The real intrigue surrounding the FBI’s college basketball corruption trial in Manhattan had little to do with if the prosecution could prove universities were “defrauded” by a few rouge individuals like Adidas executives Merl Code and James Gatto and agency middleman Christian Dawkins. Instead, the most compelling part of this trial was always going to be the juicy details that came out in court regardless of whether or not they would impact the actual verdict.
Zion Williamson has been dragged into the FBI trial. What does it mean for Duke, Kansas and the NCAA?
There’s a lot to unpack after Williamson’s name surfaced in the FBI corruption trial.
Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports
Ricky O'Donnell has covered basketball at all levels for more than a decade at SB Nation. He’s currently the Associate Director of Programming.
On Tuesday, the trial provided its biggest bombshell yet: the father of Zion Williamson — Duke freshman and Internet legend — allegedly asked Kansas assistant coach Kurtis Townsend for money, housing and a job according to a conversation caught on tape between Townsend and Code.
The conversation was caught on an FBI wiretap, but wasn’t admitted as evidence in the trial because it occurred just 12 days before Code was arrested in September of 2017, well after the alleged fraud he committed that put him on trial. Still: the introduction of Williamson’s name into this saga is eye-popping because he’s set to be the biggest name in the sport playing for the most untouchable program in the country this season at Duke.
What does it mean that Williamson’s name was brought up in court this week? There’s a lot to unpack here.
It remains very difficult to believe Coach K
A day before Williamson’s name was mentioned in court, Mike Krzyzewski called corruption in college basketball “a blip” and he believed the sport is “actually pretty clean”. Here’s the full quote:
“I think [college basketball] is actually pretty clean,” he told ESPN on Monday.
“I really haven’t followed it that much,” Krzyzewski said about the trial during his team’s media day press conference on Monday. “I think it’s minute, it’s a blip. It’s not what’s happening. ... We haven’t lost guys because someone cheated. I haven’t paid attention to it because I haven’t been affected by it.”
Two things:
- Just because Williamson’s father allegedly asked a Kansas assistant for money doesn’t mean he got money from Duke.
- It is extremely hard to believe Coach K when he says he’s unaware and unaffected by corruption throughout college basketball
Krzyzewski is the NCAA’s white knight, the face of the sport and the head of one of the NCAA’s biggest moneymakers. There’s been a lot of smoke around his program even if there’s never been fire. This isn’t to say that Coach K is a cheater. It’s just hard to approach his blissful ignorance of the game within the game with anything about total skepticism.
This is the third time Kansas has been brought into the scandal
Kansas wasn’t originally implicated when the FBI rushed to arrest coaches and executives in the wake of the investigation. Still, Kansas is a flagship Adidas school and many believed it was only a matter of time before the Jayhawks were brought into this. That’s happened in a big way during the trial.
Silvio de Sousa, current Kansas forward
- Adidas consultant T.J. Gassnola testified he gave $2,500 to the guardian of Silvio de Sousa, the Kansas big man who joined the Jayhawks in the second semester of last season. Gassnola also testified he offered $20,000 to help get De Sousa’s guardian out from underneath a $60,000 payment he took from a Maryland booster.
Billy Preston, former Kansas forward
Preston was the No. 8 overall incoming recruit last season according to Rivals, but never played a game for Kansas before signing with a pro team overseas in January. At the time, Kansas said it was because they were looking into the details of a mysterious car accident. From the KC Star:
Just before KU’s 65-61 victory over Kentucky, coach Bill Self announced Preston had been involved in a single-car accident and he was being held out by KU’s administration until the compliance department could get a “clearer financial picture” regarding Preston’s vehicle.
A release from KU Athletics on Wednesday said that Preston “hit a curb Saturday midday on 19th Street on campus, resulting in minor damage to his tires. Other than his tires, there was no property damage, and there were no injuries or other individuals involved.” The release also said that “police were not involved, and a police report would not be filed in a situation like this.”
In hindsight, this is .... not very believable. Add in the phone call Williamson’s father had with Kansas assistant Kurtis Townsend and there sure is a lot of smoke flying around the Jayhawks.
Let Zion live
Even though the phone call between Williamson’s father and Townsend didn’t qualify as evidence for the trial, there’s still a chance the NCAA could look into this. Theoretically, an investigation could put Williamson’s eligibility at Duke in jeopardy.
Please, don’t let this happen. College basketball needs Williamson this year because he’s going to be must-see TV every time he takes the court. Many fans will accuse Duke of getting preferential treatment should the NCAA decide an investigation isn’t necessary. They have some ground to stand on, but the point remains: college hoops needs Zion Williamson this season.
It will be fascinating to see how this all plays out. Regardless of whether the FBI succeeds in its objective to prove universities were “defrauded”, the allegations flying in and around this trial continue to pull back the layers on the black market in college basketball that exists because of amateurism. Until the NCAA abandons that model, corruption will continue to exist.
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