College basketball is facing one of its most serious integrity crises in recent memory, as a federal indictment unsealed Thursday in Pennsylvania revealed a sweeping point-shaving scandal involving 39 players across 17 NCAA Division I programs. The charges center around a gambling ring that allegedly manipulated the outcome of at least 29 games over the past two seasons.
To be clear, no Big 12 teams or coaches were implicated, but the scope of the investigation is national. Programs named in the indictment include Abilene Christian, Alabama State, Buffalo, Coppin State, DePaul, Eastern Michigan, Fordham, Kennesaw State, La Salle, New Orleans, Nicholls State, North Carolina A&T, Northwestern State, Robert Morris, Saint Louis, Southern Miss, and Tulane.
According to federal prosecutors, this was a coordinated effort. Five individuals have been identified as “fixers” - the middlemen who allegedly recruited players and offered bribes ranging from $10,000 to $30,000 to underperform in games.
The goal? To cash in on wagers placed on these manipulated outcomes.
Prosecutors say the scheme resulted in millions of dollars in winnings for the betting ring.
ESPN reports that 20 of the 26 defendants played during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons. Four players - Simeon Cottle (Kennesaw State), Carlos Hart (Eastern Michigan), Camian Shell (Delaware State), and Oumar Koureissi (Texas Southern) - have even suited up for their current teams within the past week.
However, none of the allegations involve games played this season. In fact, the charges against Hart, Shell, and Koureissi stem from their time at previous schools.
Cottle’s alleged involvement occurred during the 2023-24 campaign.
The indictment paints a troubling picture of how deeply gambling has infiltrated the college game. And it’s not just the athletes and schools who are impacted.
As U.S. Attorney David Metcalf put it during a press conference, “The victims in this case span every sector of American life.
The fans, the honest athletes, the teammates of these players who are working their tail off... Everyone is victimized by that.”
The NCAA has responded swiftly. President Charlie Baker confirmed that the organization has opened sports betting integrity investigations involving approximately 40 student-athletes from 20 schools over the past year.
Of those, 11 have already been ruled ineligible for betting on their own performances, sharing insider information with gamblers, or actively manipulating games. An additional 13 student-athletes were found to have obstructed investigations by either providing false information, withholding documents, or refusing interviews - none of them are currently competing.
Baker emphasized that the NCAA is leveraging one of the largest integrity-monitoring programs in the world, covering over 22,000 contests annually. But he also made it clear that the system needs help. In a letter sent Thursday to state gambling regulators, Baker urged lawmakers to eliminate prop bets - wagers on individual player performances - which he described as a major threat to the integrity of college sports.
Prop bets, which often focus on things like how many points a player will score or how many rebounds they’ll grab in a half, are particularly vulnerable to manipulation. It only takes one player to miss a shot or commit a foul at the right moment for a bet to hit. And as this case shows, the stakes can be enormous.
According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, the indictment lists several eye-opening bets. Among them: $458,000 on Towson to beat North Carolina A&T, $424,000 on Kent State to cover the first-half spread against Buffalo, and $275,000 on South Alabama to cover the first-half line against Southern Miss.
The list goes on - $256,000 on Northern Kentucky, $161,000 on Louisiana-Lafayette, and even a $168,300 wager on the Guangdong Southern Tigers, a team in China’s pro league. There was also a failed attempt to place a $50,000 bet at a Kentucky casino on Southern Miss to beat Alabama State.
These aren’t casual bets. These are high-stakes wagers placed with insider knowledge, and they’re shaking the foundation of amateur athletics.
Kansas head coach Bill Self, speaking during a press conference ahead of KU’s matchup with Baylor, didn’t mince words when asked about the scandal.
“I think coaches in America would be very shocked if this did not occur in some form or fashion the way the laws and the rules are now,” Self said. “There’s a lot of great things going on out there, but a lot of great things, no matter what, also have some unintended consequences.”
Self wasn’t excusing the behavior - far from it. But he acknowledged the reality that the widespread legalization and normalization of sports betting has created a new frontier of risk for college athletics. With betting lines and odds now part of the mainstream sports conversation, the temptation for young athletes - many of whom are unpaid and under immense pressure - is real.
The NCAA has no commercial partnerships with betting companies, but that doesn’t mean it’s immune to the ripple effects of the industry’s growth. As Baker noted in his statement, protecting the integrity of college sports is going to require more than just internal investigations and monitoring systems. It’s going to take cooperation from states, regulators, and the sportsbooks themselves.
For now, the investigation continues. More details are likely to emerge in the coming weeks, and the fallout - for players, programs, and the NCAA itself - could be significant.
But one thing is already clear: this scandal isn’t just about a few bad actors. It’s a wake-up call for college sports. The game is changing, and if the system doesn’t adapt quickly, it risks losing the very thing that makes it special - its integrity.