regular season featuring storied rivalries. March Madness, chock full of upsets during the opening weekend, and resulting in the treasured Final Four.

I could go on and on about how much I crave this cherished pastime, whose upcoming campaign kicks off in only several short weeks.

But I won’t.

Rather, it’s time to talk about the truly awful direction in which my beloved sport is heading. And, unfortunately, has been – for quite a while.

Scandals in college athletics are nothing new. Not in the least. They have occurred for decades.

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The SU basketball program has gotten hit in more than one instance with NCAA sanctions, with head coach Jim Boeheim and his staff beginning to recover from their latest penalties.

Louisville recently received some severe sanctions from the NCAA, while North Carolina still awaits its fate.

The latest sickening, albeit not all that surprising, news came down earlier this week. Federal-government officials, including those at the FBI, announced that they had arrested 10 people, including four men’s hoops coaches, “in connection with two related fraud and corruption schemes,” according to a U.S. Department of Justice press release.

The four assistants, from Arizona, Auburn, Oklahoma State and Southern California, have all gotten suspended or placed on administrative leave, per various media reports.

One of the coaches is USC’s Tony Bland, a former Syracuse player.

I need to stress this at the onset: these 10 individuals, while they have gotten arrested, they are allowed due process through the U.S. legal system, and they are innocent until proven guilty.

More from the U.S. DoJ announcement:

"“In the first scheme, as alleged in the three Complaints unsealed today, college basketball coaches took cash bribes from athlete advisers, including business managers and financial advisers, in exchange for using their influence over college players under their control to pressure and direct those players and their families to retain the services of the advisers paying the bribes. In the second scheme, a senior executive at Company-1, working in connection with corrupt advisers, funneled bribe payments to high school-aged players and their families to secure those players’ commitments to attend universities sponsored by Company-1, rather than universities sponsored by rival athletic apparel companies.”"

While the colleges and/or universities noted in the second scheme are not named, a bevy of media articles suggest that they might include Louisville, as well as Miami.

Louisville leaders have said that the university is getting investigated by the federal government. It’s unclear whether Miami officials have acknowledged the same.

ESPN.com, and other media outlets, are reporting on Wednesday that Louisville head coach Rick Pitino and athletic director Tom Jurich are both “out” at the university.

All I can say is … wow.

What an atrocious – and terribly sad – situation for college basketball.

I could totally see heads rolling at the remaining schools named in the DoJ press release. And maybe this is simply the beginning, with other powerhouse programs next in line to get crushed by the federal government.

I hope, and I pray, that the Orange is not involved. You never know, so we’ll have to wait and see.

As I previously mentioned, this alleged scandal is shocking in terms of the possible scope, but completely not shocking in that this nonsense goes on.

College hoops is a big business, to the tune of billions of dollars. The most notable programs, including SU, generate millions – even tens of millions – of dollars annually for their respective athletic departments.

Multiple television networks, like CBS and ESPN, are airing an abundance of games all season long. Boosters at colleges and universities exert a heavy amount of influence. AAU and high-school basketball at the highest level across the country generate tons of visibility.

Then you have lucrative apparel and shoe companies throwing their hats into the ring. And don’t forget about financial advisers and sports agents, who can have a tremendous effect on collegiate hoops, and of course professional basketball.

Everyone has their hands out, and everyone wants a seat at the table.

Whether student athletes, particularly basketball and football players, should get paid beyond the scholarships that they receive is a parallel debate, for sure, but one that we’ll save for another occasion.

The NCAA doesn’t have the resources to do much at all as far as “policing” goes, so the federal government has stepped in. What the FBI and other public-sector officials are uncovering in college hoops is illegal, immoral, shady and unethical.

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It pains me to admit this, but the current landscape in college basketball is disgusting. And, my overwhelming fear is that unless something drastic gets done, the present climate is going to get worse before it gets better.

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