College basketball thought it dodged a bullet when the FBI swept through the NBA gambling scandal last October. Officials were quick to say the college game was clean. That didn’t age well.
Both the NCAA and federal prosecutors in Pennsylvania’s Eastern District have now launched their own investigations into betting schemes coursing through Division I programs.
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The new season just tipped off, but at least 30 current and former players are already caught up in the mess, tangled with some of the same defendants from the NBA case.
Most of the schools pulled into this aren’t the usual suspects from power conferences. The mid-majors took the brunt of it.
Two weeks back, the NCAA confirmed the 30-player figure and told Front Office Sports on Tuesday that the number hasn’t changed. Yet the scope keeps widening beyond the institutions already named in September.
More than 30 men’s college basketball players are being investigated by the NCAA as the NBA continues to reel from an FBI gambling investigation.
As college hoops begins, illegal gambling scandals loom large.
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) November 6, 2025
Arizona State, Temple, University of New Orleans, North Carolina A&T, and Mississippi Valley State all showed up in those early reports. None of those players stuck around for this season. But the list didn’t stop there. Iona, Alabama State, Stony Brook, and Robert Morris have all been linked to ongoing reviews since then.
Some cases wrapped up faster than others. Fresno State’s Mykell Robinson and Jalen Weaver got hit with bans in September, along with San Jose State’s Steven Vasquez. Then in October, the NCAA flagged suspicious betting tied to an Eastern Michigan game from January.
Kash Patel, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, left, listens to Tulsi Gabbard, director of National Intelligence, right, at the House Intelligence Committee Annual Worldwide Threats Assessment hearing on Wednesday, March 26, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Three former Eagles players, Jalin Billingsley, Da’Sean Nelson, and Jalen Terry, refused to cooperate with investigators. Since their eligibility had already run out, the NCAA couldn’t pin down whether rules were actually broken.
Now, heading into the heart of this season, several players nationwide are sitting out while investigations grind forward. What started as an NBA problem is seeping into the college ranks.
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