Sports
Former Iowa State quarterback DeShawn Hanika wants college athletes to learn from his sports betting mistakes
Former Iowa State football player DeShawn Hanika was certainly one of greater than a dozen Iowa State and Iowa State athletes charged last 12 months with improper sports betting as a part of a state investigation into college sports betting.
Hanika, who has missed your complete 2023 season and is moving to Kansas in December 2023, has partnered with a technology company focused on sports betting integrity and compliance to educate college athletes concerning the dangers of not following betting rules.
Most of the athletes were accused of underage gambling, and in Hanika’s case, of registering accounts on mobile sports betting apps under different names. Others were accused of betting on games they participated in.
Ahead of the 2024 season, Hanika is partnering with Integrity Compliance 360, a technology company specializing in sports betting integrity and compliance. IC360 uses the software to send alerts when a player or other team member attempts to place a bet through a sportsbook. The hope is that other college athletes will learn from Hanika’s sports betting mistakes and stop themselves from losing their eligibility or facing charges that could lead on to prison time.
“If I can help one kid say, ‘You know what? I haven’t been caught yet, but I’m not going to take any chances,’ and stop, that’s enough for me,” Hanika told Andscape.
Growing up in Topeka, Kansas, Hanika wasn’t involved in sports betting.
No one in his family bet on sports, and he only knew about it due to the ads he saw on the web and TV. He knew almost nothing about sports betting. He didn’t even know that it was mostly illegal in America before 2018. He had only a vague idea about former Cincinnati Reds manager Pete Rose, who was investigated by MLB for claims that he placed bets on games he played in and managed. Hanika’s only connection to gambling was that his grandfather usually went to the casino to play slots.
“For me, gambling meant Thursday nights at the casino, playing the one-armed bandit and taking my grandmother out for a steak dinner buffet,” he said.
In the summer of 2022, Hanika placed his first bet on the DraftKings Sportsbook & Casino mobile app. He and his teammates were practically the one students in Ames, Iowa, attending a summer football camp. Hanika was bored on campus, so he figured why not place a bet on the UFC pay-per-view that night. He remembers only placing $2 and seeing the bet as something to make the fight more interesting.
Even though Hanika lost the primary bet, he doesn’t remember ever having any immediate desire to do it again.
“It didn’t affect me,” he said. “I had no inkling, no desire for it.”
After betting on the UFC for the subsequent few months, the subsequent sport he bet on was college basketball throughout the NCAA men’s basketball tournament in March 2023.
College basketball betting didn’t seem so mean, considering that the March Madness brackets are an American pastime. He had some irrational confidence in his picks due to his experience as a highschool basketball player. But like UFC, his college basketball bets were trivial. Hanika placed a 32-leg parlay on the primary round of the tournament, but he only bet 10 cents.
“I just bet every game in the first round and didn’t win,” he said. “So I’m not trying to get rich.”
Hanika was of legal age when he began betting in the summertime of 2022. However, he continued to use his mother’s account because after she told her about her interest in betting, she suggested he arrange an account in her name so she could monitor his activity.
Kimberly Hanika never expressed concerns about her son’s betting, as he placed fewer than 300 bets over a nine-month period, a median of 1 bet per day. According to the affidavit, Hanika’s total bets during that period were roughly $1,262, with a median stake of lower than $5.
However, on the morning of March 2, 2023, after Hanika finished training on the Cyclones’ team facility, a lady from the Story County District Attorney’s Office approached him and asked for a non-public conversation.
Hanika had no reason to imagine it was concerning the bets he had been placing over the past 12 months or so. He assumed it was about his landlord, who had been arrested the day before on a unique charge. Instead, the girl said it was concerning the illegal bets he had placed on his mother’s account. Ultimately, that may lead to charges of tampering with documents, a misdemeanor.
After Hanika answered all of the questions on his betting history, she served him with a search warrant and confiscated his phone. He went home and called his mother on his iPad before getting his phone back the subsequent day.
For the subsequent three to 4 months, Hanika had no contact with the prosecutor’s office until August 10, 2023, when Hanika’s stepfather sent him a screenshot of a social media post announcing that Hanika had been charged. Aggravated misdemeanors in Iowa carry a sentence of up to two years in prison and a high-quality of $855 to $8,540.
“So we found out about it on Twitter,” he said.
