ESPN is reporting that Sean Miller was caught on a wiretap with Christian Dawkins discussing a $100,000 payment to ensure five-star prospect Deandre Ayton enrolled at Arizona. Miller responded by saying he'll be "vindicated", which can only happen if he's not actually on a wiretap discussing a pay-for-play scheme involving his heralded freshman. Because anything short of that is not vindication.

So this is fascinating, right?

Either ESPN's report is right -- which means Miller is lying and will ultimately be fired. Or ESPN's report is wrong -- which means Miller is telling the truth and we've got a big mess on our hands. So which is it? In time, I suppose we'll know for certain. But it is interesting that Arizona hasn't even so much as placed Miller on administrative leave yet.

Obviously, Matt Norlander and I discussed all of this from every angle at the top of this episode of the Eye on College Basketball podcast, and we both agreed Miller should be fired if he's actually on tape discussing a pay-for-play scheme regardless of whether it can be proven that a deal was actually done. If he had those conversations as described, he has to go. Period. But the one thing that's weird is that nobody I know in the recruiting world thinks Christian Dawkins was "the guy" when it came to possibly doing a deal for Ayton. In other words, it makes sense that Arizona might've done a deal for Ayton. Let's not be naive. But doing a deal with Dawkins for Ayton? That's the part that has some in-the-know people wondering if Miller really might be vindicated.

Anyway ... we spent about 40 minutes on the Arizona situation.

From there, the podcast goes like this ...

  • 41:08: Just about every current player listed in what amounted to expense reports Dawkins filed with Andy Miller's agency has denied they accepted impermissible benefits like the documents suggest. We explained what that means and does not mean.
  • 51:40: Kansas secured its 14th straight Big 12 title this weekend. Will we ever see this done at the Power 5 level again?
  • 57:18: Michigan State secured an outright Big Ten title this weekend. I tweeted about it. And the replies were interesting. So I tried to explain why many of them were misguided.
  • 108:38: Shouts to Gonzaga -- outright WCC champs once again!
  • 1:13:31: Duke is now ranked 18th in defensive efficiency. Are the Blue Devils turning into the favorites to win the NCAA Tournament?

The latest Eye on College Basketball podcast is below. Give it a listen. And if you are not already subscribed, please subscribe to the podcast via Apple Podcasts here. If you are already subscribed, thank you. And #ShoutsToDevanDowney.