Kansas Jayhawks: An Astonishing Trip with Recruiting Violations in 2017

The recruiting violations by the University of Kansas are the focus of The Bag Game, an ESPN 30 for 30 Podcast. Billy Preston was a five-star basketball recruit who signed with The University of Kansas, where he went in 2017. It was commonplace for big-time basketball recruits to agree to wear a brand of clothing, usually a sneakers, for money. That brand was under contract with a certain school, allowing the students to get money that the schools themselves could not give. That is what happened with Preston. He was in a minor car accident right after he met with Coach Self and Adidas executives. His bad luck brought to light these recruiting violations.

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Billy Preston and Recruiting Violations

Bill Preston was great at basketball. He became the victim of a system of recruiting violations in college basketball that was in place but had nothing to do with him. He was a McDonald’s All-American in high school and he had a bad luck car accident after he left a meeting with Adidas officials. That is when the authorities found the bag full of money in his car. After sitting on the bench and wanting to get on with his life, Preston left Kansas without ever playing a basketball game there. Since that fateful transfer, Preston has been a basketball vagabond – he has played for 8 teams.

The scheme was quite common. First the school, company, and player would meet. They likely knew each other from AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) basketball games. The Players would agree to go to the school and to wear the brand of apparel that the school was working with. The player would then commit to the school, everyone was happy, and the player was given a large sum of money by the clothing company.

Bill Self and Recruiting Violations

The college basketball recruiting violations were how the game was played and Bill Self, the head basketball coach at the University of Kansas, played it well. In 2023 The University of Kansas and men’s basketball coach Bill Self agreed to a new contract that made him the highest-paid basketball coach ever at a public college. He made $9.44 million for the 2023-24 season, including a $1 million signing bonus. Kansas had to vacate 15 of its 2017 wins and had to go on 3 years of probation, but there do not appear to be any direct consequences for Self.

An Independent Accountability Resolution Process (IARP), led by the NCAA, ruled that Kansas men’s basketball would have to vacate 15 of its wins from the 2017-18 season due to its recruiting violations. That included removing any formal acknowledgment of its 2018 Final Four appearance, which meant the banner inside Allen Fieldhouse commemorating that Final Four run will have to come down, as will any trophies and other hardware associated with that season.

Condoleezza Rice and Recutting Violations

Condoleezza Rice said on recruiting violations, “College basketball is in trouble … and time is ticking.” Her commission found the NCAA needed – a new enforcement model that outsources the most complicated and significant investigations; harsher penalties for cheaters; a contractual obligation for coaches and administrators to cooperate with NCAA investigations; a push to terminate the NBA’s one-and-done rule; an allowance for undrafted players to return to college basketball; a financially enhanced degree completion program for players who finished at least two years of college; a remaking of non-scholastic basketball; a more enlightened approach to agent interactions with players.

NIL and Big Money for the NCAA Tournament

College basketball has been filled with business deals, recruiting violations, and violations of other types. As an example, the world stops for the Men’s Basketball tournament, which CBS paid $10.4 billion for a 14-year contract starting in 2010. Ed O’Bannon played College basketball at UCLA. In 1995 he appeared on the cover of EA Sports college basketball game without his consent. He sued, and the Supreme Court ruled in his favor. Now, when companies use the Name, Image, or Likeness (NIL) of a college athlete the athlete must be paid by the school. Last year, Ohio State University paid out $75 million in NIL money.

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This article was written by Kevin Sweeney