30 biggest college basketball scandals of all time

16. Boston College plays for the mob

Stop if you’ve seen this before: another college caught up in a point-shaving scandal. The affected program here is Boston College, which saw several of its players participate in one of the more extensive point-shaving schemes in history.

The plot was cooked up by two small-town gamblers in Pennsylvania with a key connection to the Eagles’ 1978-1979 team: Rick Kuhn. Kuhn, who was high school friends with the gamblers, was entering his senior year at Boston College and in position to affect the outcomes of certain games.

The way the scheme worked was that Kuhn would work with teammates to affect the spreads of certain games, with money being paid for by various crime families throughout the Northeast. The players ended up attempting to fix nine games, with notorious crime boss Henry Hill paying $100,000 to the players and high-end bettors earning up to $250,000 in the scheme.

Everything came out when Hill was arrested for drug running and flipped to the prosecution to avoid jail time for his crimes. During questioning, Hill revealed the scheme and the players involved, which led to a string of indictments and prison time for all the gamblers and Kuhn.

The scandal received the 30 for 30 treatment a few years back, when ESPN released Playing for the Mob in 2014. Several players and prominent gamblers involved in the scheme were interviewed, and it is worthwhile viewing for a deeper look at how a point-shaving scandal can take root at a college program.