Shady recruiting has been basketball’s dirty little secret

PHOENIX — Top-level basketball recruits played in gyms across Las Vegas over the summer, their final shot to impress college coaches during a live-recruiting period.

Around the same time in July, an undercover FBI agent was in a Las Vegas hotel room where more than $12,000 changed hands, money earmarked for influencing a high school player’s choice of colleges.

The meeting was one of several recorded by federal investigators during a three-year probe that led to the arrest of 10 people, including four assistant coaches at prominent schools. It also illuminated the shadowy world of recruiting.

“The NCAA’s never had the ability to enforce rules,” Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak said. “I was told this summer by a coach, ‘If you’re not cheating, you’re cheating yourself.’ ”

On Sept. 26, federal prosecutors announced the arrests of 10 people , including assistant coaches from Arizona, Southern California, Oklahoma State and Auburn. An Adidas marketing executive also was arrested, along with a tailor known for making suits for NBA stars in a case that alleges bribes were exchanged to influence highlevel recruits’ choice of schools, agents and financial advisers.

The shady side of recruiting has always been college basketball’s dirty little secret, standard operating procedure for numerous programs across the country about which little could be done.

The NCAA has had some success in uncovering the seamy underbelly of the sport.

In the 1990s, California coach Todd Bozeman was fired and the school was forced to vacate victories from two seasons after a pay-for-play scandal in which a recruit’s parents were given about $30,000. Kentucky was placed on probation for three years in 1989 after the NCAA found an assistant coach sent money to the father of a recruit to get his son to play in Lexington, among other violations.

It used to be that high school coaches were the conduits to top recruits. Now the shoe companies run the show.

Adidas, Nike and Under Armour are on constant lookout for the next LeBron James or Steph Curry.

Today’s recruits often identify with a brand at a young age, in part because the shoe companies are so involved at the lower levels of the game, sponsoring tournaments and travel teams.

The shoe companies hope the early bond holds so the players will sign sponsorship deals with their brand.

Paying a player to attend a certain school or sign with a particular agent comes with a risk. Projecting the future of teenagers is an imprecise business, so there’s no guarantee the player will ever reach the NBA.

But the high end-game stakes push some shoe company representatives to risk small payouts for a chance to get in with a million-dollar star.

“The depth of the problem remains to be seen, but clearly there is indication of behavior that must be corrected for the health of basketball and the integrity of college athletics,” Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey said.