Malik Pope, Fred VanVleet among those named in FBI Investigation documents, per Yahoo! report

The latest report it in the FBI’s investigation of college basketball is the biggest one yet. Friday morning, Yahoo’s Pat Forde and Pete Thamel reported documents containing the names of several high-profile players from the game’s most notable programs.

Documents and bank records obtained in discovery during the federal investigation into the underbelly of college basketball detail in meticulous fashion the expenditures of prominent former NBA agent Andy Miller, his former associate Christian Dawkins and his agency, ASM Sports. They include expense reports and balance sheets that list cash advances, as well as entertainment and travel expenses for high school and college prospects and their families.

Among those named were Markelle Fultz, Dennis Smith, Miles Bridges and many others.

As far as mid-major names go, San Diego State’s Malik Pope was included in the documents, reportedly receiving a $1,400 loan from Miller and ASM Sports. Former Wichita State guard Fred VanVleet also received a loan of $1,070, which could date back to the Shockers’ time in the Missouri Valley. Chaz Williams (UMass), Kendall Gray (Delaware State), Kyle O’Quinn (Norfolk State), and Milt Palacio (Colorado State) were also named, though some of those loans likely occurred after the players had left college.

NCAA president Mark Emmert issued a statement shortly after the report:

“These allegations, if true, point to systematic failures that must be fixed and fixed now if we want college sports in America. Simply put, people who engage in this kind of behavior have no place in college sports. They are an affront to all those who play by the rules. Following the Southern District of New York’s indictments last year, the NCAA Board of Governors and I formed the independent Commission on College Basketball, chaired by Condoleezza Rice, to provide recommendations on how to clean up the sport. With these latest allegations, it’s clear this work is more important now than ever. The Board and I are completely committed to making transformational changes to the game and ensuring all involved in college basketball do so with integrity. We also will continue to cooperate with the efforts of federal prosecutors to identify and punish the unscrupulous parties seeking to exploit the system through criminal acts.”

This is almost assuredly only the beginning of the names that are going to come out of this investigation. We will continue to monitor any reports linking mid-major players or programs to the investigation.