Poll Says 24% in U.S. Think Points Shaved in College Basketball
By Larry Siddons
April 4 (Bloomberg) -- Almost a quarter of Americans surveyed believe college basketball players shave points to meet gambling lines, according to the Seton Hall Sports Poll.
The poll also found that less than a third -- 31 percent -- of the 378 people questioned said colleges place high importance on players graduating, and twice that percentage feel schools break rules in recruiting athletes.
The telephone survey was taken by the South Orange, New Jersey-based university on March 17-19, just before the start of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's national basketball tournament. The championship game is April 7.
``The NCAA is not getting the right message out to the public,'' Rick Gentile, the poll's director, said in a news release. ``These are not percentages that reflect where they would like public perception to be.''
On the gambling question, 24 percent answered ``yes'' when asked: ``Do you think that college basketball players intentionally influence the outcome of games because of gambling interests, or not?''
Seton Hall said the poll was weighted to reflect the national distribution of age, race and gender, and had a statistical margin of error of plus or minus 5.2 percentage points.
To contact the reporter on this story: Larry Siddons in New York at lsiddons@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: April 4, 2008 15:44 EDT
By Larry Siddons
April 4 (Bloomberg) -- Almost a quarter of Americans surveyed believe college basketball players shave points to meet gambling lines, according to the Seton Hall Sports Poll.
The poll also found that less than a third -- 31 percent -- of the 378 people questioned said colleges place high importance on players graduating, and twice that percentage feel schools break rules in recruiting athletes.
The telephone survey was taken by the South Orange, New Jersey-based university on March 17-19, just before the start of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's national basketball tournament. The championship game is April 7.
``The NCAA is not getting the right message out to the public,'' Rick Gentile, the poll's director, said in a news release. ``These are not percentages that reflect where they would like public perception to be.''
On the gambling question, 24 percent answered ``yes'' when asked: ``Do you think that college basketball players intentionally influence the outcome of games because of gambling interests, or not?''
Seton Hall said the poll was weighted to reflect the national distribution of age, race and gender, and had a statistical margin of error of plus or minus 5.2 percentage points.
To contact the reporter on this story: Larry Siddons in New York at lsiddons@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: April 4, 2008 15:44 EDT
