Arizona Basketball: ESPN Mark Schlabach emerges from under rock

Where in the world has ESPN reporter Mark Schlabach been hiding? One would think when he emerged he would apologize, but no, he doubled down.

ESPN Reporter Mark Schlabach, who tried to implicate both Arizona Basketball player Deandre Ayton and head coach Sean Miller in a pay-for-play scenario, was in hiding and Wildcats fans have been searching for him. Some suggested that Miller and Ayton have grounds to sue Schlabach and ESPN over the report. But all we had was the sound of crickets, a guy who used to Tweet daily had gone into hiding or lay dormant.

That is until today when he published a post to report on a negotiated $1 Million penalty which would come from Miller’s longevity bonus if he is criminally charged or found guilty of an NCAA violation. The penalty was worked out with the University of Arizona per the Arizona Daily Star.

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Schlabach doubled down on his report, which he writes in the third person, that multiple sources confirmed the wiretap recording regarding the now famously alleged $100,000 payment to sign. Remember Schlabach got the dates all wrong and there were multiple corrections on the ESPN correction page. No apology, no retraction tweet or post, nothing, doubled down stating once again that, “Sources told ESPN.”

"“FBI wiretaps intercepted telephone calls between Sean Miller and Dawkins, and multiple sources told ESPN that they discussed a $100,000 payment to freshman center DeAndre Ayton. Miller has denied paying Ayton or any other Arizona players.”"

One thing Schlabach did tweet about, and this was AFTER ESPN published the inflammatory and now infamous post, was the statement sent to Schlabach from Ayton’s lawyer Paul Kelly. So Schlabach didn’t know that the FBI interviewed Ayton? Seems like a huge investigative miss, no? Kelly’s statement spelled out the FBI dealings with Ayton and that “The reports are false and unfounded.” Schlabach’s new post doesn’t report that part though. He just discusses the FBI/Ayton interviews and leaves out that crucial piece. Here is what he wrote today:

"”Ayton, a native of the Bahamas, was interviewed multiple times by the FBI, NCAA investigators and attorneys who are conducting an inquiry for the university, according to his attorney and Arizona officials.”"

Unbelievable. One would think that ESPN would have Schlabach stay far away from the University of Arizona Basketball program, but no, he went right for it, first chance he had to report an update. Jason Scheer, 247Sports contends that he falsely reported again in the headline he used for the post and pointed out in a separate tweet that Schlabach got the score of the Arizona Buffalo game wrong (68-84 vs. the correct score 68-89).

Dave Heeke spoke on Wildcat Radio to explain why the new deal with Miller was so important.

In other news, more implications are being dismissed. This time it was alleged that an Orlando-area youth basketball program director  Brad Augustine took money to play player for $150,000 so he would sign with Miami. But Augustine’s charges were dropped by prosecutors possibly because Augustine never intended to give them money to the player. The Feds dropped the case.

If you paid attention recently, a report by Jeff Manning and Brad Schmidt was published from The Oregonian/OregonLive.com about Marvin Bagley III’s parents, specifically his dad, an AAU coach. The report discusses Bagley Sr. getting paid by Nike for AAU sponsorship and shortly after the Bagley’s moved to Southern California. Bagley attended Sierra Canyon High School, and some of those players joined Bagley’s Nike sponsored club team.

"Marvin Bagley Jr. and his wife filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in April 2008, during the Great Recession, listing their combined annual income at just over $44,000. Property records indicate the Bagley home was sold in 2011 at a trustee’s sale — typically a sign of a foreclosure.Four years later, shortly after Nike’s sponsorship of the team became public, they left their working-class neighborhood in Phoenix for Southern California. In a tax filing, the Bagleys listed a home address in a gated subdivision in Northridge called Porter Ranch. Similarly sized homes in the vicinity typically sell for $750,000 to $1.5 million, said Jose Contreras, a Coldwell Banker real estate broker active in the area. Rents in the neighborhood range from $2,500 to $7,500 a month.Nike confirmed it “provides some financial support” to club teams competing in its Elite Youth Basketball League."

Duke, a Nike School, received NCAA approval for Bagley to play according to their Compliance Director Todd Mesibov. “We and the NCAA evaluated his amateur status and determined him to be eligible,” explained Mesibov. Bagley is now a 2018 NBA Draft prospect. In Bagley’s case, Nike equipment was awarded to the High School and AAU teams, it’s between them and shoe companies. This is commonplace.

The Compton Magic AAU team is sponsored by Adidas, and some of their players (for example TJ Leaf who flipped from Arizona, Jalen Hill, and Jaylen Hands) committed to UCLA when it was an Adidas school. A coincidence or not, it did happen. Check out this Ballislife video of the Compton Magic playing in an Adidas game. You will be the 400,474th viewer. AAU ball it’s big business, and it is only going to get bigger once the one-and-done rule is changed:

It seems that implications for other schools players have been dismissed quickly, while Arizona was thrust into the limelight with most people assuming everything he wrote was fact because of Mark Schlabach and his “Sources.” Schlabach admitted he didn’t hear the alleged wiretap himself in a Tweet inadvertently. His dates were corrected several times on ESPN’s website after the dates didn’t line up and 247Sports put a wrench in it.

On top of all that, if this Tweet is true, Schlabach never heard the tapes himself. In fact, then you could assume that no one heard the tapes but the defendant. So one can assume from this statement that Schlabach’s source is the defendant and his lawyer.

By law, the FBI needed to tell Sean Miller what they have if anything. So that means that Arizona Athletics and Miller know what they have or not or if anything was taken out of context and they feel safe believing everything will come out okay.

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The challenge now for Arizona is recruiting. This updated deal with Miller and the school should help with recruiting. At least we hope so. Wildcats fans are still looking for a retraction and apology which it seems they are not going to get any time soon. Schlabach needs to go back into hiding or apologize/retract both of his posts. And ESPN needs to take him off the Arizona Wildcats beat.