Day One Of Adidas Trial: Dennis Smith Paid, Bowen Bidding War, Big Trouble For Big Programs

In the first day of the first Adidas scandal trials, we learned that former Adidas executive Jim Gatto has no intention of being anyone’s fall guy and he’s going to name names.

On the first day, his attorney implicated Louisville, NC State, Miami, Kansas, Maryland, Oregon and Arizona.

Most of those we knew already of course but Oregon was new and the allegations against Maryland and Kansas were clear and specific.

Maryland and KU went after Silvio De Sousa while Miami and Arizona pursued Nassir Little, who ended up at UNC.

Oregon issued a statement basically saying that it was aware the allegation but had heard nothing from the feds.

The reaction from Tucson.com is kind of muted and limited to a very factual account (unlike the Oregonian above).

LJWorld.com seems more resigned than the others so far and also adds that the universities in question are generally victims who were unaware that Adidas was manipulating the market and steering players to those schools.

Well maybe. We’ll see as time goes on and more testimony is entered.

Oddly enough there is not much reportage from either the Washington Post or the Baltimore Sun on allegations involving Maryland.

And Gatto also admitted, via his attorney, to paying former NC State star Dennis Smith Jr.’s family $40,000 dollars.

In response, State A.D. Debbie Yow, who hired Smith’s former NC State coach Mark Gottfried, said this:

“We’ve worked tirelessly to establish a culture of compliance and accountability within NC State Athletics. When that culture is threatened we will always act appropriately. If any former employee was involved, they knew they were breaking the rules and chose to keep it hidden. We have no tolerance for those who would choose to damage the reputation of this great university. NC State will continue to operate with integrity, winning the right way and succeeding with character. We will continue to fully cooperate with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and keep the NCAA updated throughout this process.”

And remember, this is just Day One. Among those who will be testifying: Brian Bowen’s father. That’s going to be very interesting indeed.

By the way, one good note on Day One: Michigan State refused to bid on Bowen.

• Former Adidas exec on trial to claim he broke NCAA rules, not laws, and that’s bad news for lots of college basketball teams
• 5 things we learned from the college basketball corruption trial’s opening arguments
• Former Adidas executive’s attorney alleges Under Armour offered Silvio De Sousa $20,000 to play for Maryland
• Inside the basketball black market that put Adidas in the FBI’s crosshairs
• Michigan State refused to pay for Brian Bowen, lawyers in college basketball trial claim