PHILADELPHIA — Orlando Magic forward Aaron Gordon supports embattled University of Arizona men’s basketball coach Sean Miller, whom Gordon played for during the 2013-14 season.

ESPN reported that the FBI has records of wiretapped phone conversations between Miller and Christian Dawkins, a runner for a prominent sports agency, in which Miller talked about paying $100,000 to get star high-school prospect Deandre Ayton to sign with Arizona.

Miller has said he “will be vindicated,” and a lawyer representing Ayton’s family has said the allegation is false.

For two years, the FBI investigated bribes in college basketball. In late September, assistant coaches at four colleges were charged with crimes, including an assistant coach at Arizona, Emanuel Richardson. Dawkins and two Adidas officials also were charged.

Gordon attended Arizona for one year and was college teammates with current NBA players T.J. McConnell of the Philadelphia 76ers and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson of the Brooklyn Nets.

“Sean Miller was nothing but great for me and especially the guys that were on that team: T.J., myself, Rondae,” Gordon said Saturday when asked about the report about Miller.

“He was nothing but great — just upstanding, just a role model and a great coach, a great person,” Gordon added. “This doesn’t take away from who he is as a person and who he is as a coach. He’s very successful. Yeah, the NCAA has a stranglehold on the money revenue coming through, and they need to start paying players. They really do. They need to start paying players more. It’s too bad that the FBI is so concerned with that and not concerned with other things. It’s just a domino effect at this point. You want to tip one over and the rest are going to go down. So the NCAA should pay players.”

During Gordon’s one-and-done season at Arizona, the Wildcats reached the Elite Eight but lost in a regional final to Wisconsin in overtime 64-63.

Gordon was the Wildcats’ second-leading scorer that season, averaging 12.4 points per game, and the Wildcats’ leading rebounder, averaging 8.0 boards per game.

Miller admires Gordon, too.

In 2014, a few weeks before the Magic picked Gordon fourth overall in the NBA Draft, Miller praised Gordon in an interview with the Orlando Sentinel.

“I think initially when he enters the NBA he’s ahead of the curve for a rookie with his ability to defend, because he can defend multiple players and he’s a great defensive rebounder,” Miller said then.

“That’s what he brings to the table early. As he continues to mature and grow as a player and get older, his scoring will continue to rise. His shooting will continue to improve, and I think at that point, when all of that comes together, then you’re going to have an elite NBA player.”

On Saturday night, Miller did not coach the Wildcats in their game against the University of Oregon in Eugene, Ore.

In a statement, Miller said, “I believe it is in the best interest of our team that I not coach the game tonight. I continue to fully support the university’s efforts to fully investigate this matter and am confident that I will be vindicated. For now, my thoughts are with our team.”

Gordon supported Miller when Gordon was asked for his reaction to Miller not coaching Saturday.

“I’m super-disappointed,” Gordon said. “He’s such a hard worker, just an incredibly hard worker. A great coach. But his future is still bright when it comes to coaching. An awesome guy. Whether it’s in the NBA or whether it’s in college, he’s going to keep coaching. He’s got coaching in his blood. It’s too bad to see that.”

jrobbins@orlandosentinel.com. Read his blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/magicblog and follow him on Twitter at @JoshuaBRobbins.

An FBI telephone wiretap captured Arizona men’s basketball Coach Sean Miller discussing a $100,000 bribe to ensure star recruit Deandre Ayton signed with his team, ESPN reported late Friday evening.

The story — published hours after a Yahoo Sports report on hundreds of pages of documents that suggested current and former players at more than 20 Division I schools broke NCAA rules by receiving impermissible benefits — is the most significant revelation to date from an ongoing FBI probe into corruption in college basketball.

Miller and Arizona athletics officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday evening.

According to ESPN, which sourced its report to “people with knowledge of the FBI investigation,” Miller and Christian Dawkins, a low-level employee for a sports agency, had multiple recorded conversations about Ayton, a 7-foot-1 center from the Bahamas who is regarded as one of the most talented freshmen in the country.

The revelations raise questions about whether Miller, 49, a former coach at Xavier who has led Arizona to three Elite Eight appearances in his first eight seasons, soon could be ensnared in the sprawling federal case that has his former assistant Emanuel “Book” Richardson facing federal charges. According to ESPN, Dawkins mentioned contacting Richardson to arrange the specifics of the bribe in conversations with Miller, but Miller told Dawkins to deal directly with him when it came to money.

ESPN’s report capped a day that began with Yahoo’s report that also sent shock waves through the college sports landscape.

The report was based on internal documents obtained from ASM Sports, a company founded by former NBA agent Andy Miller that was raided in September by the FBI as part of the ongoing federal investigation of corruption in college basketball, according to Yahoo. The documents purportedly detail cash advances — many of them also involving Dawkins, the employee involved in the alleged Arizona bribe — given to a number of players along with entertainment and travel expenses accrued as Miller’s agency pursued players before they became professional.

