March is coming, so here’s a look at what we learned around college basketball from last week
Welcome back to our weekly five takeaways column that runs you through the five biggest stories in college basketball from the week that was. This week, we’ve got a heavy focus on reports stemming from the FBI investigation, Kansas’ 14th straight Big 12 title, Duke’s new look defense and Virginia’s hilarious domination of Pitt.
5. Arizona’s Sean Miller allegedly discussed a $100,000 payment for Deandre Ayton’s commitment
College basketball’s bribery scandal took its latest turn last week in a series of breaking news pieces produced by Yahoo Sports and ESPN. Yahoo’s reports — which we’ll get to in a bit — detail government evidence obtained from ASM Sports alleging the distribution of impermissible benefits to various college basketball players spanning the full range of high profile programs.
It was ESPN’s report, however, that had the largest immediate implications and caused Bill Walton to experience an existential crisis on air. According to Mark Schlabach, “FBI wiretaps intercepted telephone conversations between Arizona coach Sean Miller and Christian Dawkins…in which Miller discussed paying $100,000 to ensure star freshman Deandre Ayton signed with the Wildcats.” The 24-year old Dawkins, a former runner for ASM, is at the center of the FBI’s investigation.
What’s important to note here is that there are, as of now, no actual receipts indicating payment was made to Ayton or his family. In a statement made via their attorney, Ayton’s family denied discussing or soliciting payments from anyone as a part of his recruitment. A law firm conducting Arizona’s own investigation emphasized the same on Sunday. The freshman, seeming unaffected by the report, played in a 98-93 loss to Oregon on Saturday, finishing with 28 points, 18 rebounds and four blocks.
Miller was absent. The 49-year old head coach reportedly left Eugene prior to the start of the game and did not travel back with the team after he and the school agreed it would be best for him not to coach against the Ducks. Former Washington head coach Lorenzo Romar handled coaching duties for the Wildcats.
Where things go from here remains unclear. The Arizona Board of Regents held an emergency meeting on Saturday, resulting in a statement that effectively read, “We’re looking into it.” Miller’s contract, meanwhile, oddly pays him more money should the school fire him for cause. Presuming Schlabach’s reporting is accurate, it’s hard to imagine any other outcome.