Kansas Athletics Inc. is wise to bring in an outside law firm to assist with a review of its men’s basketball program.

Bond, Schoeneck and King, an Overland Park firm, will help with the review, which the NCAA requested all Division I basketball programs conduct in the wake of a federal investigation into corruption and bribery in major college basketball programs. That investigation became public last month with the arrest of 10 individuals, including assistant coaches at four major programs on charges that they accepted bribes to steer players to specific agents and financial advisers, as well as two executives with Adidas who are charged with paying players to attend universities under apparel contracts with Adidas. The FBI built its case on confidential informants and wiretaps, and more charges are anticipated.

The scandal stretches from coast to coast — schools from the University of Miami to Southern Cal have been implicated — and has already cost Louisville head coach Rick Pitino his job.

Neither the University of Kansas basketball program nor anyone associated with it has been connected in any way to the federal investigation. But KU has a 14-year, $191 million contract with Adidas that is the fourth-largest apparel contract in the country and the biggest contract Adidas has with any school. That contract puts a bit of a target onto KU and puts the onus on the school to make sure all aspects of the program are in compliance with NCAA rules.

In the wake of the scandal, the NCAA issued a memo requiring “all Division I institutions to examine their men’s basketball programs for possible NCAA rules violations.”

The memo asked that universities:

l Examine their programs for violations related to “offers, inducements, agents, extra benefits and other similar issues.”

l Review whether there are any eligibility consequences arising from previously undiscovered rules violations. Those eligibility reviews should be completed immediately.

l Review the conduct of its men’s basketball coaching staff and administrators to ensure their compliance with the NCAA rules. The memo said the NCAA board is “mandating that each institution” conduct that review.

KU’s decision to use an outside firm to help with the review will add credibility to the findings.

“In light of the NCAA’s request, we have enlisted them to make sure that we’re doing it the way we need to do it,” KU associate athletic director Jim Marchiony said. “We’re not asking them to come in and conduct an examination. We’re going to ask them to help us make sure that we’re doing it correctly and that we dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s.”

The NCAA memo said the ongoing reviews will ensure compliance for the 2017-18 season and set the stage for needed reforms in the long term. Such reforms can’t come soon enough.

In the meantime, KU is right to utilize a third party to help review the program. Such transparency is the university’s best ally in the current environment of mistrust and skepticism.