The recruitment of Zion Williamson by Duke, North Carolina and Clemson was a hot topic Thursday in the federal college basketball bribery trial in New York, and Marvin Bagley IIIās name came up as well, but there was no evidence provided that Williamson or Bagley or their families received any improper benefits.
In Thursdayās proceedings, a Clemson assistant coach discusses potential payments to Williamson, the projected No. 1 pick in this yearās NBA Draft, and a former Southern California assistant coach discusses potential payments to Bagley, the No. 2 pick in 2017. Both players ended up attending Duke.
On an FBI videotape shown to the jury recorded in a Las Vegas hotel room in July 2017, Clemson assistant coach Steve Smith is shown discussing the recruitment of the 6-foot-7 Williamson, a South Carolina native. Smith is talking on the videotape to would-be agent Christian Dawkins, one of the bribery defendants who was already convicted of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud last October, and Jeff DāAngelo, an undercover FBI agent.
āSteve had just had a meeting with Zion Williamsonās stepfather,ā testified government witness Marty Blazer, a financial advisor facing a maximum of 67 years in prison on various federal charges. āSteve was recruiting Zion. Steve was going to try and find out what Zionās family needed.ā
No specific dollar amounts were mentioned, but the implication was that Dawkins and Blazer would offer financial assistance to Williamsonās family via Smith to get him to go to Clemson. On the video, Smith goes on to brag about his relationship with Williamsonās family and his proximity to the recruitment.
āZionās mom and family is originally from my neighboring hometown,ā Smith said on the tape. He then said he is recruiting Williamson along with heavyweights Duke and North Carolina. āItās like me, Roy Williams, Krzyzewskiā and a coach identified by an unintelligible nickname.
Smith was also recorded saying he visited the Williamson house many times, but when he took Clemson head coach Brad Brownell on a visit to the house, Smith had to pretend that he did not know where Williamsonās house was.
āI finally take my boss over there to do an (expletive) in-home so Iāve got (to act) like Iāve never been there,ā Smith says on the tape.
At this point, Dawkins, on the videotape, says Williamsonās recruiting is āgonna be crazy. Duke is gonna have their resources. UNC is UNC. Kentucky, they have their resources.ā
āIf (it) comes to down (it) ā¦ weāll be able to make sure everythingās good for the parent and everything like that,ā Dawkins said.
Smith is not shown on the videotape receiving any cash and Blazer testified he was among a handful of coaches not paid by Dawkins to funnel players to them as clients even though Smith was involved for Williamson
āChristian had determined that they wouldnāt be paid at that time,ā Blazer testified. āThose coaches and their programs werenāt at that elite level where they had players coming through like an Arizona or a Creighton. ā¦ They just didnāt have any good players at the time.ā
Three assistant coaches were shown on FBI videotapes receiving cash in the Las Vegas hotel room: former TCU assistant Corey Barker received $6,000, former Creighton assistant Preston Murphy received $6,000 and former USC assistant Tony Bland received $13,000, which he claimed he needed for the recruitment of Bagley.
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āHe wasnāt going to go to UCLA and he wasnāt going to go to Duke,ā Blazer testified Bland had told them. āTony was very confident that he had Marvin locked in with USC.ā
Blazer said Bland told him, āI need you guys on campus the minute he signs and weāll figure out what he needs when he gets there.ā
Bland would then steer Bagley toward Dawkins and Blazer as a client, prosecutors have alleged.
āIf heās at USC you can get him,ā Bland said. Blazer testified, āI understood that to mean, Tony had to pay players he was recruiting.ā
Bagley ultimately chose Duke over USC and UCLA in August 2017 and then reclassified to enroll at Duke.
Earlier in the day, in a separate videotape shown to the jury from June 2017, defendant Merl Code, a former Adidas consultant sentenced to six months in prison after being convicted of wire fraud in the first basketball bribery trial, accused Duke and North Carolina of paying players as well.