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Morris: USC-Toledo more than meets the eye?
Posted on 05.17.09
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South Carolina fans stayed away from the Colonial Center in droves that Sunday afternoon in late November of 2005. Perhaps feeling the effects from USC’s 13-9 loss to Clemson in football the previous night, less than the announced crowd of 4,317 showed for the men’s basketball team’s home opener.
USC’s opponent was Toledo, a mid-major expected to play the role of patsy. USC charged to a 26-point lead in the first half and won going away, 85-73. Little did anyone know two Toledo players allegedly were involved in shaving points during the game.
A federal indictment this past week in Ohio listed 17 Toledo games during the 2005-06 season in which gamblers Ghazi “Gary” Manni and Mitchell Karam allegedly bet as little as $10,000 and as much as $44,000. Prosecutors allege Manni and Karam made contact and offered cash and gifts to four Toledo players to help alter the point spread of the games.
The indictment alleges Manni and Karam bet $42,000 on Toledo’s game against USC. Two of the players named in the indictment — guard Kashif Payne and forward Sammy Villegas — played against USC.
The betting line that appeared in The State the morning of the game listed the Gamecocks as 12-point favorites. Sportsinfo.com, an online betting service, also had USC favored by 12.
USC won by 12, thanks to the game’s bizarre ending. So, in Las Vegas and elsewhere, the game was considered a “push.” Neither the gambler nor the house wins.
To watch the videotape of the game can be disconcerting. The Toledo point-shaving scandal is only an allegation. Yet in watching the game, it is difficult to fathom that players could have been involved in a scheme to purposely alter the game’s outcome.
Dave Odom, USC’s coach that day, refused an offer to watch the game again. His first answer, and one he repeated again and again, was, “I don’t know what to tell you.”
“That kind of thing turns your stomach as a coach,” Odom said. “It makes you sick to think that that is in any way possible. I don’t know how it is possible. I don’t know how people who love the game could be tempted to taint the game in such an unsavory way.
“It’s not only the game, it’s your friends, it’s your teammates. People who do that have violated the very thing that binds a team together, and that’s trust. They have violated their teammates’ trust. I don’t know how they can live with that.”
The USC basketball office provided videotape of the Toledo game, and the school’s sports information office found the game’s boxscore and a play-by-play account. But even the most trained eye could not detect blatant incidents of shady play on the part of Toledo players.
“Fixes are undetectable,” said Steve Budin, CEO of sportsinfo.com, who is a former bookmaker and considered one of the nation’s gambling experts. Budin wrote a book, “Bets, Drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll,” in which he details the work of his father, Dave Budin, who was convicted in the 1950s of fixing the outcome of New York City college basketball games.
“The only way they ever catch it is on a wiretap with somebody for something else and they back their way into the investigation,” Steve Budin said. “Same thing with my dad, same thing with this. They’re not Dick Tracy. They don’t have a committee watching tapes, looking for strange things. They back their way into these things.”
Generally, point shaving works when a gambler pays a participant to alter the final score, or point spread. For example, if the USC-Toledo game involved point shaving as alleged, the Toledo players were paid to not just lose the game but to lose it by more than 12 points.
Thus, when Manni and Karam bet $42,000, they took Toledo and the 12 points offered by bookies. They wanted Toledo to lose by more than 12 points.
There were a couple of plays in the Toledo game that seemed a bit odd, one involving Payne and the other Villegas. In each case, though, the play could as easily have been attributed to poor execution.
Midway through the first half, USC picked up a turnover near midcourt and had a two-on-one fastbreak. In order to defend the ball-handler, Payne left Renaldo Balkman alone for an easy layup.
Soon after the play, Villegas held the ball in front of his body about 25 feet from the basket, which allowed USC’s Tarence Kinsey to swipe it and go for an uncontested layup.
