The NCAA introduced that it’s chasing violations of sports activities betting guidelines involving 13 athletes at six school basketball applications: Arizona State, Japanese Michigan, Temple, New Orleans, North Carolina A&T and Mississippi Valley State. The NCAA’s enforcement workers allegedly uncovered some student-athletes “betting on and towards their very own groups,” alongside different point-shaving allegations.
This comes on the heels of Fresno State’s Mykell Robinson and Jalen Weaver, along with San Jose State’s Steven Vasquez having their eligibility completely revoked earlier this week for playing on themselves.
“By way of the NCAA’s intensive integrity monitoring program and community of sources, the enforcement workers grew to become conscious of surprising betting actions round regular-season video games performed by these groups,” the NCAA introduced in a launch. “The enforcement workers adopted up on these studies and substantiated — in some circumstances, by way of textual content messages, direct messages on social media platforms and different materials proof — that violations had occurred.”
The NCAA famous that the faculties and present teaching staffs are “not alleged to have been concerned within the violations.”
Arizona State is the one power-conference faculty related to the NCAA’s probe as of now. The boys’s basketball program was beforehand embroiled in a point-shaving scandal in males’s basketball within the mid-Nineteen Nineties when one in every of its greatest gamers, Stevin “Hedake” Smith, conspired with teammate Isaac Burton to level shave in choose video games for an on-campus bookie in trade for tens of hundreds of {dollars}.
The varsity supplied a press release to CBS Sports activities on Thursday: “Arizona State College is conscious of the NCAA investigation and consequence associated to a former student-athlete who’s not enrolled at ASU. The college cooperated totally with all inquiries, and was not implicated in any method.”
The previous Arizona State participant who’s alleged to have engaged in impermissible playing exercise is BJ Freeman, a supply informed CBS Sports activities’ Matt Norlander. Freeman was a capturing guard who averaged 13.7 factors, 3.9 rebounds, 2.6 assists in 22 begins earlier than being kicked off the workforce in late February as a result of what ASU disclosed on the time was conduct detrimental to this system. Freeman, who started his profession at Milwaukee, publicly introduced his dedication to UCF in late April, however the faculty by no means acknowledged he was part of its program.
The lead-up to Thursday’s fallout has been well-documented. Hysier Miller, Temple’s main scorer in 2023-24, was investigated for alleged point-shaving. Miller, who transferred to Virginia Tech forward of the 2024-25 season, was dismissed from the Hokies earlier than enjoying a single recreation.
Accounts related with a playing ring that’s beneath federal investigation for its participation in two NBA betting circumstances have been additionally tied to “uncommon wagering exercise” on North Carolina A&T, Mississippi Valley State and Japanese Michigan final season. North Carolina A&T suspended three basketball gamers — together with the highest two scorers on the season (Landon Glasper and Ryan Forrest) for “violating workforce guidelines” final January, however Glasper informed CBS Sports activities that he “by no means gambled.” Glasper transferred to Southern Miss final spring, whereas Forrest continues to be within the switch portal.
The identical accounts linked within the probe have been additionally concerned in suspicious betting exercise that positioned giant wagers on prop bets involving former Toronto Raptors ahead Jontay Porter throughout the 2023-24 season and former Hornets guard Terry Rozier in 2023, ESPN reported. Porter was booted from the league, whereas Rozier has nonetheless not been charged or straight accused of wrongdoing.
“The NCAA displays over 22,000 contests yearly and can proceed to aggressively pursue competitors integrity dangers resembling these,” NCAA President Charlie Baker mentioned in a launch. “I’m grateful for the NCAA enforcement workforce’s relentless work and for the faculties’ cooperation in these issues. The rise of sports activities betting is creating extra alternative for athletes throughout sports activities to have interaction on this unacceptable habits, and whereas legalized sports activities betting is right here to remain, regulators and gaming corporations can do extra to cut back these integrity dangers by eliminating prop bets and giving sports activities leagues a seat on the desk when setting insurance policies.”
CBS Sports activities’ Matt Norlander and Kyle Boone contributed to this report.