Kansas Basketball: Jayhawks can’t play the victim here

By Britt Zank | Apr 16, 2018

After his Jayhawks clinched their 12th consecutive Big 12 Conference title, Kansas head coach Bill Self and his staff watch the players cut down the nets defeating Texas Tech, 67-58, at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kan. (Rich Sugg/Kansas City Star/TNS via Getty Images) /

The Kansas Basketball program may be innocent of knowing about the payments to former players by Adidas, but that doesn’t make them a victim.

Since the news broke that the Kansas Basketball program was named in the big Adidas college basketball case the Kansas City area has been a buzz. On one side are the fans of Kansas basketball who claim innocence and say they are a victim. The other side is people who aren’t fans of Kansas who say there is no way they knew nothing and are just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

I believe it is something closer to the middle of those two opinions. I concede that there is no proof that KU had any knowledge of the payments made to players, their families or their handlers. At this point, the only allegations we know are that Adidas paid money to some players to funnel them to a school they sponsor.

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While that is the facts as we know them today, it’s also a fact the case is not closed yet. With the case on-going it’s understandable for people to speculate on possible outcomes. If the NCAA finds that anyone inside the Kansas program knew of the payments than major sanctions are likely. Even if no one at Kansas knew anything, there is still the possibility of vacating wins and banners.

The one thing we do know for sure is that no matter the final outcome, Kansas is in no way a victim in this. Saying Kansas is a victim would assume that they have lost something in this case and they’ve lost nothing if anything they’ve benefited.

They did not lose any money, players, games or coaches. If anything they made millions of dollars thanks to the help these of these players. Each year fans buy new Big 12 championship merchandise, not to mention Final Four merchandise this season.

Without these players, it’s fair to speculate if Kansas would have continued their streak of 14 straight Big 12 championships. Those players helped give Kansas more banners, bonuses for coaches and the national prestige of beating the UCLA conference championship streak record.

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How anyone can say that Kansas is a victim, in this case, is beyond me. They have done nothing but benefit over and over again. Even if they end up saying Kansas knew nothing of the payments but they still vacate wins, Big 12 titles and the Final Four appearance this year, it’s was still beneficial to Kansas.

This case is far from over and it could lead to severe punishments or no punishment. Kansas could be guilty of everything or completely innocent. But no matter the outcome, the idea that Kansas is a victim in this is just simply wrong.

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