UM Hurricanes redacted from indictment as college basketball trial heads to deliberation

Court adjourned at United States v. James Gatto on Monday, but not before one last piece of good news for the Miami Hurricanes. Both sides at the trial in New York agreed to a complete redaction of Miami from the indictments levied in conjunction with the college basketball scandal.

The judge read jurors instructions regarding wire fraud cases against the Louisville Cardinals and Kansas Jayhawks, reported Adam Zagoria, who is covering the trail for the Kansas City Star and a handful of other outlets. Legally, the Hurricanes now believe they’re in the clear, according to a program source.

The redaction means Miami is no longer a factor in the legal proceedings, and both the defense and the prosecution feel the Hurricanes were an irrelevant party in the case. Jurors are now deliberating and a verdict could arrive later this week. No evidence was presented this month which could incriminate the Hurricanes.

Miami was initially identified as “University-7” in an FBI complaint filed last year. No Hurricanes coaches, however, were among the 10 coaches and athletic apparel executives arrested after being caught on a wire tap.

The Hurricanes haven’t been a major focus at the trail, which has now taken most of October, but Miami was still mentioned a handful of times in connection with its recruitment of Nassir Little, who now plays for the North Carolina Tar Heels.

Last week, a text message exchange between disgraced middleman Christian Dawkins and Brad Augustine, Little’s Amateur Athletic Union coach, was presented into evidence. The messages seemingly exonerated Little, alleging no one in the former five-star prospect’s family was willing to accept money.

“That’s the issue with him going to an Adidas school because the family isn’t taking it,” wrote Dawkins, who served as the middleman between Adidas and Brian Bowen, who committed to Louisville after receiving a payment from the apparel company.

The Hurricanes, however, said they weren’t aware about any discussion of a payment for Little, who played at Orlando Christian Prep. The NCAA plans to conduct its own investigations and make its own punishments once the trial concludes. Miami has said it will cooperate with all potential investigations.