We’ll have to dig into the meat of this later on because it’s a lot to digest in such a short period of time, but ESPN just published several investigative stories on A-Hope, the Bloomington-based non-profit that assists in bringing international players to the United States.
The first is an in-depth investigative piece on the A-Hope program that brings up several findings that ESPN says could raise red flags with NCAA investigators.
The second reports the following on Hanner Perea:
Treatment afforded him by A-HOPE and its president, Mark Adams, including roundtrip airline tickets to Colombia, appears to put Perea in violation of NCAA preferential treatment and extra benefits bylaws (12.1.2.1.6).
Also at issue are gifts Perea has received from A-HOPE and Adams, whose son served on the IU basketball staff from September 2009 until this month. Perea is a member of an AAU team — Indiana Elite — which Adams coaches and whose best players have in the last year begun committing verbally to IU in bunches. The NCAA declined to comment specifically on Perea, but a spokesperson said that generally, “benefits from the prospects’ coach other than basic living expenses are considered against NCAA rules.”
For now, we’ll leave it at that because as I said, a lot to digest here, but just a quick thought: There’s nothing here that indicates any rulebreaking by Indiana basketball, Tom Crean or the coaching staff. We’ll do our best to wrap our brains what’s been presented, but for now, read the stories (if you wish) and feel free to chime in with your thoughts.
A deeper look at ESPN’s A-HOPE investigation
Their main piece focuses primarily on Mark Adams, who founded A-HOPE. He’s also a coach with Indiana Elite and is the father of Drew Adams, who was formerly the Director of Basketball Operations at Indiana.
A related story claims that 2012 La Porte La Lumiere commitment Hanner Perea received benefits that, according to ESPN, “appear to put Perea in violation of NCAA preferential treatment and extra benefits bylaws (12.1.2.1.6).”
After reading over both stories thoroughly, some thoughts follow in no particular order of importance:
– Perea, guardianship and benefits: Adams did not deny in e-mails to ESPN.com that he paid for airline tickets for Perea to visit his native country of Colombia as well as a $400 laptop that he shares with Obij Aget, another A-HOPE and Indiana Elite member that attends La Porte La Lumiere. The story also mentions that Perea received a used iPod.
Adams explains in an e-mail to ESPN:
Whether or not Perea faces eligibility issues as a result of the reported benefits could come down to one issue that is not made clear in the story: Is Adams the legal United States guardian for Perea?
Adams told ESPN that he is the legal guardian for two A-HOPE kids, but said it was not important to identify their names.
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