The upcoming HBO documentary "The Scheme" takes a broad look at Christian Dawkins' role in the federal investigation into college basketball, and how the recruiting world can work in the shadows of NCAA amateurism rules.
But the movie does so in part by airing wiretaps involving Arizona's Sean Miller and LSU coach Will Wade, that according to one of the movie's interview subjects and other Yahoo Sports podcasters, make them more difficult to defend.
"I don't care whether Will Wade is the coach or not; I don't care if Sean Miller is the coach or not," said Yahoo's Dan Wetzel, who is interviewed extensively in the movie "... but if you listen to these tapes, and you think Will Wade and Sean Miller, are not in on it, I can't tell you what to believe. OK? But I'm not going to be that naive."
Earlier on the podcast, Sports Illustrated's Pat Forde — Wetzel's former colleague at Yahoo — said the movie gives viewers a "much better sense of what was going on."
"It reiterates, first of all, exactly how the game works, what coaches were trying to do and who they were trying to do it with," Forde said, "and it reiterates to me the point that, I mean, Arizona and LSU are just lying to themselves if they want to continue to make excuses to believe that their coaches were somehow not breaking NCAA rules."
Another Yahoo reporter, Pete Thamel, says evidence played in the movie may make it harder for administrators to support Miller and Wade.
"If you're sitting in the board meeting at Arizona or LSU, and you play that, and you have to say, 'OK, can we feasibly defend this guy?' " Thamel says. "It's going to be more difficult. That said, nobody cares about the NCAA anymore. Nobody respects the NCAA. No one thinks NCAA enforcement is going to do anything. It's just where we are right now."
HBO gave the Star a screener for the movie and we recapped the Miller-related material here. The Yahoo Sports podcast can be found here.