Published weeks before the NCAA’s showcase event and premier moneymaker — the men’s basketball tournament — Friday’s report is a sign that the Justice Department’s investigation, which thus far has produced criminal charges against four assistant coaches and a top Adidas executive, could continue to impact major college basketball for months, if not years.

Among the current players implicated in the documents, according to Yahoo:

• Michigan State’s Miles Bridges, whose mother may have received $400. Spartans Coach Tom Izzo said in a statement Friday that he did not believe any of his current players or coaches had broken any NCAA rules.
• USC’s Bennie Boatwright, whose father may have taken $2,000, and Chimezie Metu, whose adviser may have taken $2,000. USC said it would cooperate with any federal or NCAA investigation.

• Texas’s Eric Davis Jr., who may have received $1,500. Texas officials released a statement saying they were looking into the allegations.

• South Carolina’s Brian Bowen, whose family may have received $7,000. Bowen’s father was previously implicated in a federal complaint as agreeing to take $100,000 in bribes in exchange for ensuring his son would attend Louisville, which Bowen’s father has denied.

• Duke’s Wendell Carter and Kentucky’s Kevin Knox may have received free meals, according to documents. Duke released a statement Friday asserting Carter had not broken any NCAA rules, while Knox’s father also denied to a reporter that his son committed any violations.

It’s unclear if the NCAA will launch any enforcement investigations based on Friday’s report.

“These allegations, if true, point to systematic failures that must be fixed and fixed now if we want college sports in America,” NCAA President Mark Emmert said in a statement released Friday.
Among the former players listed in the documents:

• Dennis Smith Jr., who played at North Carolina State in 2016-17, received $73,500 in loans, according to the documents, which included notes about “options to recoup the money” if Smith did not sign with the agency.

• Markelle Fultz, the former Washington player and No. 1 pick in the 2017 draft, received $10,000, according to the documents. He did not sign with ASM.

• Bam Adebayo, who played one season at Kentucky in 2016-17 and is listed as receiving $12,000 on one document and $36,500 in a later reference (the words “bad loan” are listed alongside his name; he did not sign with ASM).

• Diamond Stone, at the time a freshman at Maryland, received $14,303, according to the documents.

Smith, Fultz, Adebayo and Stone were unable to immediately be reached to comment Friday. In a statement, Maryland Coach Mark Turgeon denied having any relationship with Miller, the agent whose company produced these records.

The documents do not appear to contain information suggesting coaches or officials at schools were aware of the alleged payments but instead portray investments by Miller and his employees in NBA prospects, years before they were eligible to play professionally.

[Turgeon denies contact with agency implicated in college basketball probe]

The bulk of the documents appear to be expense reports filed by Christian Dawkins, a former employee of Miller and one of the nine men facing criminal charges as part of the federal probe. Dawkins and two Adidas officials are set for trial in October on charges of wire fraud. The four coaches — from Arizona, Southern Cal, Auburn and Oklahoma State — are set for separate trials in early 2019 for charges including conspiracy to commit bribery and solicitation of bribes.

While Friday’s report sent shock waves through college basketball circles, it also raised questions about the status and direction of the Justice Department’s investigation, which lawyers for defendants have criticized as a waste of federal law enforcement resources that has resulted in criminal charges against mostly low-level figures in the shadow economy around major college basketball.

Miller, the prominent former NBA agent whose company produced all of these records, has not been charged with a crime, and neither have any of his other agents.

“These assistant coaches, low-level shoe company and sports management employees are now facing prison terms, while the very people they worked for, whose pockets they allegedly were lining with millions of dollars of cash, have entirely escaped federal prosecution,” said Steven Haney, attorney for Dawkins, the former agent. “ By definition, these criminal defendants are fall guys.”

A spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in the Southern District of New York declined to comment Friday.

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FBI wiretaps intercepted telephone conversations between Arizona coach Sean Miller and Christian Dawkins, a key figure in the FBI’s investigation into college basketball corruption, in which Miller discussed paying $100,000 to ensure star freshman Deandre Ayton signed with the Wildcats, sources familiar with the government’s evidence told ESPN.

According to people with knowledge of the FBI investigation, Miller and Dawkins, a runner working for ASM Sports agent Andy Miller, had multiple conversations about Ayton. When Dawkins asked Miller if he should work with assistant coach Emanuel “Book” Richardson to finalize their agreement, Miller told Dawkins he should deal directly with him when it came to money, the sources said.

The telephone calls between Miller and Dawkins were among 3,000 hours of conversations intercepted from Dawkins’ phone by the FBI.

Ayton, a 7-foot-1 center who was born in the Bahamas, is considered one of the top freshmen in the country and a leading candidate for national player of the year honors. He is averaging 19.6 points and 10.9 rebounds in what is expected to be his only college season, helping the No. 14 Wildcats take a 1½-game lead in the Pac-12 standings with three regular-season games to play.

