Pick your analogy.
Pandora’s box.
Can of worms.
Tip of the iceberg.
Whatever you want to call it, the phrase applies to the gambling scandal that has ensnared the University of New Orleans men’s basketball team.
With sports betting legal in 38 states and more than half of college-age students reportedly active bettors, it was only a matter of time until something sinister happened.
The question wasn’t if a scandal would rock college sports, but when.
Wednesday was the day.
Athletic director Vince Granito confirmed Wednesday that the school has suspended four players since the Privateers’ 74-58 loss to University of Incarnate Word on Jan. 27 and that the NCAA is investigating the program for unspecified rules violations.
The news comes one day after Sports Illustrated reported that a widespread gambling ring in pro and college basketball is being investigated by the U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of New York. The report described the investigations findings as “one of the most pervasive point-shaving scandals in North American sports history.”
And UNO appears to be knee-deep in it.
Granito declined to comment on the specifics of the player suspensions, but multiple sources have indicated it is due to sports gambling.
Dae Dae Hunter, Jah Short, Jamond Vincent and James White have missed UNO’s last eight games, all losses. White is the team’s leading scorer with an average of 19.2 points a game. Short, Hunter and Vincent rank third, fourth and fifth, respectively, with averages of 9.2, 8.2 and 7.8 points.
Citing multiple gambling industry sources, ESPN reported that two of the games under scrutiny were the Privateers’ 86-61 loss at McNeese State on Dec. 28 and a 91-71 home loss to Southeastern Louisiana on Jan. 11. In both instances, the Privateers fell woefully behind in the first half – 46-23 to McNeese and 47-27 to SLU — and never seriously threatened. The point spread moved significantly against the Privateers in three other games this season.
The New Orleans men’s basketball team has held out four of its top five scorers since a Jan. 27 loss to UIW due to an investigation into sports gambling, sources told @TheFieldOf68.
Leading scorer James White (19.2 ppg), Jah Short (9.2 ppg), Dae Dae Hunter (8.2 ppg) and Jamond…
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) February 26, 2025
Word of the gambling scandal had circulated around New Orleans in recent weeks but didn’t break in the news until Wednesday.
“We suspended the four players at that time for violation of team rules that needed to be investigated,” Granito said. “Nothing has changed on that. They’ve been out since then, and the investigation is still ongoing.”
Time will tell how far-reaching and widespread the scandal goes within the UNO program.
To their credit, UNO officials acted immediately and suspended the players after learning of the improprieties, sources said. They also reported the situation to the NCAA, which has since launched a separate investigation.
The scandal almost seems like cruel and unusual punishment for first-year coach Stacy Hollowell and the school’s beleaguered athletic department. Hollowell, a former Mandeville High School standout who led Loyola to the 2022 NAIA national championship, took over the program just a few days after the transfer portal closed last April. While hastily trying to assemble a staff and roster, he also had to deal with his wife Nicole’s treatment for breast cancer at MD Anderson in Houston.
Because of the late start, Hollowell knew his first season on the Lakefront would be a challenge, but it’s been even more difficult than he could have imagined.
The suspensions and other attrition have whittled the UNO roster to eight players, with a regular rotation of seven. At 4-25 and with just two games left in the regular season, the Privateers are assured of the worst season in the program’s 49-year history.
Even on a day when the school celebrated the announcement of local rap legend Percy “Master P” Miller as is new president of basketball operations, the positive news was tarnished by the negative shadow of the scandal.
“I know the record has not been very good, but I’m proud of Stacy and how hard the players have competed every night,” Granito said. “We’ve been in just about every game.”
This isn’t the first time gambling’s tentacles have extended into Louisiana college sports, and unfortunately, it probably won’t be the last.
Forty years ago – coincidentally, almost to the day – Tulane’s men’s basketball program was rocked by a point-shaving scandal so egregious and deep-seated the school disbanded the program for four seasons.
Just last year, LSU football star Kayshon Boutte was arrested and charged with making thousands of illegal wagers on sports. The charges were later dropped but the story opened eyes to the pervasiveness of sports gambling on college campuses.
So the news that college sports has another massive gambling scandal on its hands should surprise no one.
The basketball programs reportedly under scrutiny – Eastern Michigan, North Carolina A&T, Mississippi Valley State and Temple — all share similar vulnerabilities. They’re either underfunded, from small conferences, struggling through losing seasons, or all of the above.
The NCAA recognized the potential for such perniciousness almost immediately after states began legalizing sports gambling five years ago.
The organization’s manual states, “Sports wagering has the potential to undermine the integrity of sports contests and jeopardizes the well-being of student-athletes and the intercollegiate athletics community.”
The NCAA’s worst fears have been realized. The integrity of college sports is on the line.
“This is not a UNO story, it’s a national story, a societal story,” Granito said. “This is not about the schools. We’re just an arm of the system. This is a student welfare issue. And the question for the powers-that-be beyond our school is: What is going on here?”
There’s no easy answer or quick fix here. As Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois said at the Senate Committee Hearings on sports gambling in December, “Going back to 105 years ago and the (Chicago) Black Sox scandal, gambling and sports have been a lethal combination.”
But NCAA and government officials need to figure something out ASAP. Or this latest black eye for college sports will only be the tip of the proverbial iceberg.