Miami Basketball Potential Involvement in Bribery Case

The bribery case that has shaken college basketball to its core is to slow to evolve. The FBI said that this is just the tip of the iceberg and put the rest of college basketball on notice. Details are slowly leaking that implicate the Miami Basketball program in the scandal.

When the details broke about a bribery scandal initially four schools were named as being directly involved. The Miami basketball program’s involvement in the scandal is evolving. The school was referenced as “University 7” in the originally released indictments.

The indictment claims that University Seven and Adidas conspired to funnel $150,000 to a player in the class of 2018 to have the player attend an Adidas sponsored school. The school is believed to be Miami.

The player in question who is labeled as “Player 12” is believed to be Miami Basketball Target Nassir Little. Little’s family released a statement through his AAU Team 1 Family that Little and his family did not ask for, receive or were offered any money.

Miami Head Coach Jim Larranaga also denied any wrongdoing through his attorney. This would not be the first time that the Miami Basketball program is being scrutinized.

They were also a part of the Nevin Shapiro scandal that placed the football team on probation.

An ESPN article in 2011 quoted a Yahoo article in reference to the Basketball program’s involvement with Shapiro.

"“Shapiro said he paid basketball recruit DeQuan Jones $10,000 to secure his commitment. Jones, a part-time starter last year, is now a senior with the Hurricanes.At least six coaches and as many as 10 athletic department employees overall were allegedly aware of Shapiro’s illicit activity, including former basketball coach Frank Haith, now at Missouri. All of the coaches named by Shapiro since have left Miami.”"

Live Feed

Precinct TV

This scandal is bigger in both scope and the violations. This isn’t just violating NCAA rules, laws were broken. The FBI sent out a clear message to the NCAA that they were coming in to clean up the mess. The Hurricanes involvement in the scandal was indirectly stated in the original indictment.

"“(Adidas) Attempted to broker a deal to send another high school player to Miami, an Adidas-sponsored school, for $150,000. According to the complaint, “the payments from [Adidas] to Player-12 were allegedly requested specifically by a coach at [Miami] (Coach-3), who allegedly called Gatto directly and who, according to Dawkins, Code, and Augustine, ‘knows everything’ and, in particular, ‘knows something’s gotta happen for’ Player-12 to commit to attending University-7.”"

Larranaga through his lawyer Steve Grossman made it very clear about his alleged lack of involvement in the scandal.

"“We are reviewing the allegations but I assure you they do not apply to our much loved Coach L…I just can’t comment further. It’s so difficult to respond to shrouded allegations.”"

The Palm Beach Post quoted Grossman as telling the Sun Sentinel that Larranaga is:

"“Unfamiliar with this matter and had zero involvement in any allegations of any impropriety.” He told the Sun Sentinel that Larranaga “does not know the identity of [the] unnamed, unidentified ‘Coach-3.”"

The Hurricanes are in the mix for Little, but he is projected to go to North Carolina. The tweet strongly states through 1 Family that he or his family are not involved in the scandal in any way.

The details involving the Miami Basketball program and other schools is far from over. There is no indication what or any involvement the NCAA will have in the investigation.

Next: Miami Basketball Potentially Implicated in FBI Corruption Probe

University of Miami President Julio Frenk confirmed in a statement released by the university that the FBI has informed them that a coach and potential recruit are being investigated.