David Nyarsuk, a 7-1 center out of Sudan, says Adams shows preference with his top players not only to Indiana but also to New Mexico and, in the past, Tennessee -- programs or coaches that have had ties to his son. Drew Adams was a walk-on at Iowa under Alford, the former Indiana Mr. Basketball and current New Mexico coach, and Adams began his nonplaying career as a student manager at Tennessee.
Nyarsuk says Mark Adams sent him to a camp at New Mexico with another 7-foot Sudanese center, Chier Ajou, who has since committed to the Lobos.
"He has allegiance with those people," Nyarsuk says. "Tennessee and Indiana, he has a big allegiance. Those are schools his son was with. Before, when Drew was coaching there at Tennessee, he has allegiance with Tennessee. After [Drew left], he don't want nobody to go to Tennessee. Tennessee is not recruiting any of his players. Tennessee used to recruit every one of us."
Drew Adams was breaking in as a student manager in Knoxville when Emmanuel Negedu arrived on campus in 2008. Negedu signed with Tennessee after backing out of a commitment to Arizona when Lute Olson took a leave of absence and eventually retired. Earlier, Adams was a coach for two Indiana Elite teams on which Negedu played. Negedu also had spent three summers living with Adams' father in Bloomington.
By the start of the 2009-10 season, Drew Adams had taken the entry-level paying gig at Indiana. Negedu, who had suffered a heart ailment, attempted to transfer to Indiana last May after not being cleared to play at Tennessee. But two weeks after IU administrators refused to allow Negedu to play there despite clearance from medical staff, the 6-7 Nigerian forward ended up at New Mexico, where it was announced last month he was quitting the game because of recurring heart issues but would remain on scholarship.
Negedu joined former Indiana Elite star guard Dairese Gary at New Mexico, and Ajou, the Sudanese center, committed this past September. Not only is Alford, a Hoosiers legend, connected through his Bloomington ties, having coached Drew Adams and now hired him to his staff but Barnett -- the Indiana Elite founder and adidas consultant -- is Alford's former agent, having handled his contract renegotiation at Iowa and his initial deal at New Mexico.
"It was my decision where I wanted to go, no matter who is there," Negedu says of his college decisions.
Mark Adams says he didn't play a role in Negedu's signing with Tennessee or subsequent transfer to New Mexico, but notes that his family and Negedu are close and that his son, Drew, rushed from Indiana to be with Negedu when he was hospitalized in Tennessee. "Drove through the night to be at his bedside like he would if his own brother was there," Adams writes. "My family has taken in these kids as one of our own family members. To say anything shady has occurred to any of these kids is sickening."
A-HOPE didn't bring Negedu to the United States, even though he is listed on the A-HOPE website: Class of 2008. Godwin Owinje, a fellow Nigerian who played at Georgetown in the late 1990s, told ESPN.com he discovered Negedu at a tryout camp and handled the legal paperwork to bring him to this country.
Owinje says he and his then-partner in Radar Hoops, current Denver Nuggets general manager Masai Ujiri, arranged for Negedu to attend Brewster Academy in New Hampshire, noting it was the prep school's coach, Jason Smith, who connected Negedu with Adams and his summer travel team. That move led to harsh words between Owinge and Smith, Owinje recalls.
"That was not a good experience," says Owinje, who runs camps in Nigeria and a subscription-based scouting service. "It was a hassle just dealing with Adams, because [of issues] a couple of times when the kid wanted to go back home and play on the junior national team. Adams was telling me his AAU team comes first. I am like, 'There is no way. This is a kid I brought to the United States. You can't tell me.'"
About this same time, Owinje claims he warned Adams not to attempt to play a hand in Negedu's college recruitment, but now he doesn't know what to think. "The kid was doing his own thing without my consent, so I just let him go," Owinje says.
Adams writes in an email: "Emmanuel chose Tenn., I didn't have anything to do to with it."
