The UT Point Shaving Scandal

I haven't really posted too much on the UT point-shaving scandal, but yesterday indictments came down against six former UT athletes for participating in point shaving.

The Blade coverage has the actual facts down on this, including a .pdf of the actual federal complaint. It also covers a seventh player who has apparently already pled guilty and provided evidence to the government.

Let's remember that these are allegations. And, in this day and age, we shouldn't have to remind anyone that Federal Prosecuters are not infallible or omnipotent.

A few observations.

I haven't posted on this too much because I think it is bad karma. I don't take any glee at this. I love to beat UT on the field, this kind of thing is bad for UT, but also bad for college athletics and reflects on our conference, and I'd be happier if it had never happened. (For an excellent take on this, read Kalamazoo's Graham Couch, who has his normal insightful look on this topic, and the shadowy nature of allegations on this).

Most of the media coverage I have seen in the past indicated that this was a football thing, but actually most of the players who are being accused were basketball players. If the charges are proven, it is a pretty telling indictment of UT basketball during the Joplin era. Without knowing more, it is impossible to know how much role the coaches or the administration might have played in all this, but clearly, something was wrong.

Apparently on the UT Boards (I don't read there because I try to protect my IQ from exposure to things like UT Boards, Survivor and TMZ) there is a lot of talk about how games which are alleged to have been "shaved" ended up with UT exceeding the spread. Just a reminder: no one is being charged with running a "good" or "successful" point shaving scheme. The charges are the same for a dumb one.

Which brings me to Dave Hackenberg's column today, which highlights what I think is the critical point...as described in the indictment, this entire effort strikes me as morons running morons. Not only were large, attention-grabbing amounts of money being bet on MAC sports, but the whole thing seems like an amateur effort. That doesn't make it less serious, only more tragic.

If you are interested, there was one BG game included in the allegations. It was on January 15, 2006 at Anderson Arena. The game was tied at 41 with about 8 minutes left, but BG out-scored the Rockets 18-11 down the stretch to win the game. Mawel Soler had 17 points and 9 rebounds, which may have attracted the attention of investigators in the first place (just kidding).

If you want to see how the accused players did in the game, or down the stretch, feel free to check it out here--you know, who missed a free throw, who committed a foul. And we can wonder.

It just points out the whole shadowy nature of allegations like this. We have all gotten used to seeing the Grantland Rice character in Eight Men Out circling plays in his scorebook during the Black Sox Scandal, but it isn't that simple. Who can really tell? Was it a real miss, or was it a shaving miss? As the margin increased, were those illicit fouls, or were teams fouling down the stretch, as they often do? (Graham Couch covers this, too)

Much like the NBA referee scandal, the mere allegations call the whole enterprise into question.

FWIW, I understand BG did finally cover the spread that day.

The media will cover this as it moves forward, but it will continue to be bad news for college athletics and our conference until resolved.