College basketball's 30 biggest cheaters that tainted the game

College basketball’s 30 biggest cheaters that tainted the game

ATHENS, GREECE - APRIL 23: Rick Pitino, Head Coach of Panathinaikos OPAP Athens react during the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Play Off game 3 between Panathinaikos Opap Athens v Real Madrid at Olympic Sports Center Athens on April 23, 2019 in Athens, Greece. (Photo by Panagiotis Moschandreou/EB via Getty Images) /

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DALLAS, TEXAS – MARCH 17: P.J. Tucker #2 of the Texas Longhorns defends Joe Gill #23 of the Pennsylvannia Quakers during the first half of the First Round game of the 2006 NCAA Division 1 Men’s Basketball Championship Tournament on March 17, 2006 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /

27. Texas basketball may have engaged in academic fraud

Another common theme of this list is going to be academic fraud when schools help athletes get illegal assistance in coursework in order to keep them eligible for NCAA competition. One school that got itself into hot water for this kind of behavior was the University of Texas.

Back in 2015, a report emerged from The Chronicle of Higher Education that several Longhorns’ players were receiving impermissible academic aid over the course of a nine-year period. The first known incident involves forward P.J. Tucker, who was accused of having a paper written for him while Tucker was out-of-state preparing for the NBA Draft.

Another player, guard J’Covan Brown, reportedly received help on numerous assignments from a mentor back in 2009. The mentor confided to the Chronicle, on the condition of anonymity, that a part of Brown’s work for the classes was not his own original work.

The third incident involved guard Martez Walker, who was caught cheating on a test by taking pictures of the exam questions and asking for help outside of a math classroom. A professor reported the incident to the athletics department, but Walker ended up passing the class anyway.

Rick Barnes, who was the Longhorns’ coach at the time, denied any knowledge of the alleged academic fraud. The NCAA never issued any sanctions for this behavior, but it is worth mentioning here in this piece.