Maryland basketball: Former Terrapin Diamond Stone linked in FBI probe
Diamond Stone is being mentioned in documents that were released Friday morning about NBA agents giving improper benefits to college basketball players.
Diamond Stone was a top-10 college recruit in 2015. He attended Dominican High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and according to 24/7 Sports at the time, there was a 62% chance of him attending the University of Wisconsin. Stone then ultimately chose to go to Maryland where he decided to take the one-and-done approach.
His decision was certainly a head scratcher and confused Badger fans.
When Yahoo! dropped its report with many team names, coaches and players involved with the FBI probe, speculation on why Diamond Stone chose Maryland started to make a little more sense. All of the confusion surrounding Stone’s decision finally had some resolution to it. The hole that a lot of Badger fans wanted filled was finally done so. It also feels like college basketball got some answers.
College basketball fans and enthusiasts don’t feel good about this. They don’t understand why people have to do so bad to a sport that is so great. Obviously the NCAA doesn’t have a perfect system in place and that also needs to be fixed.
Pessimistic Wisconsin Badger fans wanted to believe that something fishy was happening. Stone was from the state. He seemed interested in the program and then all of a sudden he goes out east and chooses Maryland.
The first thing that Wisconsin Badgers fans want to believe when a player doesn’t come to the program is because they can’t meet he academic requirements. Wisconsin is known as one of the hardest schools to attend in the country which does affect the athletic department.
So I guess that’s where Badger fans stood on Stone for the time being. He certainly did not get a warm welcome when he came to the Kohl Center during his freshman season.
It got so bad with the way the fan base felt about him that when his draft stock plummeted, everyone was happy. To add onto everything, Stone wasn’t selected until the second round of the 2016 NBA draft.
Everything has blown over since that year and Badger fans have moved on with their lives.
That was until the morning of Feb. 23 when the world woke up to terrible news surrounding the college basketball community. The thing is though everyone knew this was coming. No one knew exactly how bad it was going to be.
The reason for pointing out Diamond Stone is that he created so much drama around a college basketball fan base. The fact that people were gearing up for Stone to come and play at Wisconsin was huge. And then at the last-minute have him pull out was the biggest slap in the face.
The people responsible for the scandal is NBA agent Andy Miller, his former associate Christian Dawkins and his agency, ASM Sports.
It’s unclear on when money was given to each player and what the complete motivation was. Clearly Miller wanted these basketball players under his belt, but is there more to it? Did Miller and the ASM Sports agency want to make sure those players attended the right Universities that would make them the best possible?
Head coach of the Maryland Terrapins Mark Turgeon is denying having made any contact with Andy Miller. He also said he never communicated with the agency. He released a statement this afternoon which was picked up by the Baltimore Sun.
"“I do not have a relationship with Andy Miller or anyone from his agency, and at no time have I ever had a conversation with Andy Miller or his agency regarding any Maryland basketball player. We remain steadfast in upholding a program of integrity that reflects the values of our University community.”"
So the head coach of a former player who is on a document the FBI looked over about illegal recruiting is saying he has no idea where this has come from. Probably the best idea for now.
The Yahoo! report that was published early Friday morning says the documents showed an “underground recruiting operation.” To me, that sounds like the agency wanted players attending certain universities.
Then again, no where is it clear on when Diamond Stone and other basketball players received said money. In this bulleted section of players and the allegations that were committed, all it says is that, Diamond Stone, at the time a freshman at Maryland, received $14, 303.
We don’t know the full story yet about every player and the large amounts of money they received. The information we have right now is that this agency led by Andy Miller and Christian Dawkins paid players. We assume it’s because the agents wanted those basketball players to be their clients. But did the universities know and why are there so many involved with this scandal?
Hopefully more light will be made of this situation as the day, weeks and months go along. Currently though, we know who was involved with receiving money while still being considered an amateur.
Diamond Stone was one of them and there’s a fan base who’s receiving some answers today. Still, let it be clear that we don’t know when the money was given to Stone. It could’ve been before he chose a school and the agency told him to go to College Park. On the other hand though he might have received the money after he put on the Terrapins jersey.
Next: NCAA basketball desperately needs reform, starting with governing body
Either way, what the former Wisconsin high school standout and Maryland Terrapin basketball player did was illegal. All we can do right now is speculate.