More mysterious, in retrospect, was the second-half play of Villegas. If he was involved in point shaving, why would Villegas sink four consecutive 3-pointers in a three-minute span that cut USC’s lead to 65-61 with 4:22 remaining? Perhaps it was to show any doubters that he was not involved in point shaving.
Whatever the case, in the final two minutes, Villegas had a turnover, committed a foul and missed a jump shot as USC built a 13-point lead with 8 seconds to go. It appeared Toledo would lose by more than 12 points.
Then the game turned bizarre, at least from a bettor’s perspective. Toledo’s Justin Ingram tossed in a 3-pointer with 1.5 seconds remaining, cutting USC’s lead to 83-73. The game appeared over.
Normally, a team would throw the ball inbounds, time would expire, and the teams would shake hands. Inexplicably, Balkman grabbed the ball and fired a length-of-the-court pass to Kinsey. Toledo’s Payne, who was standing near Kinsey, backed away.
We may never know if Payne or Villegas conspired to change the score of USC’s victory. But watching the replay makes you wonder if Payne knew the score when he let Kinsey score for the final 12-point margin.
As the trials of Mannie and Karam and seven Toledo athletes — three were football players — continue over the summer, more details are likely to emerge. For now, it appears we are likely to learn the entire scheme got its start that Sunday afternoon at the Colonial Center.
Listen to Morris Tuesdays from 4-5 p.m. on ESPN Radio 93.1 FM
Games in question
Following are 17 Toledo basketball games from the 2005-06 season identified in a criminal indictment in Ohio as allegedly being part of a point-shaving scheme. Listed also is the alleged total bet by defendants Ghazi Manni and Mitchell Karam, the point spread as established by sportsinfo.com and the games results:
| Date | Opponent | Wager | Favorite | Pt. spread | Winner | Score |
| Nov. 20, 2005 | at USC | $42,000 | USC | 12 | USC | 85-73 |
| Nov. 27, 2007 | at SMU | $10,000 | Toledo | 8 | Toledo | 72-60 |
| Dec. 3, 2005 | Northern Illinois | $10,000 | Toledo | 8.5 | Northern Illinois | 73-69 |
| Dec. 17, 2005 | St. Bonaventure | $44,000 | Toledo | 10.5 | Toledo | 83-68 |
| Dec. 21, 2005 | East Carolina | $21,000 | Toledo | 14 | Toledo | 73-62 |
| Jan. 4, 2006 | at Kent State | $10,000 | Kent State | 5 | Kent State | 76-68 |
| Jan. 7, 2006 | at Akron | $15,000 | Akron | 6.5 | Akron | 75-58 |
| Jan. 15, 2006 | at Bowling Green | $17,000 | Toledo | 4.5 | B. Green | 59-52 |
| Jan. 18, 2006 | at Miami (Ohio) | $21,000 | Miami | 6.5 | Miami | 58-49 |
| Jan. 24, 2006 | at Northern Illinois | $40,000 | Northern Illinois | 5 | Toledo | 67-66 |
| Feb. 1, 2006 | at Western Michigan | $40,000 | Western Michigan | 1.5 | W. Michigan 57-53 | |
| Feb. 4, 2006 | Central Michigan | $20,500 | Toledo | 14 | Toledo | 78-62 |
| Feb. 7, 2006 | Kent State | $20,000 | Kent State | 1.5 | Toledo | 60-44 |
| Feb. 18, 2006 | at Detroit | $30,000 | Detroit | 2.5 | Toledo | 65-63 |
| Feb. 20, 2006 | VCU | $25,000 | Toledo | 1 | Toledo | 60-59 |
| Dec. 2, 2006 | at Vanderbilt | $21,000 | Vanderbilt | 4 | Vanderbilt | 98-93 |
| Dec. 19, 2006 | Detroit Mercy | $21,000 | Toledo | 10.5 | Toledo | 73-63 |
SOURCES: US ATTORNEY, USA TODAY, SPORTSINFO.COM
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