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College Basketball fans woke up to some big news Friday morning as Yahoo! released another article regarding the looming scandal, this time naming names. A story by Pat Forde and Pete Thamel detailed ways in which some of the biggest programs and players received impermissible benefits and could affect the way the rest of the season and the upcoming NCAA tournament play out, depending on how quickly the NCAA takes action.
According to Yahoo!:
“There’s potential impermissible benefits and preferential treatment for players and families of players at Duke, North Carolina, Texas, Kentucky, Michigan State, USC, Alabama and a host of other schools. The documents link some of the sport’s biggest current stars – Michigan State’s Miles Bridges, Alabama’s Collin Sexton and Duke’s Wendell Carter – to specific potential extra benefits for either the athletes or their family members. The amounts tied to all of the players in the case range from basic meals to tens of thousands of dollars.”
NC State’s Dennis Smith allegedly received over $73,000 before heading into the NBA. Seton Hall’s Isaiah Whitehead, LSU’s Tim Quarterman, Maryland’s Diamond Stone, Kentucky’s Bam Adebayo, and Washington’s Markelle Fultz all received anywhere from $10,000-$37,000, according to pay sheets created by the sports agency ASM Sports.
Current players Wendell Carter (Duke), Miles Bridges (Michigan State), and Kevin Knox (Kentucky) are all listed as having received (or their families) meals or cash advances. ASM Sports’ Christian Dawkins, who was arrested by the FBI in September for his role in the scandal around paying players like Brian Bowen at Louisville.
A surprising name on the list is Virginia’s Malcolm Brogdon, though the documents in the story indicated his mother had a dinner with Dawkins at a Ritz Carlton in March of 2016. The bill for dinner came to $64.16.
Stay tuned as more information comes out.