UNC in the NBA: Harrison Barnes discusses FBI investigation in college hoops

Harrison Barnes has some thoughts on the recent FBI investigation in college basketball

Former No. 1 overall recruit Harrison Barnes will enter his sixth season in the NBA and just his second with the Dallas Mavericks.

But before Barnes was taken with the No. 7 overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft by the Golden State Warriors, he played his college ball at North Carolina.

Barnes spent two seasons with the Tar Heels, helping them reach the Elite 8 in back-to-back seasons, falling short against Kentucky and Kansas.

The forward provided many memorable moments at UNC and was the last No. 1 ranked recruit to pick the Tar Heels.

Barnes is gearing up for the 2017-18 regular season as the Mavericks are in the middle of their preseason schedule.

He’s been keeping up on the college hoops and the recent FBI investigation that rocked the sports just two weeks ago. Barnes talked to Eddie Sefko of SportsDay and he called the system “broken” and that it has been for a while.

Barnes went on to talk about how college basketball has changed. He stated that the NCAA could use a payment system for the student athletes as one way to fix it. But he thinks there has to be a change sooner than later.

He discussed the broken system of college sports with it going back to the programs and then even said he doesn’t think UNC is involved in any of the bad going on.

Here’s what he told Sefko:

"“We find out about players, we find out about coaches, we find out about agents and shoe companies, but we never really figure out how much these college programs are benefiting,” Barnes said. “If this player gets $100,000 to go there, how much does the school get in return for that? It’s interesting stuff. I wasn’t involved in any of that, nor do I think UNC was. But I’ll be interested in how it turns out.”"

Barnes was recruited heavily by the top programs coming out of Ames Iowa in the 2010 class, so to hear him say he wasn’t involved in anything that like is positive.

It’s also reassuring to hear that he doesn’t think UNC was involved either. The school currently has an academic scandal hovering over it which hopes to be wrapped up soon.

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Barnes and the Mavericks will open their 2017-18 season hosting the Atlanta Hawks on October 18 at home.