There were more developments Thursday at the second federal trial into college basketball corruption in Lower Manhattan.
FBI wiretaps linked multiple schools and assistant coaches to having conversations about paying Zion Williamson and Marvin Bagley III to attend their respective schools.
As it turns out, none of those schools landed Williamson or Bagley III. They both went to Duke. There hasn’t been any testimony or recordings mentioning coach Mike Krzyzewski or his staff members.
But that hasn’t stopped people from connecting the dots. The high-profile case that’s shedding light on the seedy underworld of college basketball recruiting has thrust the storied program into the spotlight.
Duke isn’t the only program that’s getting mentioned. Thursday’s testimony included references to Kansas, Kentucky, Texas A&M, Alabama, TCU, Arizona State, Connecticut, North Carolina, Clemson, Syracuse and Creighton.
Christian Dawkins and Merl Code are accused of being middlemen who bribed assistant coaches to steer their players to the agents and financial planners of their choice.
Marty Blazer, the government’s star witness, took the stand for his fourth day of testimony. Blazer has pleaded guilty to a slew of fraud charges that could send him to prison for up to 67 years. He is testifying in hopes of reducing his sentence.
Blazer’s testimony on Wednesday and FBI wiretaps painted Arizona men’s basketball head coach Sean Miller as an alleged cheater. Blazer mentioned additional schools and assistant coaches on Thursday.
In a video wiretap played by the prosecution, former USC assistant Tony Bland discusses a payment scheme with Dawkins for Bagley III. Bland also got caught taking a $13,000 payment from Dawkins at a meeting in Las Vegas in July of 2017.
Another video wiretap brought Clemson into the mix – in both football and basketball! According to Matt Norlander of CBS Sports, Clemson assistant basketball coach Steve Smith was recorded talking to Dawkins and an undercover FBI agent about the recruitment of and potential payments to Zion Williamson’s family.
In reference to Williamson’s recruitment, Smith said, “That’s why football is so successful, is if you do it and use resources at Clemson, like you can really keep everything tight.”
Smith goes on to explain how he knew the exact time – one hour and four minutes – it took to get from Littlejohn Coliseum to Williamson’s house. He joked that he had to pretend to not know the route and distance when he went to Williamson’s house with Clemson men’s basketball head coach Brad Brownell.
Another wiretap in a Las Vegas hotel room catches Dawkins discussing Williamson’s recruitment. He said, “Duke is gonna have their resources. UNC is UNC. Kentucky is gonna have their resources.”
Blazer testified that he interpreted Dawkins as saying, “Duke, UNC and Kentucky will have people in place to pay whatever’s necessary for Zion Williamson. Whatever Zion Williamson’s family needed, we would be able to step in and [help with money] if it was close.”
According to Norlander, other coaches who met with Dawkins, Blazer and undercover agents include Arizona State’s Anthony Coleman, Connecticut’s Raphael Chillious and Texas A&M’s Amir Abdur-Rahim. A wiretap in July of 2017 at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas caught Abdur-Rahim discussing paying then-Texas A&M player Robert Williams. A pair of shoes were then allegedly purchased and stuffed with $11,000 and sent via Federal Express to Williams.
Abdur-Rahim was recently named the new head coach at Kennesaw State.
Norlander reported that former Alabama assistant Yasir Rosemond was heard on a wiretap saying, “Whatever you need me to do, I’ll do it. Alabama actually got shit in place too” in relation to “resources” to land recruits.
Code says on a wiretap, “In some form or fashion, Duke, North Carolina, Syracuse, Kentucky and all of those schools are doing something to help their kids [and] it’s a mess because there’s so much money involved.”
Creighton assistant Preston Murphy and TCU’s Corey Barker are caught on wiretap taking $6,000 from Dawkins. In reference to TCU and Jamie Dixon, Dawkins says, “They’re all cheaters, his whole fucking staff.”
According to Norlander, Dawkins, Blazer and the undercover FBI agent met with TCU’s Barker because of his connections to Jarred Vanderbilt, who eventually signed with Kentucky.
The government’s questioning of Blazer is expected to conclude on Friday. Then the defense will get its shot at him.
From Durham to Chapel Hill to Lawrence and beyond, all ears will be focused on what else Glazer has to say about college basketball recruiting.