Recruiting culprits get prison sentences

A former Adidas executive and two others who paid families to persuade top recruits to play for schools sponsored by the shoe brand were sentenced to prison Tuesday by a judge who said he wanted to send a “great big warning light to the basketball world.”

U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said he had to balance the need for a stern message with the realization that others who did similar crimes were not prosecuted in a recruiting scandal that has tainted two dozen schools.

Former Adidas executive James Gatto, business manager Christian Dawkins and Merl Code, a former Adidas consultant, were convicted in October of conspiracy to commit wire fraud for funneling illegal payments to families of recruits to Louisville, Kansas and North Carolina State.

Gatto, 48, of Wilsonville, Ore., got nine months in prison; Dawkins, 26, of Atlanta, and Code, 45, of Greer, S.C., got six months each. Code and Dawkins were each also ordered to pay $28,261 in restitution to the University of Louisville.

The judge said each can remain free until a federal appeals court decides whether to uphold their convictions.

Prosecutors say coaches teamed with Gatto and others to trade hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to influence star athletes’ choice of schools, shoe sponsors and agents.

NCAA President Mark Emmert has said an independent enforcement body to adjudicate major infractions cases could be in place by August.

Duke survives: RJ Barrett scored 28 points and No. 4 Duke held on to beat Wake Forest 71-70 in Durham, N.C., after Chaundee Brown’s jumper rimmed out at the buzzer.

Tre Jones added 13 points for a sluggish Duke team missing star freshman Zion Williamson for a fourth straight game with a sprained right knee. The Blue Devils (26-4, 14-3 ACC) overcame 16-for-26 shooting from the freethrow line to win their 10th straight in the series.

Brown had 21 points to lead the Demon Deacons.