The Big Lead

New Orleans, Fresno State basketball suspensions show NCAA has growing gambling problem

By Sam Westmoreland

Feb 5, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; A rack of basketballs with the NCAA logo before that start of the UCLA Bruins - Ohio State Buckeyes game at Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images
Feb 5, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; A rack of basketballs with the NCAA logo before that start of the UCLA Bruins - Ohio State Buckeyes game at Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images / Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images
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Four more people have been added to the steadily growing list of low-major college basketball players under investigation for ties to potential point shaving and betting on games, according to ESPN on Wednesday.

New Orleans University's James White, Jah Short, Dae Dae Hunter, and Jamond Vincent have not played since a loss to Incarnate Word on January 27. The quartet are four of the Privateers' leading scorers. Reports indicate that those suspensions are due to an NCAA investigation into violations related to sports gambling.

They join a pair of Fresno State players, Jalen Weaver and Zaon Collins in the suspended and under investigation list, while fellow Bulldog Mykell Robinson was outright dismissed from the team.

The reason for the New Orleans suspensions? The massive sports betting ring under federal investigation placed bets on multiple Privateers games this season.

Suddenly, something many people worried about as sports betting has become more and more common around the country is coming to fruition: college basketball has a gambling problem.

Not at the highest levels of the sport: there's still too much at stake, and too many eyes for anything serious to happen there. But if you head to the lower levels, the low-major Division 1 programs, the teams in the midst of lost seasons? It's becoming increasingly clear just how susceptible the structure is to being influenced.

It makes perfect sense, of course, when you think about it. Good teams and high major teams aren't going to want to risk the scrutiny and potentials penalties that come from trying to influence outcomes or hit point totals. But bad teams, truly bad teams? That's a very different story.

It's no coincidence that every one of these players is playing for a team either in the midst of a ghastly season, or is playing at the bottom end of Division 1. That's where you're least likely to draw scrutiny, and where someone trying to influence outcomes can have the likeliest impact with the least amount of attention paid. It's where bad actors are most likely to find sympathetic ears for the cash they can safely offer.

And yes, the system for catching these people seems to be working, but not nearly quickly enough. The outcomes are still being impacted, the integrity of the game still questioned.

There's very little money in the banana stand for players at the lowest levels of college basketball. And when someone comes to you and offers you a good chunk of change to make sure you're hitting below a certain point total in a game you're already going to lose, it can be incredibly hard to say no.

The problem is, as betting grows and shifts and changes in the United States, scandals like this are only going to happen more and more frequently. There will be more bettors, with more creative ways to get to players, who will always have a financial incentive to listen to them at the lower levels of the sport.

And if the NCAA isn't careful, this growing problem could grow out of control in the coming years.

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