The ultimate fallout from the FBI's NCAA basketball corruption investigation will "reveal a more fundamental, existential issue for college basketball and the NCAA to reckon with: What does it say about your sport that conduct long considered standard, and even necessary, to win the highest levels is considered illegal by the federal government of the United States?," according to Dan Wolken of USA TODAY. No matter who wins or loses, high-level college basketball was "unmasked" yesterday as a "magnet for corruption, bribery and kickbacks it always has been behind the scenes." For the first time, an organization with the "motivation and the resources to pull back the curtain on widespread corruption in college sports has revealed what everybody kind of knew but couldn't exactly prove" (USA TODAY, 9/27). Creighton AD and NCAA D-I men's basketball committee Chair Bruce Rasmussen said, "I'm saddened but not surprised" (OMAHA WORLD-HERALD, 9/27). SI.com's Michael McCann wrote under the header, "Entire Notion Of NCAA 'Amateurism' May Be On The Line In FBI's Corruption Case." If these cases "lead to convictions, not only would the defendants each face potentially decades in federal prison but the system of college sports could face a kind of scrutiny that it has never before encountered" (SI.com, 9/26). In Indianapolis, Mark Alesia in a front-page piece writes the college basketball world is "bracing for what's next, while some are celebrating the federal indictment as the best way to clean up the sport" (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 9/27).
BRINGING IN THE BIG GUNS: YAHOO SPORTS' Jeff Eisenberg wrote, "How apropos that the NCAA had nothing to do with the probe that finally blew open the doors to the nefarious, shadowy world of college basketball recruiting." The NCAA's enforcement division has "long been sincere in its efforts to crack down on cheating in college athletics, but it has lacked sufficient manpower or investigative clout to come close to achieving that mission" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 9/26). The AP's John Marshall notes the arrests will have an "immediate -- and potentially long-lasting -- impact on the programs involved." As the "tentacles of the probe reach deeper into college basketball, more schools could come into the crosshairs and the black eye on the sport could darken" (AP, 9/27). The AP's Tim Dahlberg wrote, "Make no mistake about it. These aren't bumbling NCAA inspectors leading the investigation into shady agents, shoe companies and unscrupulous coaches." These are FBI agents and U.S. attorneys with "great powers of both subpoena and persuasion" (AP, 9/26). WDRB.com's Jason Riley tweeted, "So FBI didn't want the NCAA to know about the investigation. That speaks volumes." SB Nation's Steven Godfrey: "Weird how NCAA investigations get leaked to NCAA sympathetic media early and the FBI’s don’t" (TWITTER.com, 9/26).
ONLY THE BEGINNING: In Indianapolis, Gregg Doyel writes yesterday was a "great day for college basketball, because Tuesday is the day it all changed." For decades those were "whispers, rumors, common but [unprovable] knowledge." Doyel: "This is how a dirty sport starts to get clean" (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 9/27). In N.Y., Mike Vaccaro writes under the header, "The Darkest Day In NCAA Hoops History Is Only The Beginning." College basketball "nearly perished thanks to those point-shaving scandals," first in '51, later in '61, but "always managed to come back from the terrible headlines and peripheral characters." Vaccaro: "But the sport has never known a darker day than Tuesday" (N.Y. POST, 9/27). In Las Vegas, Ed Graney writes college basketball "all lives in the same glass house." Graney: "No one has any idea what might be coming" (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 9/27). ABC’s Linsey Davis called the news a “massive scandal rocking college basketball” (“World News Tonight,” ABC, 9/26). CNBC’s Brian Sullivan said, “What’s amazing to me is how this really peels back the onion on the money involved in college sports” (“Power Lunch,” CNBC, 9/26).
TIME TO START OVER: CBSSPORTS.com's Dennis Dodd wrote this should be a "reset for the whole enterprise." People have to "hit the reset button and start over from here" because, in its totality, the corruption scandal that was revealed yesterday by the U.S. Attorney's Office is -- and "under current rules will always be -- out of the reach of the NCAA." This scandal is "much bigger than Miami, USC, Ohio State, Louisville, Baylor, pretty much anything you can think of in recent memory." Those schools were "single entities." Dodd: "This is college athletics on trial" (CBSSPORTS.com, 9/26). Author John Feinstein said the “schools themselves are making so much money they don’t want to change things. They want to pretend that college athletics is clean” (“Nightly News,” NBC, 9/26). In Raleigh, Luke DeCock in a front-page piece writes college basketball yesterday "changed forever." Everything "sleazy about the sport that's been whispered about and joked about and wondered about for years and years, it's all out in the open now." The NCAA "must be furious, especially because the feds refer to 'Player-10' instead of 'Student-Athlete-10' in the indictments" (Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER, 9/27).
COMPLEX ACTIVITY: Former sports marketing executive Sonny Vaccaro said of the scandal, "I'm surprised at the immensity of this thing. It's not one school or one rogue somebody. It was organized beyond my belief. I'm totally shocked.” WFAN-AM’s Mike Francesa said, “It's a cradle-to-grave thing. It's a system now completely run amok. The sneaker companies are a big part of it and the NBA money, which is enormous now, is a big part of it. They want to control the player.” Francesa: “These colleges have so much money now. They get it from cable networks and so many different places that all it is about is generating more cash and more cash. The (school) presidents are the biggest phonies, because they want to be Harvard Monday to Friday and Alabama on Saturday. It doesn't work” (“Fast Money Halftime Report,” CNBC, 9/26).
NOTHING NEW: In DC, Barry Svrluga writes, "We have to understand, by now, that this is how college sports works." There are "likely clean major college athletics programs out there." But it is "also likely there were baseball players who didn't take performance-enhancing drugs around the turn of this century" (WASHINGTON POST, 9/27). ESPN’s Seth Greenberg said the "culture of college basketball is now the business of college basketball," as money managers, agents and -- to some extent -- the shoe companies have become “more involved" (“OTL,” ESPN, 9/26). Meanwhile, in San Diego, Mark Zeigler writes there are others who will "consider this a victimless crime, arguing that, with the NCAA refusing to pay them, players and their families should share in the riches of big-time college basketball" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 9/27).
