"There was a curveball thrown and I didn’t see it. I missed it. It got by me." - Lew Perkins, KU Athletic Director
On Wednesday morning, Yahoo! Sports released a damning report against the Kansas Athletic Department.
The report implicates former KU basketball player Roger Morningstar, former KU ticket manager Rodney Jones, real estate developer David Freeman and "college basketball power brokers" David and Dana Pump.
The group -- reportedly led by the Pumps -- orchestrated a large scale scheme to scalp tickets. You can read the full nitty-gritty of the report at Yahoo! Sports that has already drawn the attention of the FBI and the IRS.
The whistle blower in all this is Freeman -- currently in prison on an unrelated charge -- who spoke to Yahoo!.
"It’s about time everyone heard the real story," Freeman said in a phone interview two weeks ago. "It’s time everyone heard the truth."
While KU didn't directly respond to the allegations, they did hold a news conference on Wednesday afternoon to announce the findings of their own internal investigation, which uncovered over 17,000 basketball tickets and 2,000 football tickets that were scalped from 2005-2010.
The internal report showed that the group sold or used at least 17,609 basketball tickets (worth approximately $887,000) and 2,181 football tickets ($122,000) during that span. The number may be even higher. Because investigators did not have subpoena power, the amounts could climb as high as $3 million once the federal probe is complete, according to Jack Focht, an attorney for Foulston Siefkin, the firm that conducted the review.
If accurate, this could turn out to be the largest ticket scandal in the history of college sports.
Keep in mind KU's internal investigation is separate from the Yahoo! report.
KU is in hot-water not only because of the report but because of who the accused are connected to.
The Pumps run a prominent summer camp which Lew Perkins regularly attended. The Pumps have funneled nine players to KU, which raises questions of coach Bill Self's involvement.
Freeman is also a real estate broker that helped Self sell his house. Self claims he had nothing to do with it and lawyers handled the sale of the house. Self did tell NBC-41 in Kansas City on Wednesday night that he was concerned for his friend Roger Morningstar.
Self denied any involvement.
Morningstar is the father of current player Brady Morningstar. That, along with Self's connection to the players the Pumps reportedly funneled to KU, have drawn raised eyebrows.
There's no connection that the players were involved or any games were compromised via point-shaving by this scandal.
Expect more and more to come out regarding this story. KU is already in hot water but it could get worse.