I was personally surprised that the Feds implicated several schools in its basketball investigation, but didn't implicate these four schools: Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, and North Carolina.
Based on what I've been told over the years by people in the business, I'm personally convinced that these four schools are the biggest cheaters when it comes to illegal recruiting tactics. Arizona is an honorable mention for inclusion in this batch.
After reading many questions and comments on this board, I'm starting to develop a bit of a theory as to why...
There's a difference between what is against the NCAA rules and what is illegal in the ideas of the federal government. The feds aren't interested in any schools that violate the ethics involved in NCAA rules, but don't commit any crimes.
I think that the four schools have either just not been named yet or are better at cheating. Better cheating could be a tighter group of people involved who are less likely to snitch or do something stupid. This was my initial thought.
My new thought is that Duke, Kansas, Kentucky and North Carolina might either intentionally, or unintentionally, be cheating in a way that isn't "interesting" to the Feds. For example, if a player is paid money by a booster, then that player needs to pay income tax. Receiving that benefit is both a violation of NCAA rules AND illegal... the feds are interested in this. If however, the player receives the payment in a different format... let's say an overly well compensated job for a parent, then this might not attract the attention of the Feds. In this scenario, NCAA rules are violated, but since income taxes are being paid as the money flows into the parent's pocket, no laws are broken... the feds are NOT interested in this.
I'm not sure if this is what's going on, but I think it could be part of the reason why some of the schools might not be named. (Though I sure hope that they get brought into the suit.)
Based on what I've been told over the years by people in the business, I'm personally convinced that these four schools are the biggest cheaters when it comes to illegal recruiting tactics. Arizona is an honorable mention for inclusion in this batch.
After reading many questions and comments on this board, I'm starting to develop a bit of a theory as to why...
There's a difference between what is against the NCAA rules and what is illegal in the ideas of the federal government. The feds aren't interested in any schools that violate the ethics involved in NCAA rules, but don't commit any crimes.
I think that the four schools have either just not been named yet or are better at cheating. Better cheating could be a tighter group of people involved who are less likely to snitch or do something stupid. This was my initial thought.
My new thought is that Duke, Kansas, Kentucky and North Carolina might either intentionally, or unintentionally, be cheating in a way that isn't "interesting" to the Feds. For example, if a player is paid money by a booster, then that player needs to pay income tax. Receiving that benefit is both a violation of NCAA rules AND illegal... the feds are interested in this. If however, the player receives the payment in a different format... let's say an overly well compensated job for a parent, then this might not attract the attention of the Feds. In this scenario, NCAA rules are violated, but since income taxes are being paid as the money flows into the parent's pocket, no laws are broken... the feds are NOT interested in this.
I'm not sure if this is what's going on, but I think it could be part of the reason why some of the schools might not be named. (Though I sure hope that they get brought into the suit.)
