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Myron Medcalf, ESPN Staff Writer 5y

John Calipari not sure if corruption trial stops cheaters

Men's College Basketball, Kentucky Wildcats

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Kentucky coach John Calipari called the FBI corruption trial a "black eye" for the sport but added he's not convinced the outcome of the proceedings in New York City will stop cheaters.

"If we have selective investigations and selective enforcement, it's not going to change," Calipari said during SEC basketball media day in Birmingham, Alabama, on Wednesday.

On Monday, Duke's Mike Krzyzewski told ESPN he believes college basketball is "actually pretty clean" and called the current trial a "blip" that's not indicative of a corrosive culture within the sport.

Numerous schools have been linked to the FBI's investigation of college basketball, which began with the arrests of four Division I assistant coaches and multiple people tied to Adidas' grassroots operation last year.

Earlier this week, lawyers for Christian Dawkins and Merl Code, two of the defendants in the current trial in New York, tried to admit evidence allegedly showing that LSU head coach Will Wade and Kansas assistant Kurtis Townsend were prepared to offer illegal payments to sign elite players, according to conversations with Dawkins and Code, respectively. Per the lawyers, Townsend's conversation was allegedly tied to the recruitment of Duke's Zion Williamson.

Calipari said he's been too busy to follow the trial. But he said he hopes it encourages those with the right intentions to help fix the sport. But he said any investigation that only targets select schools won't lead to widespread change.

"What's going on is a black eye," he said. "My hope is all that's going on pushes in the outliers like, 'Let's get this right.' Part of that's going to be stiffer penalties.

"I'm anxious to see what comes out of this, where it's going."

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