Throughout the ordeal—from being hassled on the team facility to having his phone confiscated to being charged—Hanika experienced a variety of emotions. He was scared and upset, and stressed concerning the hurt his family had suffered consequently of his actions. His high school-age brother was bullied by his classmates due to reports that Hanika is perhaps going to prison.
“I think it was harder for me, hearing about his embarrassment and my family’s embarrassment, than it was for me,” he said.
Hanika takes full responsibility for his actions. He doesn’t blame Iowa State or the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, which initiated the investigation into the sports betting. He understands that he must have been more aware of the regulations regarding the identification of mobile betting. He said the foundations and laws regarding what’s and just isn’t allowed in sports betting are confusing.
The Cyclones program held meetings at the start of the 2022 season and informed players that they might not bet on their very own sports or reveal confidential team information. While he knew he was not betting under his own name, he saw nothing improper with what he was doing.
“I thought, I’m not betting on myself, I’m not betting on my team. I’m not hurting anyone. I’m not getting in my car at 2 a.m. and driving home drunk and hitting anyone,” Hanika said. “I’m not hurting anyone by sitting here and doing this.”
Because the Story County Prosecutor’s Office failed to charge Hanika inside 45 days of his Aug. 10 waiver of a preliminary hearing, she is charged with a misdemeanor count of tampering with a the charge was dismissed on October 2, 2023
After catching 17 passes for 244 yards and 4 touchdowns during his third season in 2022, Hanika trained with Iowa State throughout the autumn but didn’t play in a single game in 2023.
After speaking with his then-fiancée and now-wife, Kate, Hanika announced on December 11, 2023, that he would return home to the University of Kansas to play his final season of college football in 2024. However, torn Achilles tendon in April training has put this season in jeopardy. Hanika is on a medical break that may allow him to play in 2025.
“Now I attack every day as if I wanted to be reborn this year,” he said.
At the time of his Achilles tendon rupture, IC360 representatives approached Hanika to help spread his message to college athletes who is perhaps desirous about sports betting.
Business customers include UFC, LIV Golf and NCAA conferences: SEC, Big 12, AAC and Mountain West. The goal is to prevent sports betting compliance issues from reaching the extent of a state attorney or the FBI.
“Ultimately, it’s a three-party platform. The bookmaker’s operations will monitor all activity, the sports league or organization will essentially provide a database that lists the names and contact details of all banned players,” said Mark Potter, co-CEO of education and training services at IC360.
“And as a technology solution, we’ll monitor that, and all the data will be fed into it from the operator, through the database, through us, and then it’ll all be encrypted and stored in a very secure place.”
IC360 had been following what happened to Hanika and other athletes involved in sports betting and was desirous about working with him to educate other college athletes concerning the pitfalls of violating betting guidelines. Hanika initially declined to participate.
“I kept thinking that if I could just get away, if I could just stay calm, maybe all this would go away,” he said.
But his mother and wife told Hanika that he couldn’t run away from the incident perpetually, that it will follow him irrespective of what. They asked him how he wanted people to discuss him: only in negative terms or to twist it right into a positive one.
Hanika said he removed his pride and decided to use his story as a learning opportunity.
“I had to swallow my pride a little bit, and that was a big step for me,” he said. “And just accepting that, yeah, I made a mistake, this is what I did, let me help somebody else so they don’t have to go through that.”
As a part of the IC360 partnership, which the corporate calls the Gambling Awareness and Sports Integrity Program, Hanika has created videos about his experiences with sports betting, the teachings he learned after being accused and the risks college athletes face when gambling.
“I think he really wanted to show that he takes responsibility for what he does, but also show young athletes how easy it is to make mistakes and stop others from doing the same thing he did,” Potter said.
When I ask Hanika about his current stance on sports betting, he laughs and says he gets asked that query on a regular basis. His gambling days are over.
“I can live the rest of my life without any stress about it,” he said. “I don’t care anymore if I ever see another ad, if I have it on my phone, in my line of sight, if I place a bet on any sporting event. I don’t care.”
When asked what he would say to a college athlete desirous about sports betting, Hanika replied that he had already been contacted about it.
He joked that he would tell the person to give them his phone number straight away because Hanika would not let him. Then he told me how much his mother and stepfather had to pay to fight his case last 12 months.
“I said to myself, you know, it’s not that big of a deal if your parents have $60,000 to spend on a lawyer now,” Hanika said. “So let me know if it’s not that big of a deal.”
Sports
Black coaches and programs to watch in women’s college basketball
The 2023-24 college basketball season concluded under Black head coach Dawn Staley, who made history by leading the South Carolina Gamecocks to a 38-0 record and a national championship.
