Thoughts on ESPN report on Arizona Basketball Sean Miller FBI wiretap

The FBI Investigation evidence possibly turns up wiretap evidence that Sean Miller was involved in pay for play, it shook us to the core that Arizona Basketball was singled out by ESPN.

Out of the blue ESPN Mark Schlabach reported that Arizona Basketball head coach Sean Miller was caught on a wiretap talking about money for a recruit. Yahoo Sports Pete Thamel continued his FBI reporting and published his latest on the NCAA’s black market implicating many involved in NCAA Basketball stemming from evidence from Charles Dawkins and Andy Miller (no relation to Sean) of ASM Sports.

We have to question why ESPN would report this and not the FBI. The FBI handed out indictments and had this information if it is indeed valid. Is the timing off? Maybe. Why just Sean Miller? There are said to be 3,000 minutes of telephone conversations in hand. You have to question, what the motivation was to just pull out these maybe five minutes out of 3,000. There has to be a charge, then the courts have to hear the arguments, and then either someone is found guilty, not guilty or acquitted on a technicality.

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These days, it’s trial by Twitter. That’s the world we live in, unfortunately. If true, and Miller was caught saying these things, then I would say the NCAA has to look at the big picture before making any decisions. But because of bad press, things may escalate quickly, and due process may not be in the cards for this situation.

It took me a few hours and discussions with the Zona Zealots staff, but now I feel I want to give my opinion. This is just an opinion which is open to discussion. I have been talking to a lot of folks involved in AAU, NCAA, NBA, and semi-pro basketball and the consensus was that all the major programs are most likely in pay for play dealings over decades. Even John Wooden’s Bruins.

There is just too much money involved in NCAA sports for their not to be some corruption. The NCAA seems to have looked the other way. The NCAA has to shoulder the blame and fix things, but not just take out two or three school programs and call it a day.

I am reminded of my conversation with Utah Head Coach Larry Krystkowiak at Pac-12 Media Days when he was talking about his clean program (right). I also recall a conversation with Washington State’s head coach Ernie Kent who basically told the media that the four assistant coaches indicted were scapegoats. Hmm, pretty spot on.

Honestly, I feel too sick in my stomach to write much about something we are just hearing about that could or will affect the entire Arizona Basketball program. It was reported by Yahoo Sports and ESPN that Head coach Sean Miller was wiretapped and caught discussing a payment of $100K to a top recruit to commit to Arizona and that he was okay with Emmanuel “Book” Richardson to handle the money part. Here is an interview with Mark Schlabach:

Whether or not the deal ever happened, or there is any proof of its culmination, is yet to be reported. It seems to be assumed that this actually happened, but that is not what was reported. We feel it’s not responsible to bring this up if you don’t have the whole story, is there proof any payment was made and/or received by an Arizona Wildcat? If not, why would you bring up the players name?

I also think to bring up any player by name that anyone involved was caught saying he could persuade to choose a specific agent is not responsible reporting. That is total hearsay. Who knows what the player wanted to do or what he would have done? Who knows if any player was going to actually listen to anyone in the program when it came to choosing an agent? Leave that alone, please, too much gray area.

Greg Hansen went the distance, calling for Miller’s immediate firing. “Miller cannot be allowed to coach the Wildcats again. Not Saturday at Oregon. Not ever,” wrote Hansen. He went on:

"The school should withdraw from the Pac-12 Tournament and notify the NCAA that it will not participate in the NCAA Tournament. Miller’s coaching career is surely at an end. Unless this is a monumental misunderstanding, Miller will take a place with Rick Pitino among the most disgraced figures in college basketball history."

To suggest that the school should vacate the Pac-12 and NCAA tournament is not responsible either. There seems to be some vendetta or issue between Hansen and the Arizona Basketball program, no? Why should the players be hurt and penalized for something that seems to be widespread throughout the NCAA and has been going on for decades? It just doesn’t seem right, not right at all when the problem is huge. It’s like why do we all have to go through an x-ray machine because someone decided to put explosives in their underwear? Let’s be sensible.

Also, we question why just one coach in the ESPN report is being published. Why not wait and report it all at once? Doesn’t feel right, and it seems targeted. Duke, Kentucky, Utah, USC, and other schools also had players on an ASM Sports agency Christian Dawkins list. The list included Kyle Kuzma (Utah), Chimezie Metu (USC), and more.

Okay, let’s talk about that. It’s the NCAA’s fault, blame them. They looked the other way making millions along with the each Conference. The shoe company money, the Television rights, the advertisements. I also blame the NBA, that one-and-done rule changed the landscape of AAU making it much more important in the scheme of recruiting pushing NBA scouting to the High School level. High School games with four and five-star athletes have become a lot like college games, starting with player introductions.

