Arizona Basketball: Former ESPN Analyst Discusses FBI Investigation

Arizona Basketball: Former ESPN analyst Jeff Goodman explains what went on behind the scenes at ESPN during the college basketball FBI scandal.

For many of us Arizona Basketball fans, it seems like the scandal happened yesterday. What seemed likely to be another ordinary basketball season for our Wildcats, took a dramatic turn for the worst.

Suddenly the program that we have grown up loving and cheering for was accused of paying then top recruit and now Phoenix Suns rookie, Deandre Ayton in return for a commitment to play in Tucson.

As the story came out, it became very apparent that the story had some serious holes and not all of the links connected to each other. From the timeline of the story to the reporter of the story Mark Schlabach going M.I.A. for an extended period of time.

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The former co-worker of Schlabach and ESPN expert college basketball analyst, Jeff Goodman has finally opened about what really went on behind the scenes during such a critical time in college basketball. Goodman did this during an interview done by a podcast called “Glass Half Full” which typically talks everything college basketball.

Naturally, the FBI scandal was a topic of discussion and had some surprising words that all Arizona Basketball fans need to hear.

As a sports station that prides themselves on being the “Worldwide Leader In Sports”, wouldn’t they want the most qualified reporter for the job? That would logical to most of us, but in this case, just the opposite happened.

When the biggest story in recent history broke in college basketball, what did ESPN tell Jeff? They told Jeff “To stand down” and “Not cover it”. The reason ESPN gave Jeff’ “Well, we don’t want you to ruffle any feathers with the relationships you have”.

Instead, ESPN had Mark Schlabach and Paula Lavigne from “Outside the Lines” do most of the coverage. Jeff went on to credit both reporters for their work in the industry, but also said: “he felt that nobody had the information and contacts that I had at the lowest level”.

https://twitter.com/AZATHLETICS/status/1032746174191624192

He went on to say that “I knew people who people who had been arrested, Christian Dawkins, Andy Miller the whole deal.” The information that Jeff could have proved due to the connections he had made over the year may have prevented ESPN reporting misguided information.

As Wildcat fans, we have grown to expect nothing less, but we always had faith that the truth would prevail. It is sad that it had to come at the expense of Arizona Basketball and Sean Miller’s reputation. Also that our beloved student-athletes had to be dragged through the mud due to lack of leadership and irresponsible reporting by ESPN.

As Wildcats fan always do, we took that “Bear Down” mentality and now coming out stronger than ever, while gearing up for another season of Wildcats Basketball! Bear Down, Arizona!