What could possibly be in store for Black coaches and their programs in 2024-2025?
While Staley and the Gamecocks are focused on winning more NCAA championships, a national title shouldn’t be a possible goal for each program. Some coaches will likely be chasing their program’s first-place finish in the NCAA Tournament or a regular-season conference title, while others may simply be chasing a winning season. This doesn’t make them any less worthy of consideration when creating your programs.
Here are the eight coaches and their programs chosen by Andscape as teams to watch in the 2024-25 season.
South Carolina
Coach: Dawn Staley
After winning their third national title since 2017, Staley and the Gamecocks are definitely on course to turn into the primary repeat champions since UConn won 4 straight championships from 2013-2016.
South Carolina, which starts the yr because the No. 1 team in the country, lost the centerpiece of last yr’s team in Kamilla Cardoso, who was chosen in the primary round of the 2024 WNBA draft. But everyone else from last yr’s title-winning team returns, which is a scary reality. for the remaining of the speed.
The Gamecocks also strengthened their frontcourt by adding 6-foot-10 junior transfer Maryam Dauda, 6-5 redshirt freshman forward Adhel Tac and 6-3 freshman Joyce Edwards, the No. 3 player in ESPN’s class 2024.
The national title will likely be South Carolina’s to lose.
Our Lady
Coach: Niele Ivey
What Niele Ivey has achieved since taking on as head coach of the Fighting Irish is already a powerful feat – three straight seasons with over 24 wins, an ACC regular season title, an ACC Championship and three straight Sweet 16 appearances. What’s much more impressive is that whenever you consider that it never had a totally healthy lineup in any of those seasons.
That won’t change, at the very least initially of the yr, as forward Maddy Westbeld will miss the beginning of the season with a foot injury. Forward Kylee Watson continues her rehabilitation after tearing her anterior cruciate ligament in March. Guard KK Bransford announced on October 8 that she can be sidelined for the season with a leg injury.
The Irish have arguably one of the best backcourt in college basketball with graduate Olivia Miles, getting back from an anterior cruciate ligament injury, and last yr’s freshman phenom Hannah Hidalgo. Add in a projected first-round pick in next yr’s WNBA draft, guard Sonia Citron, and a powerful transfer class with forwards Liza Karlen and Liatu King, and the Fighting Irish appear to be in a superb position to strike in March.
Lamar
Trainer: Aqua Franklin
Under Coach Aqua Franklin, the Cardinals were Southland Conference regular season champions last season. Lamar finished 24-7 and 17-1 in conference play with Franklin, who signed a contract extension in May, and was named Southland Coach of the Year. The Cardinals played in their second straight conference title game, but lost to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, ending their 14-game winning streak.
Lamar returns 10 players. Senior forward Akasha Davis and graduate defender Sabria Dean were chosen as preseason All-SLC talents. The Cardinals will likely be searching for their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2009-2010.
WHEW
Coach: Jesyka Burks-Wiley
The 2023-24 season was a breakout season for Jesyka Burks-Wiley and the Panthers, who finished the season 21-12 overall and 11-5 in Conference USA. It was FIU’s first conference winning record because the 2012–2013 season and its first 20-win season because the 2011–2012 season. This season, the Panthers had two players named to the CUSA preseason team: senior defender Tanajah Hayes and junior forward Mya Kone, who was named preseason player of the yr. In her fifth season at FIU, Burks-Wiley will try to lead the Panthers to a conference title, a feat this system has not achieved since 2002.
UIC
Coach: Ashleen Bracey
One of one of the best program turnaround stories in the country occurred on the campus of the University of Illinois at Chicago. In 2022, UIC finished last in the Missouri Valley Conference. They finished 2-25 overall with a 1-20 record in the MVC.
Bracey comes in.
In her first season on the helm of the Flames, Bracey led UIC to a 17-win improvement and a winning season, this system’s first because the 2013-14 season. In her second season, Bracey led the Flames to their second straight victory and a 10-10 conference record. Bracey will look to take the following step for her program in the 2024-2025 season, either earning the team’s first conference record because the 2013-2014 season or advancing to the quarterfinals of the MVC Tournament for the primary time because the 2013-2014 season.
Prince
Coach: Kara Lawson
Whether she decides to take the Tennessee coaching job this offseason or stick with the growing Duke program, Kara Lawson will likely be a coach to watch in 2024-2025.
