[Moldoveanu]

I never doubted that there are fixed games in college!! 100% there are every single year! u just dont know who they are!!

but i have a pretty good idea who they were this season!!

like in earlier post says u dont have to cover the spread by 14 pts all u have to do is win the game by less then 14 pts and u got 10K $$$$ in ur pockets!



We're about due for a major game-fixing scandal in college basketball.

This is more than a prediction, it's a likelihood based on the sport's own sordid law of averages. There have been seven major game-fixing scandals in the past 56 years, or one every eight years.

Eleven years ago Dewey Williams was recruited by a Northwestern teammate to shave points. (Getty Images)
The last such occurrence was at Northwestern 11 years ago.

Make that, overdue for a game-fixing scandal.

Enjoy your Final Four, folks.

Michael Franzese isn't about to calm our fears. In fact, they help business. The former Columbo crime family member makes part of his living as a gambling consultant to the NCAA.

"I do have my suspicions when I watch a game," Franzese said. "I'll look at a (betting) line and put two and two together if I'm watching a player. I always watch with a half-suspicious eye."

Franzese is a trained professional in the matter. He fixed games in his former life as a mobster. Players had no choice when they got behind on gambling debts. The NCAA knows that. It's sort of like employing a former safe cracker to see how secure your bank is.

According to mounting anecdotal evidence, NCAA basketball is surprisingly susceptible to funny stuff.

According to a 2003 NCAA survey, 1.3 percent of Division I players admitted taking money from a gambler to play poorly. In Sports Illustrated last week, a Wharton School of Business economist used his mathematical formula to suggest that 500 games over the past 16 seasons involved point shaving.

Listen to him. Franzese makes it sound easy. What's scary is his description of the fixing method seems almost too detailed to be contrived.

"You got a guard, he's 6-2, he's in his senior year, he's on his way out of school," Franzese said. "He's not going to the pros in all likelihood. (The fixer) will say, 'Listen you don't have to be broke, your team is favored by 14 tonight.

"Win by six, win by seven, don't cover the spread. I'll put 10 grand in your pocket. You do that 10 times you've got $100,000 tax free when you leave school."

thats really wow!

"When they lose money they have to find a way to pay it back," he said. "I told (athletes), you better be careful, you don't want to run into a guy like me."

Another example: The advent of online gambling has increased the NCAA's fears. Earlier this year, the president of Lehigh's sophomore class robbed a bank in order to pay off online gambling debts.

In 2003, a Wisconsin freshman from Taiwan was charged with the triple murder of three roommates. The murders were believed to stem from a dispute over gambling debts. The student then hanged himself in his prison cell in January 2005.

If only the problem were just game fixing.
"At that age you don't know your limits," Franzese said. "I tell them, 'You guys don't need this, it's not a harmless pastime.'

"One thing can lead to another."

And, remember, we're overdue.

Try to enjoy your Final Four, folks.