Drug bombshell could cripple KU's basketball program
Yael T. AbouhalkahThe reputation of the University of Kansas basketball program - and KU itself - just suffered a big blow.
The Star, in a hugely disturbing story Friday afternoon, has revealed that a federal prosecutor says an Overland Park man allegedly supplied marijuana to “a number of players on the 2010-2011 University of Kansas basketball team.”
This is the kind of story that every big-time college athletic official dreads to hear.
It’s the kind of development that - if true - could badly scar the aw-shucks, pretty much squeaky clean image of head coach Bill Self.
And at KU - where the Jayhawks’ basketball team earlier this year finished as the NCAA runnerup to Kentucky - the damage will extend to the students, fans and alumni supporters (including this writer).
KU basketball is a source of pride for all these people, and this story could really take a toll on that feeling of being better than a lot of other schools when it comes to basketball.
Financially, basketball is the golden goose at KU; the games at Allen Fieldhouse have been sold out for years. KU last seized an NCAA title by beating Memphis after the 2008 season.
It’s also crucial to remember that some of the players on the highly successful squad in the 2011-12 season could have been involved in the marijuana deals that the federal government is investigating from the 2010-11 season.
A federal probe of the KU program and its players could lead to some pretty unsettling developments at KU. It could drag on for years. And it could eventually involve NCAA sanctions for lack of institutional control.
On Friday, KU officials were claiming they knew nothing of the man at the center of the federal investigation: Samuel Villeareal III.
The Star: “Villeareal, 32, was one of 25 defendants charged June 11 in U.S. District Court with conspiring over a four-year period to distribute more than 1,000 kilograms of “high-grade” marijuana in Johnson and Douglas counties.”
Without naming names, of course, the feds so far have tainted the entire KU program. How far this goes from here will be extremely fascinating to watch.
Especially if it ends up crippling a valuable part of KU’s national reputation.
And MU fans will be gloating for sure, the natural order of the world in college sports.
Kent Mueller
11 months, 3 weeks agoYael, I am no fan of KU since I bleed purple, but you are way off base. What few facts are out there in now way indicates the program could be “crippled”.
And I am sure this will be “extremely fascinating to watch” for you. It’s pretty obvious that you are cheering for this to “end up crippling a valuable part of KU’s national reputation”. Of course, it is possible this could be the tip of the iceberg that will be revealed, but you don’t know enough to make the presumptions you have made.
Jon Whitten
11 months, 3 weeks agoYael, quoting the Star only hurts your position. LOL!!!!!
Bernie Brennan
11 months, 3 weeks agoAnd in other news collage students stay up late, drink beer before they are 21 and are even known to have sex before they are married.
Karl Bartz
11 months, 3 weeks agoWhere were these fatalistic comments when the MU fan was arrested at the MU team hotel in Omaha during the NCAA tournament for drug trafficking? It is alleged that MU basketball players have given him tickets for games since the 2009 season. You could make the assumption that there was some quid pro quo going on there. The Star almost totally ignored that story except for on 8 or 10 graph reaction story speaking to only one ex-player with the comment that he didn’t know the man and didn’t know whether any of his teammates knew him. So far the “evidence” that is known is that Villareal was at one KU game at the Sprint Center sitting behind the bench close to some players. Seats that the Sprint Center controls not KU. And the prosecutor makes the leap that not only is there a personal relationship with the team, but a professional relationship simply because he sat behind the bench in ONE game at the Sprint Center. Now if he had seats in Phog, as the MU fan had in Mizzou Arena, then I’ll listen your chicken little arguments. The biggest question is why the huge investigation into the alleged KU players involvement, but not a column about or an investigation into the MU connection to an accused drug trafficker?
Brendan Begley
11 months, 3 weeks agoHahahahahahahaha. First, Missou has a Coke dealer on their team plane and has tickets in mizzou arena and they aren’t going to face these same issues? It’s pot, let’s not act like 95% of college basketball players don’t do it. This post just shows how naive you are.
Joshua C. Beshears
11 months, 3 weeks agoHey idiot the feds found conversations with KU players on the guys iphone. How is that not evidence?
Matt Jeffrey
11 months, 3 weeks agoShows how much you know. As a Mizzou fan, I naturally hate ku, but I’m not going to gloat over this. It doesn’t accomplish or change anything that has happened in the past.
Matt Jeffrey
11 months, 3 weeks agoAnd as for the dealer connection to MU, he was a fan who was given tickets by a booster and was in no way, shape, or form connected to the university or program. Everybody here including the author of this article needs to do some major fact-checking.
Pete Logan
11 months, 3 weeks agoYael, you seem to be just a little bit out of touch with the culture of marijuana regarding college athletes, especially basketball players. For several years (decades?) it’s been the worst-kept secret in college sports that ballplayers like weed and will find ways to get high even while trying to keep it on the down low. The worst that comes out of this is that names are attached to info and they get to hear pot jokes the rest of their lives.
Steve Terrill
11 months, 3 weeks agoHey, guess what genuis, smoking pot is virtually legal in three states that I know of, is a misdemeanor in several others and lawmakers are giving serious consideration to legalizing it completely. It’s not like Bill Self offers his recruits a free supply of pot to come play at KU. Now that this has come out he might make them subject to random drug testing but to say this story is a “bombshell” that could cripple the KU basketball program undermines your credibility as a journalist, unless you are “auditioning” for the National Enquirer.
Jeff Cook
11 months, 3 weeks agoWhat we have here is a “writer” with an obvious distaste for college athletics. It does seem he has finally found a way to get people to read his rambling missives.
Mark Hastert
11 months, 3 weeks agoCollege kids smoking dope,shocking!!!
Brendan Begley
11 months, 3 weeks agoJeff Cook - BINGO! It’s almost like this guy thinks we need to do a background check on every single person sitting within a few rows of your bench.. IMO this still doesn’t touch a cocaine dealer, but even I think thats ridiculous, cause like I said, are we going to do background checks on everyone around a sports team?