The Blue Devils showed what a threat they will likely be this season after they advanced to the Sweet 16 as No. 7 seed Ohio State in last yr’s NCAA Tournament. It was the primary Sweet 16 appearance in the team’s history since 2018.
Though led by senior guard Reigan Richardson, a preseason All-ACC selection. Duke was defined by its youth a yr ago. Nine Blue Devils on last yr’s team were freshmen or sophomores. Freshman Oluchi Okananwa was named the ACC Sixth Player of the Year.
Lawson, in his fourth full season at Duke, brings in one other top recruiting class this yr with three freshmen ranked in the highest 100 of HoopGurlz espnW’s 2024 recruiting rankings, led by Canadian forward Toby Fournier (No. 10).
Duke, picked to finish third in the ACC, will seek its first regular-season and tournament conference championship since 2013.
North Texas
Coach: Jason Burton
Jason Burton made quite an impression in Denton, Texas, because the Mean Green’s first-year coach. North Texas finished last season 23-9 and set program records for conference wins and wins in a season. The Mean Green also won their first conference title since 1986. Burton was named AAC Coach of the Year.
This season, North Texas finished second in the AAC, just behind conference giant South Florida. The team is led by senior forward Tommisha Lampkin, who was named preseason player of the yr. After a disappointing end to the season in the quarterfinals of the AAC Tournament in March, North Texas will aim higher in the 2024-2025 season.
Norfolk State
Coach: Larry Vickers
Larry Vickers, the Mideast Athletic Conference Coach of the Year the past two seasons, has positioned the Spartans to proceed their recent conference dominance. Over the past two seasons, Norfolk State has gone 24-4 in conference play. The team has won regular season and conference tournament titles and will look to win three championships in the 2024-2025 season. A yr ago, Vickers led the team to probably the most wins in a single season in the Division I era (27), a record this system had just broken the previous season.
The team is led by graduate defenseman Diamond Johnson, MEAC Preseason Player of the Year, senior forward Kierra Wheeler (Preseason First Team) and graduate defenseman Niya Fields (Preseason Second Team).
Also keep watch over: Vanessa Blair-Lewis (George Mason), Yolett McPhee-McCuin (Ole Miss), Carrie Moore (Harvard), Darnell Haney (Georgetown), Alex Simmons (Memphis).
Sports
Jalen Hurts discusses joining President Barack Obama on a golf course in Pennsylvania
The former president of the United States accompanied him to a round of golf this week. Former President Barack Obama was joined on a Pennsylvania golf course this week by Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, point guard Saquon Barkley and team owner Jeffrey Lurie. Hurts revealed on the press conference that although he did not have the chance to play with the president, he cautioned that “his day will come.”
According to President Obama, he was at Merion Golf Club on October 29 with Eagles players and the owner. Hurts was on the golf course but couldn’t play attributable to a contract clause that prevented him from doing so. He admitted that he and the previous president got into a discussion about trash; he told Obama that his day would eventually come after they could compete on the green.
He said Obama was “form of like an uncle figure. President Obama, the leader of all times. A beautiful presence. I believe this word is mundane. I can only imagine this lifestyle and all the several things that include it, but still seeing him having fun and talking nonsense; that was cool. I told him I didn’t want these problems yet. I told him I could not play golf straight away. According to the contract, I cannot play golf. But his day will come.
Jalen Hurts claims he didn’t play golf with former President Obama, Saquon Barkley and Jeff Lurie yesterday. Jalen stuck with the group the whole time. He says it’s in his contract that he cannot play golf.
Saquon says it was one among the good experiences of his life pic.twitter.com/OJGFpG3wKQ
— John Clark (@JClarkNBC) October 30, 2024
According to , Hurts’ teammate Barkley did just that play. He commented on this experience.
“It was probably one of the coolest experiences I’ve ever had in my life,” Barkley said. “Very handsome. It’s amazing, truthfully. I spent about 4 or five hours with him and got to do what I really like, which is play golf.
Sports
Cleveland is embracing Bronny James the same way they did LeBron James
CLEVELAND — The collective chants broke out late in the fourth quarter and Los Angeles Lakers rookie Bronny James did his best acting job, keeping his cool in front of a sold-out Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse crowd.
“It was crazy, certainly bigger than I expected,” he said after the Lakers’ 134-110 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday. “It was a nice moment. These songs really captivated me. I had a serious look on my face, but I felt it. I felt really good, especially driving from here. It was a special moment for me.”
