Probe widens in college basketball

Federal prosecutors alleged Tuesday that families of top recruits at Kansas and North Carolina State received payments from Adidas employees in exchange for the players attending the schools, as the college basketball bribery and corruption probe continues to grow.

A superseding indictment filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York charged Adidas employees Jim Gatto and Merl Code as well as would-be agent Christian Dawkins with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Code, Dawkins and Gatto were among eight men indicted by a federal grand jury in November in three cases linked to Arizona, Auburn, Louisville, Miami, Oklahoma State and USC. All have pleaded not guilty.

Attorneys for Dawkins and Gatto didn’t immediately comment while an attorney for Code declined to address the indictment.

The new charges center around Gatto and alleged payments to families of two players.

Mark Gottfried, hired in March to coach Cal State Northridge, was North Carolina State’s coach at the time of the alleged payment. A subpoena from a federal grand jury in New York served this year included a request for the personnel files of Gottfried and assistant Orlando Early.

A Northridge spokesman previously said there were no “red flags” related to Gottfried. — Nathan Fenno

Mike Brey, the winningest coach in Notre Dame men’s basketball history, signed a contract extension through the 2024-25 season. He has guided the Irish to 12 NCAA tournaments in 18 seasons . ... Miami announced men’s coach Jim Larranaga agreed to a two-year extension . ... Auburn center Austin Wiley will enter the NBA draft but doesn’t plan to hire an agent . ... Leading scorer Chloe Jackson is among two LSU women’s players who are transferring.