Lawyer Conducting UA Wildcat Probe Defends Deandre Ayton

TUCSON, AZ – Two days after an ESPN report stating University of Arizona men's basketball coach Sean Miller discussed a $100,000 payment to lock in a commitment from Deandre Ayton, a lawyer probing the situation has come to the defense of the Wildcat freshman big man. The report led to Miller being benched from coaching the team's Saturday game against Oregon.

ESPN said that Miller was on tape talking with Christian Dawkins, one of the central people in an ongoing FBI probe into corruption in college basketball.

Ayton, who plays forward and center and is seen as a potential number one pick in the draft, was born in the Bahamas.

While the Miller conversation – one of many in more than 3,000 hours of recorded by the FBI – does not mention an actual payment to Ayton or is family, some have called for him to be ruled ineligible.

"I am aware of media reports and public relations suggesting that University of Arizona Men's Basketball student-athlete DeAndre Ayton should not be deemed eligible to compete due to a perception that he or his family received money or other benefits in connection with his recruitment at Arizona," according to the lawyer hired by the university to probe allegations of corruption in the school's basketball program.

"These reports are false and unfounded."

Kelly said that Ayton has voluntarily sat for interviews with the FBI, federal prosecutors, and the university.

In those interviews, Ayton has maintained that neither he not any member of his family or anyone on their behalf took a dime.

Investigators say that no evidence has been found to contradict that.

Ayton leads the PAC-12 in both points and rebounds.

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