KU, K-State recruiting in college b-ball’s gray areas

By JUSTIN KENDALL

ESPN writer Dana O’Neil has a fascinating story on the not-quite-cheating-but-it-looks-bad areas of college basketball recruiting.

The story highlights the recruitment of Daniel Orton, a top-10 player who signed to play for Billy Gillispie’s Kentucky Wildcats. Orton’s father, Larry Orton, was paid thousands of dollars to give 16 speeches at Kentucky-sponsored summer basketball camps. Even Orton’s stepbrother got paid to speak at the Kentucky camps. It’s all within the gray areas of the NCAA’s rules. All legal.

“Critics argue it’s little more than well-couched payola done under the artifice of the rules,” O’Neil writes. “By hiring Larry Orton, Kentucky basically funded Daniel’s camp appearances, allowing the Wildcats to bring a top recruit on campus before he was allowed an official visit.”

Kentucky wasn’t the only school to play the loophole. Larry Orton was also paid to speak at a summer camp at the University of Kansas.