5-star former Alabama commit Ty Haywood is currently on ground in Ann Arbor. The elite top 20 ranked offensive lineman recently made his decommitment from the Crimson Tide official, a move shared on Instagram by Bryce Underwood. Recruiting insiders have considered Michigan the favorite in this recruiting battle since the early signing period passed and Haywood elected not to sign with the Tide.

Rumors are the Michigan team, spearheaded by GM Sean Magee, put together a very attractive Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) offer for Haywood in an attempt to earn his commitment. Haywood himself has remained relatively quiet throughout the entire process, not sharing anything to his social channels that could be construed as favorable for one team over the other. Regardless, On3sports recruiting insider Michael Langston recently added a crystal ball prediction in favor of the maize and blue.

Even with Langston’s favorable prediticon, On3 still shows the Tide leading in the battle for Haywood. Clearly the site has not caught up on what is going on with this recruiting situation. Michigan looks to be in a very solid position, and we are hoping that this weekend closes out with the third 5-star commitment of the 2025 class for Coach Moore and his staff. If the Wolverine’s do close this out with a commitment, the job that Sean Magee has done cannot be understated. He has truly moved Michigan from near the bottom in terms of NIL usage into a behemoth in the space. Incredible turnaround and incredible vision from this Navy veteran.

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A men’s college basketball game between Eastern Michigan and Central Michigan on Tuesday was flagged by multiple sportsbooks for suspicious wagering activity. Betting integrity firms are investigating the unusual wagers, ESPN reported.

The activity in question a suspiciously high bet on the first-half point spread for Tuesday’s EMU-CMU game. Several betting integrity monitors across multiple states noticed the wager and the spread increasing significantly and atypically before the game.

The first-half point spread went from CMU by 3.5 to 6.5 in the hour before tipoff. Central Michigan hit a 3-pointer with two seconds remaining in the first half to take a 39–33 lead. EMU eventually lost the game, 82-63.

Sports betting monitor Integrity Compliance 360 sent an alert to clients including sportsbooks, state gaming regulators, leagues and NCAA conferences noting the wager — the “largest wager to date” placed by this bettor — on CMU covering the spread in the first half, according to ESPN. The monitor’s investigation also discovered two high wagers from accounts in different jurisdictions on CMU’s first-half point spread.

IC360’s alert also noted that Tuesday’s game was the second flagged by sportsbooks this season that involved Eastern Michigan. The other EMU game that was flagged for suspicious betting activity was the Eagles’ matchup versus Wright State on Dec. 21.

Like the CMU wager, the Wright State bet was placed against EMU. The first-half spread for Wright State was 2.5 and the Raiders held a 38–27 halftime lead. EMU eventually won the game, 86–82.

Unusual wagering on first-half lines has been monitored on college basketball games going back to last season. Another school that has had multiple games flagged for suspicious activity is Temple, reports ESPN. First-half lines are typically about half the total of a game’s full line.

Any movement higher than that usually draws attention. If the first half line closes higher, that often indicates that something is wrong. The full line for the EMU-CMU games was -8 and the first half line closed at -6.5.

The Eastern Michigan men’s basketball team hasn’t played since that Jan. 14 game versus Central Michigan. EMU’s next game is scheduled for Saturday against Bowling Green.

Detroit – A Chicago man has been convicted in the theft of $700,000 from a Michigan casino, a brazen scheme in which an employee was tricked over the phone into stuffing the cash into a designer bag and driving 85 miles (137 kilometers) to deliver it.

“This case underscores the need for businesses, organizations and citizens to be diligent and cautious about phone and internet scams,” U.S. Attorney Mark Totten said.

The crime occurred in 2023 at the Four Winds Casino in Hartford in southwestern Michigan, which is operated by the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians. The FBI said a key employee who handles cash received a phone call and text messages directing her to immediately gather $700,000 for a tribal official.

No one stopped the employee as she filled a Michael Kors bag with bundles of cash, walked out of the casino and drove away.

She stayed on the phone with the caller who eventually told her to go to a gas station in Gary, Indiana. That’s when she passed the cash to Jesus Gaytan-Garcia, one of two men in a minivan who met her, investigators said.

“She was cooperative with investigators and told them about the call, the text messages and the money transfer at the gas station,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Erin Lane said in a court filing.

Gaytan-Garcia wasn’t arrested until March 2024, seven months later, after investigators were able to link him to the vehicle used to pick up the cash.

He was convicted of two charges Thursday in federal court in Kalamazoo.

Investigators said they recovered $18,000 from a safe in Gaytan-Garcia’s Chicago home. The money was wrapped and marked with the date of the casino theft.

“He lived in that house with his family and other families, and there’s movement between the floors,” defense attorney Parker Douglas said Friday. “The money was accessible to other people there. My argument was there just wasn’t any hard evidence that said this man did this at this time. The jury disagreed.”

Searches at Gaytan-Garcia’s trailers in Indiana revealed evidence of money transfers, antique coins, Civil War currency and foreign currency, Lane said.