Basketball spying?

boogs


USA Today

Secret filming in sports isn't limited to football. It's just hard to prove.
Though most sports spying scandals have been attached to football — the Patriots had Spygate — there's actually a long tradition of it in college hoops.

At the height of the Michigan football sign-stealing scandal last month, with coaches in the Big Ten pushing for Jim Harbaugh to be punished, Southeastern Conference commissioner Greg Sankey was asked how he might handle the same situation in his league.

"I don't wish that on anybody," Sankey told reporters.

But, in fact, there was a situation in the SEC fairly recently when accusations of spying were well known within the league. After speculation had run through the coaching fraternity that one of the league's men's basketball programs was using a secret camera in its arena to film opponents' practices, the topic was brought into the open at a men's basketball coaches meeting following the 2017-18 season, according to three people with direct knowledge of the situation. Those people spoke to USA TODAY Sports on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the meeting.

An SEC spokesperson confirmed to USA TODAY Sports that the conversation took place in 2018 after the SEC office was "made aware of general concerns about video cameras in basketball arenas related to visiting team practices and informally received information involving an individual institution. Uncorroborated information is typically shared with an involved institution, which occurred during the off-season period."

The SEC did not name the institution, but according to six people affiliated with different SEC programs, Auburn was the team at the center of the spying allegations. With head coach Bruce Pearl in the room, however, nobody wanted to stand up and point the finger directly. During a tense moment, according to those people with knowledge of the meeting, then-South Carolina coach Frank Martin implored his colleagues to stop with anonymous sniping and say what they wanted to say.

“The SEC wanted someone to turn them in so they could put a name behind the accusation,” said one person who was in the room at the time. “Nobody would do it.”

Plus, proof was scant. There was no Connor Stalions-type smoking gun of wrongdoing, and the SEC typically prefers to keep such family squabbles in-house. After three seasons at the bottom of the SEC standings, Auburn had just tied for the league title and reached the NCAA tournament's round of 32. The Tigers' success only heightened the sense of suspicion.

"Word was out not to do anything in their building," said one former SEC assistant.

USA TODAY Sports submitted a list of questions to Auburn about the allegations. USA TODAY Sports allowed four full business days, but Auburn did not respond.

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