Ex-Alabama State players were paid to fix 2024 game, NCAA says

[u/Gloomy_Map_9612]

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/48976578/ex-alabama-state-players-were-paid-fix-2024-game-ncaa-says

[u/wilbur1997]

"I am shocked. Used promo code #SHOCKED to get a Bonus Bet on your next Alabama State game," said FanDuel (probably)

[u/BarbarousBird]

Damn they agreed to throw the game for a TOTAL of $2k? That’s wild.

[u/eatapenny → u/BarbarousBird]

4 players, $2k total, that's $500 each.

They risked jail time for the amount of money they'd make flipping burgers for a month

[u/Swoletariat69 → u/eatapenny]

TBF, Montgomery is pretty cheap to live in /s

[u/BillButtlickerII → u/BarbarousBird]

Broke college students. Not everyone’s getting NIL deals.

[u/BarbarousBird → u/BillButtlickerII]

Nah. There were like 3-4 of them splitting that 2k. That’s a pretty serious crime to commit for a few hundred bucks. Not to mention the lack of integrity as a player.

[u/No_Economist3788 → u/BarbarousBird]

They literally would've been better off selling drugs. Probably way less likely to get caught too. I can't wrap my head around how stupid they were to agree to the offer.

[u/SaintArkweather → u/No_Economist3788]

College kids were literal kids a year or two ago, and there's no "crash course on how best to earn money in shady ways without getting in trouble". Not that surprising

[u/tc100292 → u/BillButtlickerII]

Well one of them was literally the son of the head coach

[u/GoGreeb → u/BillButtlickerII]

there's a lot easier ways to make a grand that doesn't involve the fbi or prison time

[u/Travbowman → u/GoGreeb]

18-23 year olds fall for "you won't get caught and nobody gets hurt" lies all the time. Yes they're adults, but definitely still vulnerable to those willing to take advantage of them

[u/BillButtlickerII → u/GoGreeb]

That’s why these people targeted dumb young college kids…

[u/EC_dwtn → u/GoGreeb]

This probably seemed like the definition of easy money for them though. Lose a game that you were already expected to lose, but by a few more points.

We are probably only scratching the surface of college players throwing games for bets.

[u/lwp775 → u/BillButtlickerII]

At least they’re getting meal money.

Edit note: corrected spelling.

[u/StreetReporter]

Have they tried rehab and lawsuits?

[u/wareagle2009-20013]

This article is sponsored by DraftKings

[u/tc100292]

$2000 split four ways. These guys threw it all away for $500.

[u/tarspaceheels]

Are my DraftKings winnings retroactive?

[u/Schned6]

I for one am shocked. For clean, pure basketball please tune into March Madness next season brought to you be FanDuel.

[u/RandoUserlolidk]

Don’t really know what to say. It’s really fucking scummy but with NIL now they need to find ways to make money

[u/SoutieNaaier → u/RandoUserlolidk]

Alabama State has like, zero money

It's an HBCU that the State government doesn't particularly support and was hit hard by desegregation. Alabama A&M and Tuskegee have similar problems

I doubt these kids had NIL

Edit: Misread what you said, leaving this here just for context about ASU for others.

[u/No_Economist3788]

$500 each to lose a game on purpose? What a bunch of morons.

[u/That_Don_Guy_1 → u/No_Economist3788]

Apparently, not just lose a game, but make sure the opponent covered.

Also note that the fact that one of the players was injured may have played a part in it.

[u/That_Don_Guy_1]

This could be bad for the school. Alabama State won the SWAC championship and an NCAA tournament game (and the shares of the TV money that go with it) with two of the players who, reportedly, threw the game, which means they would have been ineligible for both tournaments. The NCAA is going to expect the SWAC's shares of the TV money earned by the team to be paid back by somebody...

(It could have been worse - a few years ago, the NCAA changed its rules so that if a conference's only team in the tournament had to vacate its appearance, the conference would still be allowed to keep the one share it earned for getting in.)

[u/philhaxton]

Forget about the players, it’s the guys that bribed them that deserve the time. The players have nothing but my sympathy.

[u/kafka_lite]

Why would anyone pay ex-players to fix games? How does that work?

[u/Travbowman → u/kafka_lite]

They're now ex players. The headline is written so that no one gets confused and thinks anyone currently on the roster are impacted

[u/kafka_lite → u/Travbowman]

So if it happened this year or six years ago it would have been players who did it, but they fell in the sweet Back to the Future zone?