Brandon Johnson pleads not guilty to sports bribery charges

Brandon Johnson has pleaded not guilty at an arraignment in San Diego on Monday after flying in from his hometown of Houston.

Johnson, the biggest name in the San Diego sports bribery scandal and the all-time leading scorer for the Toreros, is accused of taking a bribe to influence the outcome of a February 2010 USD game. He's also charged with soliciting a member of this year's team to influence the outcome of a game as recently as March.


Johnson was arrested on April 9th in Houston. He's been given a local public defender as, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune, he cannot afford his own attorney. Johnson is one of ten defendants in the case, which not only involves fixing games but also marijuana distribution.

For Torero fans, the biggest shame in all of this is that San Diego's biggest win -- their 2008 upset of No. 4 seed UConn in the first round of the tournament -- is now tainted due to Johnson's presence.
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Two former San Diego players, former assistant coach indicted for fixing games

The 2010-2011 year may as well be dubbed the "Year of the Scandal" for college sports.

The list is incredibly long, from Bruce Pearl and Jim Calhoun to the allegations against Kentucky and Perry Jones to Ohio State, Jim Tressel, and the Fiesta Bowl. And that's only skimming the surface.

But what we hadn't had this year was a point-shaving scandal. We came close, back in January, when Syracuse was struggling and, in an effort to explain away four straight losses, the intrawebs drummed up a rumor that Scoop Jardine was shaving points. That was, rightfully, proven to be untrue, but this afternoon news of a real point-shaving scandal broke, this time involving the University of San Diego, a former assistant coach, and the school's all-time leading scorer.

Former players Brandon Johnson (USD's all-time leading scorer) and Brandon Dowdy and former assistant coach Thaddeus Brown were indicted in Federal Court amid allegations that they were involved in fixing games. The group that was fixing games was also connected to marijuana distribution.

According to the indictment, which can be read in its entirety here, in February of 2010, Johnson "influenced the outcome of a USD basketball game for a monetary bribe". In January of 2011, Johnson "solicited an individual to affect the outcome of USD basketball games for monetary bribes". In February and March of 2011, Johnson, Brown, and Dowdy, were all involved in trying to fix another game.

San Diego played seven games in the month of February in 2010. Johnson missed the Feb. 11th game at Portland. All spreads according to Statsheet.com:

• Feb. 4th: San Francisco 72, San Diego 70 OT: San Diego was favored by 8.5 in this game, and Johnson finished with 25 points on 9-20 shooting. According to the play by play, he didn't score in regulation after hitting a three that put San Diego up 55-51 with 5:26 left. In the overtime, he had four points and an assist, but he also was just 2-4 from the foul line and missed a three at the buzzer.
  
• Feb. 6th: Santa Clara 59, San Diego 43: San Diego was favored by 7.5 in this game, and Johnson finished with just six points on 2-8 shooting. It was one of just two games all season long that Johnson didn't get to the free throw line, and he missed the next game with a groin injury.
  
• Feb. 13th: Gonzaga 82, San Diego 65: The Zags were favored by 17.5 on the road, and San Diego beat the spread. Fixing games doesn't work that way.
  
• Feb. 18th: St. Mary's 61, San Diego 49: The Gaels were favored by 7.5 points in Moraga, and Johnson finished 15 points on 6-15 shooting, going 0-5 from three and turning the ball over four times. Late in the second half, Johnson scored 11 points in a three minute span that get USD within striking distance.
• Feb. 25th: Loyola Marymount 72, San Diego 69: San Diego was actually favored by 3.5 points in this game, and Johnson had his lowest scoring night of the year. He finished with four points, four assists, and five turnovers on 1-6 shooting in just 25 minutes, his lowest number of the WCC season. According to the play-by-play, Johnson didn't score in the first half, he was benched at the start of the second half, and then attempted just one shot in the last 12 minutes of a close game.
• Feb. 27th: San Diego 65, Pepperdine 48: San Diego was favored by 9.5 points and won by 17.
  

Now I am far from a gambling expert, but if I had to make a guess, I would say that Johnson was on the take on the 6th against Santa Clara. The 18th against St. Mary's and the 25th against LMU are the other possibles. Continue reading...