Malik Pope Cleared to Play by San Diego State After Being Named in FBI Probe

San Diego State reportedly cleared senior Malik Pope to play in Tuesday's game against Boise State despite his appearance in a report from Yahoo Sports detailing alleged corruption in college basketball. 

Mark Zeigler of the San Diego Union-Tribune reported the news Tuesday, noting San Diego State suspended Pope four days prior when documents from ASM Sports agency included in the Yahoo story listed a $1,400 loan next to his name.

According to Zeigler, San Diego State kept Pope out of Saturday's victory over San Jose State after the Yahoo story broke Friday.

Andy Humes, the director of compliance for SDSU's athletic department, released a statement saying the school didn't find any evidence of wrongdoing on Pope's behalf after internally investigating the incident, which freed him up to be reinstated.

"I, along with my family, have never had contact nor accepted anything from the two people named in the story," Pope said when discussing agent Andy Miller and Christian Dawkins, a runner for Miller, per Zeigler. "Since the report, I have worked with our compliance office to show that I have not broken any NCAA rules. I want to thank the San Diego State community for their support and faith in me during this process. I look forward to joining my teammates on the court."

The FBI's probe into college basketball and the bribery and corruption surrounding the sport has dominated headlines as March Madness approaches. Zeigler noted 30 other players, some of them on current rosters, appeared on the list released by Yahoo on Friday.

As for Pope, he is averaging 12.7 points and 7.1 rebounds per game behind a 51.3 percent shooting clip from the field this season, which would all be career-best numbers. His eligibility figures to be key for San Diego State with the chance to finish strong heading into the conference tournament.

It did not appear in the most recent predicted NCAA tournament bracket from Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller but is riding a four-game winning streak and is up to 17-10 overall with two games remaining in the regular season.

from Bleacher Report - Front Page http://ift.tt/2oBnf5V