They work with athletes. They work with the coach. They work with law enforcement, integrity regulators and even the casino itself – from Las Vegas to iPhones. They lobby politicians, launch public awareness campaigns, and then try to do it again.

Any number of issues criticizing NCAA members. But, there is no doubt that they want to prevent their games from being compromised, players are corrupt, and athletes are not harassed and threatened by successful gamblers.

However, with thousands of teams and thousands of athletes, it may feel impossible.

"It's definitely a challenge," said Mark Hicks, managing director of NCAA law enforcement.

For example, the recent men’s basketball season includes a handful of suspicious suspensions. These don’t involve March’s crazy or SEC football, but obscure bets (such as first half totals) in the absence of low-level basketball teams.

How do you try to stop?

Well, last week, the NCAA's move seemed to be naked hypocrisy, but was actually a little savvy about a lesser-known organization.

As ESPN's David Purdum reported, the NCAA reached an agreement with technology company Genius Sports to authorize licensed sports betting to obtain official data from championship games, including men's and women's basketball games. These books can also use the NCAA logo and branding on their apps.

It seems to be the latest "do-as-as-say-as-say, not what" sports input deals, which include important NCAA captures.

In order to be able to use valuable real-time data – considered the best choice for accurate, in-game betting – sports betting must make many concessions. Most notably, the prohibition of personal prop betting, especially for underperforming bets, i.e., the NCAA believes that it is most easily manipulated, thus allowing student-athletes to lure the target.

For example, a single athlete scores much easier than the overall team performs than expected. Due to "injury" or "illness", players may miss a few shots or take themselves out of the game. This is the case involving NBA player Jontay Porter.

So, inspire complex criminal gambling rings into that player. This is especially true for smaller schools during the failed seasons, where players show awareness of their vulnerability, not to mention the lack of change in their Venmo accounts, the NCAA said.

Athletes can also easily put their bets on themselves or have friends do so, a way that seems more innocent than being targeted by some rogue, but still the same crime.

“This belief that sports are organized crime agreements, undeniable,” Hicks said. “But at the same time, we entered a space where we could bet on our own or provide information to sophomores throughout the hall, ‘Hey, I don’t feel good today.’”

In addition, prop betting focused on individual performance enables athletes to threaten gamblers and bully online. The NCAA also seeks law.

By giving sports books that do not accept such bets has a potential advantage over sports books that are still available, now there is a competitive business advantage to stop accepting such bets. This should theoretically lead to the most problematic bet reduction.

"NCAA Data only removes its platform risk bets from the sportsbook and agrees to work fully with the NCAA investigation and provide critical information, including geolocation data and device records," said Tim Buckley, senior vice president of external affairs at NCAA.

It is not clear how many times the sports book will be logged in, including ESPN BET. The NCAA said the revenue from any transaction will be used to fund further sports input-oriented education efforts.

This will never solve the problem. Generally speaking, it is impossible to end in sports betting, and it may even be greatly reduced. Yes, those who desperately seek prop bets will still find out whether the media is.

In the grand scheme of things, this may be just a sand castle against high tides, but it's still a thing. This will produce tangible, even secondary effects encountered.

"It's so simple and all the different products and bets on personal statistical performance...it's really fragile," Hicks said. "We want to believe that these games are unpredictable, they're played by people without ulterior motives. They're winning. But it's a fragile system."

The NCAA always knows this and is always against the legalization of sports betting, even if it will increase TV viewership. Once the dam breaks, it lobbies state and federal lawmakers forbidding bets on individual players (Louisiana, Maryland, Ohio and Vermont do so).

The NCAA has played quite a lot of power over decades - often quitting through strict rule enforcement and an influential bully targeting the public who trusts it. Most of those days disappeared.

But, in many ways, the challenge is greater than ever.

Tuesday is not all-round. However, this is a wise use of the leverage that the NCAA still has.