For the most part, as of now, the FBI's impact on college basketball appears to have been minimal one year after it announced investigations that resulted in the arrest of then-UA assistant coach Book Richardson and other figures around the game.
And, as NBC's Rob Dauster writes, it is instability not impropriety that affects recruiting.
But the first of the related trials will begin next week, with Christian Dawkins, Merl Code and James Gatto, and it's unclear whether additional evidence of FBI or NCAA interest will come out of it. Chuck Person and Rashan Michel are scheduled to stand trial in February, while Richardson, Tony Bland and Lamont Evans are set for April 22.
The Athletic's Seth Davis has a detailed look at where things stand now.
But at Arizona the investigation's impact has not really been minimal.
While the commitment of five-star recruit Nico Mannion sent a signal that maybe things are getting back to normal for the Wildcats, there's little doubt that they were affected at least somewhat over the past year by the investigation.
It's all been well-documented, of course, but here's a brief review:
-- Arizona's 2018 recruiting class, once on pace to finish at a Top 3 level, suffered decommitments from five-star guard Jahvon Quinerly and four-star forward Shareef O'Neal, while the Wildcats also dropped off the short lists of other five-star talents such as Nassir Little, Bol Bol, R.J. Barrett and Simi Shittu. UA coach Sean Miller had to scramble in the spring just to fill out his roster with five new players, including two grad transfers (Ryan Luther and Justin Coleman) and a little-known European (Omar Thielemans).
-- Miller was the subject of an ESPN story that said he discussed a pay-for-play scheme, resulting in Miller sitting out UA's game at Oregon last season and spending an additional four days away from the team.
Miller vehemently denied allegations in the story, but O'Neal and Brandon Williams both decommitted in the wake of the report. Williams, however, later recommitted and is expected to be a key part of this season's team.
-- Although Miller and his players have avoided speaking about Richardson and the investigation, it could be argued the FBI investigation at least had something to do with the Wildcats' underachievement last season. Arizona was a trendy No. 1 preseason pick and, while the Wildcats won the Pac-12 regular-season and tournament titles, they went 0-3 in the Battle 4 Atlantis and lost badly to Buffalo in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
-- Richardson, meanwhile, spend a year in which he felt like he was "thrown out with the trash," according to what his wife told Stadium.
-- While a revived 2019 recruiting class could lead to better times ahead for the Wildcats, they will play this season with a team that Athlon Sports said will finish sixth in the middle of the Pac-12 standings. Miller said Pac-12 coaches also picked UA sixth when they held an informal straw poll during their May meetings.
