Why the NCAA hoops scandal will likely spread as trial starts

AS THE FIRST federal trial begins Monday in a corruption scandal that threatens to engulf college basketball, the coaches at four schools mentioned in the indictment -- Kansas, Louisville, Miami and NC State -- are not the only ones nervous.

This mess is likely to spread.

Coaches at Arizona, Creighton, DePaul, LSU, Maryland and Michigan State also were involved in recruiting the top prospects in question: Brian Bowen, Silvio De Sousa, Balsa Koprivica and Nassir Little.

Arizona was heavily involved in recruiting Bowen and Little before they ended up signing with Louisville and North Carolina, respectively. In fact, Bowen was probably headed to Arizona until Wildcats guard Rawle Alkins decided to return for the 2017-18 season. Little had Arizona among his final five schools until former Wildcats assistant Emanuel "Book" Richardson was among the coaches arrested by the FBI in September 2017.

ESPN reported in February that defendant Christian Dawkins and Arizona coach Sean Miller had discussions about a $100,000 payment to ensure that star center DeAndre Ayton, the No. 1 pick in June's NBA draft, signed with the Wildcats. Arizona's outside counsel, Paul Kelly of Boston, said Ayton denied receiving money to influence his decision in multiple interviews with the FBI and NCAA.

At the time, Miller denied the allegations -- and adamantly insisted he had never willfully broken NCAA rules. Arizona officials have denied multiple open-records requests from ESPN for any subpoenas the university received from the federal government for information and grand jury testimony related to the investigation. They repeatedly cited "the balancing test established by the Arizona courts to protect the best interests of the state."

Creighton also recruited Bowen -- he made two visits to the Omaha, Nebraska, campus -- and Bluejays assistant Preston Murphy grew up with Dawkins in Saginaw, Michigan. Bowen also strongly considered DePaul, which hired two assistant coaches with strong ties to him: Shane Heirman, Bowen's coach at La Lumiere School in LaPorte, Indiana, and Tim Anderson, who coached Bowen in the Nike-affiliated Mean Streets program in Chicago.

In court documents filed last month in former Louisville coach Rick Pitino's lawsuit against the university, the school's attorneys alleged that Pitino ignored red flags after hearing allegations that DePaul had offered Bowen $200,000 to play there. The court filing included a text message that Pitino is said to have sent to then-Cardinals assistant Kenny Johnson on June 2, 2017, saying: "Coach DePaul trying to pay Bowen 200 k to come there. Crazy world!"

After the court filing was released, Pitino said he never believed DePaul had the financial means to pay Bowen that much money, and DePaul officials told ESPN that the school hadn't been contacted by the NCAA or federal prosecutors.

Michigan State also recruited Bowen, and Spartans coach Tom Izzo has been a longtime friend of Dawkins' family. Jason Richardson, the nephew of Bowen's father, also played for the Spartans from 1999 to 2001.

LSU recruited Little and Koprivica, who might decide to skip college altogether, sources told ESPN. Tigers coach Will Wade signed the No. 5 class in the country this past year, including four players in the ESPN Top 100. In response to an open-records request from ESPN, LSU officials said no calls were found in records for Wade's university-issued cell phone to two cell phone numbers registered to Dawkins.