NCAA releases punishment for Michigan in sign-stealing investigation
The NCAA announced punishments for the Michigan football program regarding the Connor Stalions sign-stealing scandal that broke in the middle of U-M’s championship-winning season in 2023.
Scripps News – WXYZ Detroit
The NCAA is investigating former men’s basketball players from six universities for sports betting violations.Arizona State is the only major conference school involved in the current investigation.
The Arizona State men’s basketball team is among six programs with former members under investigation by the NCAA for sports betting violations, announced by the NCAA on Thursday, Sept. 11.
Names of 13 players involved, as well as the years in which they played, have not been made public. ASU is the only school from a major conference. The others are Temple, Eastern Michigan, Mississippi Valley, New Orleans and North Carolina AT&T.
According to the NCAA, the cases involve players betting on and against their own team, disclosing information to third parties for the purpose of sports betting, manipulating scores or game outcomes and declining to participate in the investigation.
The NCAA said additional cases are in “various stages of the investigation process.”
During a Sept. 11 interview on Arizona Sports’ “Burns & Gambo Show,” ASU athletic director Graham Rossini said the investigation involves just one former ASU player. Rossini said the university became aware of the investigation during the summer, after the player had left the program.
The players are not currently enrolled at the schools where the infractions allegedly occurred. The schools and staff aren’t believed to be involved in the violations, and no penalties are expected to be handed to the institutions.
The NCAA said it became aware of “unusual betting activities” through its monitoring program.
The investigation into the former players centers on regular-season games. NCAA enforcement staff investigated the allegations through text messages, social media direct messages and “other material evidence” and discovered violations occurred.
“The NCAA monitors over 22,000 contests every year and will continue to aggressively pursue competition integrity risks such as these,” NCAA President Charlie Baker said in a statement.
“The rise of sports betting is creating more opportunity for athletes across sports to engage in this unacceptable behavior, and while legalized sports betting is here to stay, regulators and gaming companies can do more to reduce these integrity risks by eliminating prop bets and giving sports leagues a seat at the table when setting policies.”
That news broke a day after the NCAA disclosed the names of players at Fresno State and San Jose State who bet on their own games and provided information for others to do so. Mykell Robinson and Steven Vasquez, roommates at Fresno State before Vasquez left for San Jose State, and Jalen Weaver of Fresno State were released from their teams and permanently banned by the NCAA.