The Scheme

Great insight into the FBI and the SCHEMES they play to take down the little fish, but continue to let the big fish eat all day, every day!!!

"The Scheme" (2020 release; 119 min.) is a documentary about what really happened with the (in)famous NCAA basketball coaches bribery scandal in 2017. As the movie opens, we see Sean Miller, basketball coach at Arizona, deny in the strongest terms any involvement with Christian Dawkins. We then get introduced to Dawkins. "Are you a convicted felon?" he is asked. "Yes I am, and this is the first time I am telling the whole story." We then go back in time, as we get introduced to his upbringing in Saginaw, MI and the basketball pedigree in his family. By the time Dawkins is 17, he is already incredibly connected in the world of basketball... At this point we are less than 15 min. into the movie, but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is a new documentary from director Pat Kondelis ("Disgraced"). Here he digs into the 2017 NCAA scandal, and does so primarily by letting Dawkins tell his story and by using lots and lots of archive footage, including a bazillion wire taps. I remembered this scandal, which rocked the NCAA to its core, but didn't know of any of the details. The key issue (and I'm not spoiling anything here) is why and how anyone thought that paying/bribing coaches would ensure certain kids ended up at certain schools (as opposed to: paying the kids directly to convince them to attend a certain school). That is the heart of the matter, and wait until you see this play out in the documentary. I think you will be surprised. I know I was.

"The Scheme" premiered this week on HBO and is now available on HBO On Demand and other streaming services. If you are a fan of college basketball, or simply are interested in a good true crime story. I'd readily suggest you check this out on VOD or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.

The Scheme gives great insight into the workings of the FBI. Whether racism or stupidity drove this effort by amateurish FBI agents is beyond us duped tax payers. The FBIs own wire taps paint Christian Dawkins as a pawn that wouldn't play along to implicate basketball coaches who openly lied about their behavior in paying student athletes. Should be some embarrassing conversations in those Athletic Dept.

Christian Dawkins puts on a massive self-aggrandizing affair where he skirts blame, takes credit AND offers no resolution to the problem which he's a direct problem of.

There's been corruption in NCAA basketball for decades, but this guy thinks he's owed something or holds himself beyond it.

Interesting to see what the curtain pulled back, just hard to care when the person doing the pulling has an agenda.

The Scheme appears to lack just that. It's hard to determine what Kondelis is trying to achieve with this: The inefficiency of law enforcement? The corruption of sport? The, relative innocence of Christian Dawkins?

Despite not focusing on any given topic, the overall sensation is that The Scheme is lacking in a prerequisite for documentaries - objectivity.

Why take the viewpoint that Dawkins, who is obviously knee deep in a crooked system, should be the chosen voice to criticise said system?

There is an element of truth in the fact that he got hard done by in relation to his involvement - but a nuance of raw deal hardly makes for a great documentary.

If you're looking to criticise the system - do so. If you're using Dawkins to demonstrate a miscarriage of justice - there are thousands more deserving.