Arizona coach Sean Miller a central figure in upcoming HBO college basketball bribery documentary

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How intense is your sports withdrawal? Strong enough to watch a 2-hour documentary about the college hoops bribery scandal told from the perspective of a convicted felon?

’The Scheme,’ set to air March 31 on HBO, chronicles the life of Christian Dawkins, one of the biggest players in the FBI’s attempt to root out corruption in college basketball. The once-aspiring sports agent, who was convicted of fraud and bribery in two separate trials in 2018 and 2019, tells his side of the story that engulfed college hoops for three years.

According to a story by Yahoo! Sports’ Dan Wetzel, the film includes never-before-heard wiretapped conversations between Dawkins and various college basketball coaches, including former Arizona Wildcats assistant Emanuel ‘Book’ Richardson and head coach Sean Miller. Richardson was one of 10 people initially arrested by the FBI, and he later plead guilty to a bribery charge and was given a 3-month prison sentence.

The film is purported to include conversations between Miller and Dawkins that discuss UA targets such as Naz Reid, who ended up signing with LSU, and Nassir Little, who picked North Carolina.

An example, according to Yahoo! Sports:

Christian Dawkins: “In essence, let me ask you this: Do you think you’ll get Naz Reid?”

Sean Miller: “No. He’s going to LSU.”

Dawkins: “OK, he’s going to LSU, so that helps.”

Miller: “We’re not even bringing him on a visit. He’s not even visiting. That’s all [expletive]. Like, I’m looking at our recruiting board, he’s not even on it. I’ve never talked to the kid. All this [expletive] hype [expletive] on the phone, it’s stupid. He just probably said, ‘You know what, [expletive] you. I don’t want 75, I want a 120. I may go to Arizona.’ That’s all that was.

Excerpts are also shown from Miller’s March 2018 press conference in which he vehemently denied any wrongdoing, including paying to get recruits, with Dawkins commenting on that denial afterward.

“Sean should have his own movie agent or manager,” Dawkins said in the film, per Wetzel. “He should be an actor.”

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