Every week after LeBron James and Bronny James became the first father-son duo to play on the same court together in an NBA game on Oct. 22, their return to their native Ohio sparked praise and pride for his or her father, a legendary player who spent 11 years spent in the NBA with the Cavaliers and for his son, who spent his young years at the stadium, watching his father play.
In anticipation of the Lakers’ visit, a love festival began a number of weeks ago. The idea of the Jameses playing on the same team was a preferred topic of conversation in barbershops, especially of their hometown of Akron.
“First of all, we all couldn’t believe that someone would be able to play with their son for that long,” said Jason Andrew, owner of Andrew’s Barbershop in West Akron. “And as for the criticism of LeBron caring for his son, it is no different in corporate America. They care about their sons, why not LeBron?”
Since LeBron James helped the Cavaliers win their only NBA title in 2016, he stays well received by the fans who made Wednesday’s game successful.
“This game brings another level of excitement,” Deonte Edwards, owner of Kutz Barbershop in Akron, said before the game. “It’s always great love when LeBron comes back and it will be the same with Bronny.”
The anticipation also rubbed off on a few of LeBron’s former teammates. Former Cavaliers guard Daniel “Boobie” Gibson is well aware of the love affair Northeast Ohio fans have with their athletes.
“The game in Los Angeles where they made history was more of a look,” Gibson said. “But here it’s more a matter of feel. It’s more authentic. The fans here are more connected to (Bronny’s) story because he’s from here. And they intend to support him.”
Earlier in the day, before the Lakers’ shootaround, Gibson said his support as a fan can be surreal because he hadn’t seen Bronny James since he was a child.
“What makes this game even bigger is that I saw him in this spot when we lifted the Eastern Conference championship trophy (2006-07),” Gibson said. “Seeing LeBron still playing at the highest level and now his son playing in the league doesn’t seem real. I’m just happy to soak it all in.”
Hours before Wednesday’s game, the Cavaliers organization placed several digital posters at the entrance to the visiting locker room. 15-year-old Bronny appeared at the exhibition in the middle of the Cavaliers’ NBA title celebration, with considered one of his fathers holding the championship and MVP trophies.
During the first timeout of the first quarter, the Cavaliers honored the father and son with a tribute video accommodates the most significant moments of the game of LeBron James and photographs of him and elementary-aged Bronny on the basketball court. The jumbotron also showed the father and son survive a split screen as arena host Ahmaad Crump welcomed them back to Cleveland.
“I was a little angry at halftime (because the Lakers were losing), so I didn’t have a chance to really appreciate (the video), but I heard it,” LeBron James said after the game. “When I heard his name too, that’s when I looked up and I think I hit him in the leg. (The video) was pretty cool.”
The Cavaliers, winners of 5 straight games, were hot as they led by double digits for much of the game. LeBron James got his. He had 26 points and 6 rebounds. At the starting of the fourth round, the Lakers led by 20 points.
Later in the quarter, the fans began chanting: “We want Bronny.” With LeBron James on the bench, Lakers coach JJ Reddick sent his son onto the court with 5:16 left. Several thousand fans stood and cheered. One of those fans was Bronny James’ grandmother, who was once a fixture on the scene during her son’s reign.
“I’m so grateful for all the people in the arena who were chanting his name and cheering him on,” Gloria James told Andscape. “It was special. Bronny worked hard to get to this present day and make it to the NBA. He is worthy and deserves it, I’m very comfortable for him and really comfortable for his dad.
Bronny James, a second-round draft pick of USC, gave his grandmother much more reasons to be comfortable when he scored his first NBA points shortly after entering the game in short stepback sweater, 2:03 left. The bucket means LeBron and Bronny James are the first father and son to attain in an NBA game. Bronny James was scoring points almost to the day when his dad scored his first NBA points against the Sacramento Kings on October 29, 2003.
“To see him score his first NBA basket in the arena where he grew up just down the road from here is an unbelievable moment, an unbelievable moment for him, especially for our family,” LeBron James said. “It’s just cool to be a part of it.”
Bronny James finished the game with 2 points, 2 assists and 1 steal. Fans didn’t get to see the father and son on the court like they did last week, but they left with something that was also memorable – especially for local Eric Hales and his 10-year-old son Blake.
“I’m here because it’s my son’s birthday and I wanted him to see LeBron and Bronny play together for the first time here in Cleveland,” Hales said. “LeBron and Bronny together on the same team is a great example of father-son collaboration. There is no greater joy.”
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