March 7, 2006

The N.C.A.A's Response

By DAVID LEONHARDT

When I spoke to N.C.A.A. officials about Justin Wolfers' research on point
shaving, they agreed that gambling was a problem in college sports. But they do
not think it is nearly as big a problem as Mr. Wolfers does.

"I don't think we want to come across as saying, ‘This isn't happening,'"
said Rachel Newman Baker, the director of agent, gambling and amateurism
activities at the National Collegiate Athletic Association. "But we don't think
it's a crisis."

Ms. Newman Baker said she and her colleagues were making an effort to remind
players — through videos and speeches by their coaches — that any kind of
gambling violated N.C.A.A. rules. In a poll
conducted by the N.C.A.A. in 2003, 33 percent of men's college basketball
players said they had gambled on sports, either professional or college.

But Ms. Newman Baker also emphasized that a much smaller portion of players —
just 1.5 percent — said they knew of a teammate who had taken money to play
badly. "The percentages are small," Ms. Newman Baker said. "But they are there."

I am not so confident, though, that 1.5 percent should really be considered a
small number. For one thing, I would guess that some players who knew about
point shaving did not answer the question honestly.

And even if the poll is taken at face value, it suggests that a player on
roughly one out of every five teams has direct knowledge of point shaving. That
fits my definition of a big problem.

Copyright
2006The New York Times Company

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