A small basketball wager may cost one ASU athlete more than money.
A student on the ASU men's basketball team broke NCAA regulations by joining a gambling pool for the ongoing men's basketball tournament on the social networking Web site facebook.com.
While NCAA rules for student-athletes state that joining pools, including those on facebook.com, is legal as long as no money is initially wagered, the repercussions become severe once betting is involved.
According to the NCAA Web site, a student-athlete who is found to have bet or accepted bets on intercollegiate or professional athletics is ineligible for intercollegiate competition for a minimum of one year and will lose one season of competition.
Undeclared sophomore Shane Kuyper, a guard on ASU's basketball team, filled out a bracket on facebook.com and joined pools like thousands of other ASU students in preparation for the NCAA tournament.
In pools, students set up brackets in which they guess the winner in each game of the tournament.
Kuyper entered a pool on facebook.com titled "THE MONEYS."
In the pool, members wager $5, and the person who correctly guesses the outcome of the most tournament games wins the total amount of money.
The description of the group stated, "This pool is for serious gambelors (sic) only!"
Doug Tammaro, director of media relations for the ASU athletic department, said Kuyper's involvement in the pool was a mistake.
"He told me that as soon as he realized the pool was a gambling pool, he got out," Tammaro said.
After joining the pool on March 12, Kuyper stayed in through two rounds of the tournament, until Monday afternoon.
"I'm pretty confident that it's an oversight on Shane's part," Tammaro added.
Two ASU football players, one former and one current, are in a different gambling pool on facebook.com. Titled "JC swizzy swoosh," the pool asks participants to "throw in a 20 spot ... winner take all."
Tyler Schroeder, who was on the ASU football roster in 2006 but is no longer on the team, said that although the pool was initially for betting, no one ever put in any money.
Brett Boon, a backup quarterback, was also in the pool.
This is not the first time a friendly betting pool has caused controversy in college athletics.
University of Washington football head coach Rick Neuheisel was fired in July 2003 after he participated in a local gambling pool for the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.
It's also not the first time ASU athletes have gambled.
During the 1993-94 basketball season, a bookie attending ASU bribed two ASU basketball players to miss shots so he and other gamblers could beat the projected point spread in four games, according to a 1998 Sports Illustrated article.
More than 61 bets totaling $506,000 were placed on the four basketball games, making the scandal one of the worst in point shaving history, according to the article.
Political science junior Gian Duran, who is currently tied for the second best bracket out of all students on facebook.com at ASU, said Kuyper's betting is not a big deal.
"I would say yes, but since the team isn't in [the tournament], it doesn't really matter," Duran said. "He has no way to impact the game."
Disciplinary actions will be decided by compliance services, Tammaro said.
"He will issue an apology, and we will go from there," he said.
Tammaro added that all athletes will receive a reminder on what is allowed.
"We will re-educate everyone on the rules on what you can and can't do," Tammaro said.
Reach the reporter at: john.dougherty@asu.edu.