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  Players at basketball powers such as Duke, UNC, Kentucky, Michigan State and Kansas may have committed NCAA violations that were uncovered by an FBI investigation, according to Yahoo! Sports.

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  A comprehensive breakdown of the teams, players, coaches and others implicated in the scandal engulfing college basketball.

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  Texas guard Eric Davis Jr. and San Diego State forward Malik Pope will not play while their schools investigate allegations they each took money from ASM Sports.

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ESPN analyst Jonathan Givony, in his latest mock selections, projects Ayton as the No. 2 prospect available for this year’s NBA draft.

Richardson, who worked for Miller the previous 10 seasons at Xavier and Arizona, was one of four assistant coaches arrested by FBI agents on Sept. 27, following a two-year investigation into bribes and other corruption in the sport.

Richardson is accused of accepting $20,000 in bribes and paying a recruit to sign with the Wildcats. In exchange for the money, the government alleges, Richardson agreed to influence Arizona players to sign with Dawkins and financial adviser Munish Sood, who also was arrested by FBI agents. Arizona formally fired Richardson on Jan. 11.

Richardson is charged with six felonies: conspiracy to commit bribery, solicitation of bribes by an agent of a federally funded organization, conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, mail fraud conspiracy and travel act conspiracy. He has pleaded not guilty and faces up to 60 years in prison and $1.5 million in fines.

Oklahoma State’s Lamont Evans, Auburn’s Chuck Person and USC’s Tony Bland were the other assistant coaches charged in the cases, along with Adidas executives James Gatto and Merl Code and former NBA referee Rashan Michel.

Dawkins, a former AAU director from Saginaw, Michigan, was charged with wire fraud in September after the government accused him of funneling money from Adidas to the families of high-profile recruits. Last week, a federal judge in New York declined to dismiss criminal indictments against Dawkins, Gatto and Code.

On Friday, Yahoo! Sports reported that players from more than 20 Division I men’s basketball programs have been identified as possibly breaking NCAA rules through violations that were uncovered by the FBI’s investigation into corruption in the sport.

Schools identified by Yahoo! as having players who possibly violated NCAA rules include Duke, North Carolina, Texas, Kentucky, Michigan State, USC and Kansas. At least 25 players are linked to impermissible benefits, including Michigan State’s Miles Bridges, Alabama’s Collin Sexton and Duke’s Wendell Carter.

The documents detailed the work of Andy Miller and his agency. Yahoo! reported that the documents — which include paperwork from 2015 through 2017 — show cash advances as well as entertainment and travel expenses paid for college prospects and their families. They did not mention Sean Miller or Ayton.

Ayton moved from the Bahamas to San Diego, where he played two seasons of high school basketball. As a junior in 2015, he transferred to Hillcrest Prep Academy in Phoenix, where he played with current Duke freshman Marvin Bagley III. Ayton was ranked the No. 3 player in the 2017 ESPN 100, behind Bagley and current Missouri freshman Michael Porter Jr.

Ayton committed to Arizona on Sept. 3, 2016, after also considering scholarship offers from Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland and San Diego State. When Ayton signed with the Wildcats, Miller described him as “one of these once-in-a-generation types of players” because of his size and shooting ability.

After Richardson was arrested in late September, Arizona president Robert C. Robbins announced that the university had hired two law firms to conduct independent investigations into the matter.

Asked for a comment, Arizona reiterated statements issued by school athletic director Dave Heeke and Miller in October when the investigations were announced.

At the time the investigations were announced, Robbins said in a statement, “Head coach Sean Miller has not been charged with — nor accused of — any misconduct and he has been fully cooperative and supportive of our efforts to determine the facts in pursuit of the truth. … Based on the facts that we know at this time, we support Coach Miller and intend to provide him with all of the tools necessary to meet our goals and expectations.”

Milwaukee Bucks guard Jason Terry, who played at Arizona under coach Lute Olson from 1995 to ’99, tweeted that it’s time to for the Wildcats to “clean house.”

@APlayersProgram BearDown it’s time to clean house and bring home our own bloodlines to carry on Lutes Legacy. We have too much pride, too much tradition to allow outsiders to tear down what we built.

— Jason Terry (@jasonterry31) February 24, 2018

Miller, 49, is a three-time Pac-12 Conference Coach of the Year and has a 242-72 record in his ninth season with the Wildcats. The Arizona Board of Regents approved a contact extension for him in February 2017, which increased his annual salary to at least $2.9 million through 2022. He has denied knowledge of Richardson’s alleged scheme to bribe players to sign with Arizona.

“As the head basketball coach at the University of Arizona, I recognize my responsibility is not only to establish a culture of success on the basketball court and in the classroom, but as important, to promote and reinforce a culture of compliance,” Miller said in a statement released in September. “To the best of my ability, I have worked to demonstrate this over the past eight years and will continue to do so as we move forward.”