Carson Barrett tore his meniscus earlier this year. His injury required surgery, but this will be the Purdue senior’s last appearance. He hasn’t had much playing time in his career, but he was hoping to at least get a chance to be on the court this season. So Barrett was willing to slow down his repair work and let him play hoops for a few minutes in exchange for a few minutes of a rather sore night with his knee throbbing.
This season, he played a total of 21 minutes and scored 6 points. Three of them went to the NCAA Tournament. With 37 seconds left in a long, decided game, Barrett drained a baseline 3 against Grambling State, earning his name in the box score of Purdue’s first-round victory. The bench erupted as the ball skimmed the net, and Barrett’s teammates knew what he had sacrificed and endured. His bucket would be the Boilermakers’ last as Purdue won 78-50. Back in the locker room, Barrett picked up his phone and began scrolling through congratulatory emails from his friends and searching for DMs on social media.
He stumbled on the next thing.
You are indeed ab-‘s son.
We hope you enjoy selling cars for the rest of your life.
followed by:
I hope you die.
And the kicker:
Please kill yourself for taking those three people away, you are a worthless loser. Slitting your throat is completely unnecessary. I hope you commit suicide.
The Boilermakers were 27-point favorites against Grambling. Barrett’s Bullet means they won by 28 points. “I had no idea what the line was,” Barrett said. “I’m just going out to make memories with my friends.”
Purdue senior and former walk-on Carson Barrett hit a 3 to lead the Boilermakers to a 78-50 win over Grambling State.
(Purdue also covered -26.5 with that bucket) 🏀 #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/mUu62wpRkp
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) March 23, 2024
NCAA President Charlie Baker last week called for a ban on prop bets involving college athletes, saying the National Collegiate Association wants to protect both the athletes and the integrity of the game.
But prop (or proposition) bets (usually bets on individual performance, such as how many 3s a player will make) are really just the tip of the iceberg.
As more states legalize sports betting (38 states include the District of Columbia), the wall that long separated college athletics and gambling continues to crumble. The NCAA currently hosts events in Las Vegas (the 2028 Final Four will be held there) and just last week housed two teams in a casino in Detroit. Athletes and department staff still can’t bet on sports where the NCAA sponsors championships, but many are betting on them.
This has led to increased scrutiny of the team, with Temple being investigated last month for suspected gambling fraud involving the team, and the harsh criticism leveled at the players has also intensified. Of course, thanks to his social media presence, he can deliver his vitriolic words directly to you. The NCAA is trying to tackle the problem head-on by partnering with a group called Signify to monitor and, if necessary, block online threats.
But throughout this NCAA Tournament, conversations with basketball players from starters to scrubs have revealed a lot of success. “Oh yeah, it happens all the time,” Purdue center Zach Eady said. “Probably like after every game.”
Starters like Eadie are most often the subject of prop bets, which drew Baker’s ire. People, not necessarily politely, suggested that he send a Venmo at Edy’s expense because it wasn’t up to the standards Vegas had set for his personal number.
In the second round game between North Carolina and Michigan State, Armando Bacot thought he played pretty well. He had 18 points and seven rebounds. But when he picked up his phone after the game, he had more than 100 messages from people furious that he didn’t have eight boards. One day, after receiving her UberEats order, Bacot received the not-so-pleasant news from the delivery driver: “The order was wasted.”
Starters who are used to finding fault with everything people do are at least philosophical about prop bet reactions.
“It’s definitely a little out of hand,” Bacot said. “But at the same time, I understand the gist of it. For example, if you bet a lot of money on something and someone ruins it with just one pick, I can understand the part where fans would be angry. ”
Edie added: “People have hated me since second grade. Why do I care if Billy gets mad at me because she spent $30 on a game?”
At the very least, the NCAA appears to be moving toward eliminating prop bets on college athletes. Colorado, Arizona, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania and Oregon already have bans in place, while Illinois, Connecticut and Iowa have bans for in-state teams. Gambling regulators in Ohio, Vermont and Maryland also removed them this year.
However, standard bets based on spreads and over/unders cannot be reversed. Once banned, it is now common to talk about the Las Vegas Line on broadcasts, and the spread regularly appears next to timetables on most websites. No doubt starters can be affected as well by gamblers who will be angry if they come off on these bets, but the cruel development is such that some of the people who feel the most heat are at odds with the actual importance of the game. Those who have no influence at all are the victors. And lose.
“It’s scary, at the end of the game,” said UW’s Andrew Hurley, a Huskies walk-on who joined the team primarily with his father, Dan. For example, Harley learns that turnover can make people angry, but not for the same reason that makes his father furious.
“When I was in the locker room after the breakup, I thought, ‘Oh, I really hope no one jumps on me for what I did there,'” he said.
In most cases, this is the case. Market’s Jonah Lucas heard from an angry bettor after going 0/1 against Georgetown and committing a foul that affected the over/under. His teammate Casey O’Malley received a nasty DM from a 30-year-old man after a turnover affected the over/under of another game (O’Malley couldn’t remember which game). North Carolina State walk-on Alex Nunnally recalled a game against William & Mary in which the Wolfpack gave up quite a few points, but Nunnally got into trouble by not hitting shots that affected the spread. Made it even bigger.
“I certainly received some pretty interesting messages,” he said.
UNC’s Seth Trimble typically sees some playing time, but he played sparingly last year against Syracuse due to illness. Hubert Davis brought on Trimble with 10 seconds left, primarily to make a defensive stop. He grabbed the rebound and was fouled, but missed both free throws. When the second one clattered off the rim, the entire Syracuse crowd erupted. “It’s like, ‘What are they doing?'” They lost. What are they cheering so loudly? ” Trimble said. The missed free throw meant Carolina couldn’t cover.
Like everyone else in a similar situation, Trimble then found her DMs full. “I’m talking and I’m scrolling for about 10 seconds,” Trimble said. “There’s DM, DM, DM. There are some harsh words.”
Barrett, who was sitting in the locker room alongside Purdue’s other bench players Chase Martin and Sam King, shrugged while sharing a screenshot of the DM.
“I think that comes with being an athlete, even at my level,” he said. “It’s kind of sad when you’re just out having fun and your phone explodes because of people who are angry about it. But what are you going to do?”
—Brendan Marks, CJ Moore and Kyle Tucker contributed reporting.
(Photo: George Rose/Getty)