Here are other’s thoughts on the timing of this report and method, etc.

John Middlekauff (Football analyst) mentioned in his tweet that there is an agenda. I know many fans and our Contributors feel there is an agenda. Why leak one coach at a time, why not leak everything at once? Maybe because Tucson is not a huge money market for the NCAA? They can survive if they make an example of the Wildcats out west? Food for thought.

KGUN9 reported through ESPN Tucson’s Zach Clark that the FBI probably didn’t want us to know about this, that the FBI is not in a hurry and wondered why it was leaked.

Yes, the people involved are to blame too if true, especially Greg Byrne who seems to have escaped out of Tucson and left scandal after scandal in his path to Alabama. Former NCAA players, parents, AAU coaches, NBA agents, and NBA teams, they all know it has been going on for a long time. I met a former NCAA D1 basketball player who told me he got envelopes of money in his locker every Friday. Why is everyone so shocked? Players need to get paid more than what they are getting paid.

Arizona Alumni chimed in, very telling:

What can be done moving forward?

The NCAA is a mess, and we all know it is. Maybe the NCAA needs to be shaken up, and maybe the schools and players should get a pass? There is so much money involved, so many jobs affected from the press, to coaches, to the athletes, the parents, and families, to agents, to anyone working in or supporting a program, vendors supplying the uniforms and supplies, the travel companies just goes on and on and on and on.

Not condoning the behavior, just saying this is the tip of the iceberg, we haven’t even heard about Nike and Adidas and what they found with the shoe companies yet.

So reorganize the entire NCAA, hire a new head, and take out all the top Conference commissioners who looked the other way. Then revamp the NCAA, pay players and work out some equal opportunity system? Each school has a certain fixed amount of money to give for recruitment. Police the money through the NCAA, so players only get the specific money that is reasonable but not more than tens of thousands.

To add to that maybe then players will be subject to investigation if thought to be getting additional money. The players get agents or advisors, so they can pick the best school for them and work the deal with the coaches. Coaches can spend all their allotted money on one player or distribute the money to more players.

Does the NCAA agree? Seems like it..

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The landscape is already changing in youth basketball and globally. Tonight before his game against Dallas, Lakers head coach Luke Walton talked about how he was okay with the money he received on scholarship, but others barely made it on the money. They had to eat fast food and lived from check to check while pulling in major money for their school.

I haven’t thought it all out, but why not run the top 20-30 programs like the semi-professional league that it is? Right now there are people aren’t waiting for the rules to change for minimum years in school (NBA rule), they are all gearing up with their Jr. NBA programs. The NBA has set aside $50 million to promote the Jr. NBA. When the rules change, the NBA will have the Jr. NBA and the G-League feeding the NBA. International basketball will expand to India and other countries. The Jr. NBA will run a global tournament for 17U just like little league baseball does in August of this year.

https://twitter.com/ArizonaNBA/status/967453601315528704

Basketball, globally, is becoming huge! They get more fans to come to games in the National Canadian Basketball League than the G-League does. Thousands of people in St. Johns New Foundland have become basketball fans and fill their arena’s to catch Charles Hinkle, and Carl English play exciting basketball on the Edge. You can watch the NBLC games on Youtube live, and the play by play guys are hysterical. Worth a try.

Or we are moving to the JBA or the Big Baller Brand (BBB) league. LaVar Ball is preparing for the inevitable, a league for players who don’t really want to go to college. His son Lonzo even spoke out today about it, and his teammate on the Lakers Kyle Kuzma mentioned that Lonzo’s statements were PR for the JBA league, “I think that’s promotion for you know that JBA,” said Kuz before his game with Dallas. Kuzma is not worried about this revelation at all (his words, see interview below).

Ball has a point. Think of the money that will be spent to litigate all of this. Lawyers will be making more money off of this. Kuzma is waiting for his lawyer before he says anything, he’s “gathering information.”

This ain’t over folks…much more to come! Until then a little levity perhaps?

No? Well, worst case there is hope as ABC’s Shane Dale points out:

Must Read: More on the FBI Investigation from ZZ..

In all honesty, we are just sick to our stomach right now at Zona Zealots, and we are praying for the team, the players. The Wildcats that work so hard for their fans to make sure we enjoy their play and win for their school. It’s about them, after all. Hopefully all involved put their egos aside and take care of the players, let them play, get them a coach or have Romar take over if they need to let Miller go. Pray hard tonight for our Wildcats.