Why is the FBI investigating college basketball?

College basketball is being investigated thoroughly by the federal government, a pretty significant development in the history of college sports, albeit not a positive one.

We’re almost one month away from the beginning of the 2017-18 college basketball season, so what we should be focusing on is the amazing early-season tournaments and matchups we’ll see on the court to start the campaign. But after the events that unfolded on Tuesday morning, really the last thing on anyone’s mind is what’s about to take place on the court this coming November and beyond.

The world woke up on Tuesday to the news that the a portion of the sport of college basketball is under investigation. Now when you hear something like that, the first thought that may come to mind is an investigation by the NCAA. However, it’s actually a little more serious than that. The FBI was the organization doing the investigation for the past few years, as it turns out. Yes, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is delving into the world of college basketball.

Now, a good portion of the country may be asking themselves one simple question: Why? More specifically, why is the federal government sticking their hands into college basketball.

Well, there’s a few things going on here. On Tuesday, everything started with the news from the US Attorney’s Office that they had arrested four college basketball assistants — from Arizona, Auburn, USC and Oklahoma State — and those assistants were charged with corruption. Then, to take everything here a step further, it was also revealed an executive from ADIDAS is allegedly involved in all of this as well. The most prominent name on the list is that of Chuck Person, an assistant at Auburn and former NBA player. Among the accusations are bribes going down to push some players to push players toward either the apparel brand or certain financial advisers. Even though one of the advisers, who cooperated with the FBI, had committed securities fraud in the past.

The boat was rocked even further when, in the statement from the FBI, there was a school that was referred to as “University-6,” and after connecting some pretty easy dots to put together that included former top recruit Brian Bowen, the belief was that Rick Pitino and the Louisville Cardinals were a part of this much-publicized investigation as well. A short while after the US Attorney’s office held their brief press conference explaining their investigation, the school confirmed they are indeed being investigated by the FBI as well — which holds some pretty heavy weight seeing as Louisville is already in hot water with the NCAA and Rick Pitino is missing the first five conference games coming up this season. Well, that is if Pitino even keeps his post.

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Now the entire college basketball world is under a huge microscope following the news that dropped on Tuesday. And maybe the scariest part of all — especially for coaches out there and executives in the administrations — is that the USAO also made it crystal clear in their press conference that they’re just getting started, noting that their investigation is still ongoing.