The Pomp And Joe Show
NCAA point-shaving scandal hits former RMU player, Raiders better job than Steelers
15 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What is the NCAA point-shaving scandal involving Markeese Hastings?
It would take a giant story for me to veer away from the Steelers and their situation right now. A coaching search followed by a quarterback search and everything else happening. But this qualifies, Bob, I would say for a couple minutes here. ESPN.com, several college players among 20 charged in point shaving scheme. So I'll read the lead.
20 men have been charged in a point-shaving scheme involving 39 college basketball players on 17 Division I teams, including Robert Morris, I might add. There's a player there who's implicated in this, leading to 29 games being fixed, according to a federal indictment unsealed Thursday in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
So a couple of guys from New Orleans play for New Orleans College, University, sanctioned in November for fixing New Orleans games. Four players charged have played for their current teams in the past week. This is unbelievable. Filed in federal court.
Does it explain what degree of this? I mean, was it prop betting? Was it game fixing? Was it?
It seems to be involving prop betting in the college games. I haven't read the whole thing here. The scheme began around September of 22 and initially was focused on fixing games in the Chinese Basketball Association. What? This group later targeted college basketball games, offering bribes to college players ranging from $10,000 to $30,000 to compromise games for betting purposes.
That's what it's about.
So... It's a Chinese basketball association. Is that what you said? Or China?
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Chapter 2: How did the point-shaving scheme affect college basketball players?
That's where it started. Yeah.
There's a group who, who, you know, purportedly organized a scheme that began with the Chinese basketball association and then later targeted college hoops.
So, and so they're coming up with cash to give the players to miss a couple of shots.
Like we saw with Terry seems like it down in Miami. Seems like it. Yes. And the Robert Morris player, uh, Former Robert Morris basketball player Marquise Hastings is one of 15 former players facing charges. How about that?
That is just mind-blowing. Do they name the Robert Morris player?
Yeah, I just said Marquise Hastings.
Oh, I thought you said Minnesota. I didn't hear what you said at the end.
What? Never mind. Marquise, did I say Minnesota limits?
I thought you said Minnesota. No, I heard RMEU.
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Chapter 3: What are the implications of point-shaving in college sports?
It's the story that popped up. According to court documents, Hastings' performance in two games is linked to the scheme. Documents say he and two other players underperformed in and influenced the first half of a game against Northern Kentucky in 2024.
The document reads, without Robert Morris players intentionally underperforming, in the second half of a game, Robert Morris played substantially better, outscoring Northern Kentucky 37-29. What are your thoughts on this, Bob?
I'm not surprised by any of it anymore because there's too much of this around. The betting part of this, you know, when people get involved and I, you know, when you talk about like fixing games, I think that's the longest shot of stuff.
I think it's about all these little things that people can bet on and how easy it is to change the direction of a game or your own personal shooting habits or whatever it may be. You can do that without anyone else knowing. And I'm sure most of this was that. I don't think it was team-oriented, like coaches doing it. It's probably guys who needed some money, and this group was offering money.
No, that's exactly what it says. That's precisely what it says, is guys, individual players, offered money. I don't know. In one sense, these things have been going on for decades. In another sense, it seems to be way more ā apparent now. What's the word I'm looking for?
Prevalent.
Yes. These days. Um,
And I think the cell phone has a lot to do with it. I think you can get in touch with people somehow, some way, on various things on your phone to get them involved. And there's probably always going to be a trail of that somewhere. Maybe the feds got involved with that and saw what was going on and linked them all together.
Now, there's a couple of games that involved Duquesne, but it wasn't about them. It was about those games involved players from St. Louis and Fordham in games against Duquesne. Games against Duquesne, okay. So I don't know. Are we talking ā is this now ā I haven't seen this characterized as such. Is it the biggest now betting scandal in college history? I'm losing track.
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Chapter 4: How does betting influence college basketball games?
Right. I think maybe curtailing collegiate prop bets might be something they should look at, maybe. But there's got to be some guardrails here somewhere.
I think those people who are corrupt in doing this are going to go to the people who don't have money. And as we've seen, even in the NBA, even if you do have money, you'd be willing to make a stupid enough deal with somebody like that.
But if you're a college kid and you're not one of the elite players and you see a chance to make $10,000 and all you have to do is throw a couple of balls inadvertently out of bounds, I guess that would be tempting. There's all kinds of tempting. And this is where the phone and the digital age comes into play because I think it really doesā
I mean, basketball really, to me, lends itself more than the other sports because you can sway games.
Luis Ortiz would argue with you and say, no, I can miss one pitch.
Sure. But Tim, what's his name? Donahue, the official in the NBA. There's a million calls in a game that can go under the radar but heavily influence the game. And like you said, throwing a ball away. But you're right. Baseball, too. Any sport, really. I just think basketball seemingly more than any other for me from the officials on out, you know?
Well, all I know is it's something that's not going to change. You're going to see more of it, I'm sure. Even though stuff like this should send a message to people, hey, we're watching. Hey, if you do this, sooner or later you're going to be caught. Don't do it. That's part of the answer, too, is this, cracking down on it. Right, you have to crack down.
The only way people notice is if people get caught. You stop it because you're fear of the consequence. You know that there's someone out there, and it may take them three years. You may think you're done with this. Next thing you know, someone's knocking on your door. Hey, we have evidence that you threw whatever you threw.
Meantime, we have the Steelers happening and coaching candidates now left and right, Bob. We've got all kinds of people reportedly being interviewed, on the verge of being interviewed. Limits, who are the two latest that you reported a few minutes ago?
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