STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Former Penn State basketball standout DJ Newbill's name appeared on a ledger under a column titled 'Loans to Players' with $2,000 across from it, according to documents obtained and published by Yahoo! Sports.
Yahoo's piece dug into the state of college basketball, highlighted by former NBA agent Andy Miller of ASM Sports, and included documents obtained in discovery during the ongoing federal investigation of college basketball and the sports agency. While the balance sheet where Newbill's name appears is dated as of Dec. 31, 2015, it's unclear when the loan was made and therefore whether or not NCAA violations might have occurred. On another document, Newbill's name appears again with $2,000 and it states, "paying back July 2017."
"We take the information very seriously," Pat Chambers said Friday morning during his weekly teleconference. "As of right now, the university needs time to look into that story. Until we know more, I'm not going to comment further on that."
Newbill graduated from Penn State in 2015, which makes it unclear if he received the loan while still at Penn State or after he was out of eligibility. Penn State is not named in the report. Whether or not Penn State staffers knew of the loan and, of course, if and when it took place, will help determine whether the school could face minor NCAA sanctions.
Newbill, a Philadelphia native who played at Strawberry Mansion and Mississippi State before transferring to Penn State where he was an All-Big Ten second team honoree his final two seasons, helped pave the way for Penn State to create a pipeline from Philadelphia. Newbill currently plays with the New Zealand Breakers of the NBL.
One of the names of the 20-plus high-profile players and multiple schools whose names appeared with four and five-figure payments from ASM Sports is that of the mother of Michigan State forward Miles Bridges. Bridges' mom's name appears on expense reports, ranging from meals with his family and Christian Dawkins, who is Miller's former associate, to ATM withdrawals with Bridges' mom as the recipient. Dawkins was among the 10 men charged by the FBI in September, right before the NCAA basketball season began.
Markelle Fultz, the No. 1 pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, is listed as receiving $10,000, though he didn't end up signing with the agency.
Now, with conference tournaments and March Madness around the corner this ongoing investigation will continue to be a black eye for a sport where corruption appears to still be running rampant. Earlier this week Louisville was stripped of its 2013 NCAA title and forced to vacate all wins from 2011-2015 after the NCAA denied the Cardinals' appeal. Per ESPN Stats & Information, vacating the 2013 title made Louisville the first division I men's basketball program to have to vacate an NCAA title during the Final Four era.
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