Sanctions on Arizona Basketball Program

[tornado]

somewhat of a surprise, the University of Arizona has announced self-imposed sanctions on its basketball program...

But -- there is a little more to this story....a couple years ago Arizona coach Lute Olson got caught using an AAU tourney they had on campus to help raise money for their athletic department..
This was an NCAA violation, yet early on Olson and Arizona kinda laughed it off and didn't even check into it...
But reportedly behind the scenes, a couple other schools complained and the NCAA got involved, now before the NCAA issues a ruling, they are reportedly tipping off their friends at AZ and letting them self-impose a few minor slaps (like loss of a scholarship and limiting a couple days off campus...)
that really amount to virtually NOTHING - but then the NCAA will go easy and let them off the hook entirely...

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/188/story/1227275.html

watch and see if this indeed happens as it did at IU and is happening now at USC...just tricky ways so the NCAA can look tough yet not really issue a danged thing against their friends at the BCS schools.....

Meanwhile, they'll be looking for a way to hammer Georgia State so hard they'll have to shut down their entire program!

[houstontxbrave]

Jerry Tarkanian has always been spot on when it comes to the NCAA. This is just another brick in the wall.

[dan10]

somewhat of a surprise, the University of Arizona has announced self-imposed sanctions on its basketball program...

But -- there is a little more to this story....a couple years ago Arizona coach Lute Olson got caught using an AAU tourney they had on campus to help raise money for their athletic department..
This was an NCAA violation, yet early on Olson and Arizona kinda laughed it off and didn't even check into it...
But reportedly behind the scenes, a couple other schools complained and the NCAA got involved, now before the NCAA issues a ruling, they are reportedly tipping off their friends at AZ and letting them self-impose a few minor slaps (like loss of a scholarship and limiting a couple days off campus...)
that really amount to virtually NOTHING - but then the NCAA will go easy and let them off the hook entirely...

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/188/story/1227275.html

watch and see if this indeed happens as it did at IU and is happening now at USC...just tricky ways so the NCAA can look tough yet not really issue a danged thing against their friends at the BCS schools.....

Meanwhile, they'll be looking for a way to hammer Georgia State so hard they'll have to shut down their entire program!

GSU isn't helping out our conference anyways , and in football they are looking to go big east

[tornado]

somewhat of a surprise, the University of Arizona has announced self-imposed sanctions on its basketball program...

But -- there is a little more to this story....a couple years ago Arizona coach Lute Olson got caught using an AAU tourney they had on campus to help raise money for their athletic department..
This was an NCAA violation, yet early on Olson and Arizona kinda laughed it off and didn't even check into it...
But reportedly behind the scenes, a couple other schools complained and the NCAA got involved, now before the NCAA issues a ruling, they are reportedly tipping off their friends at AZ and letting them self-impose a few minor slaps (like loss of a scholarship and limiting a couple days off campus...)
that really amount to virtually NOTHING - but then the NCAA will go easy and let them off the hook entirely...

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/188/story/1227275.html

watch and see if this indeed happens as it did at IU and is happening now at USC...just tricky ways so the NCAA can look tough yet not really issue a danged thing against their friends at the BCS schools.....

Meanwhile, they'll be looking for a way to hammer Georgia State so hard they'll have to shut down their entire program!

I stand correct.....the NCAA has added additional penalties...

http://www.kansascity.com/2010/07/29/2116323/ncaa-penalizes-arizona-basketball.html

but here's my take....in their investigation the NCAA clearly uncovered massive cheating, booster money going to a promoter who acted as an agent to get players to Arizona...we're talking a couple hundred thousand dollars here.....

but of all the penalties...nothing will actually have much effect....
a few forfeits for using illegal players 3 years ago....a couple recruiting restrictions - the kind of thing they break all the time anyway, and loss of a single scholarship..
BUT -- no TV restrictions, no post-season penalty, no direct penalties towards the guilty people - Lute Olson or the current staff.........

I will admit I didn't expect anything else, but I don't see what the NCAA added as any detriment to Arizona landing top players and continuing to do well........


Lastly remember -- every other school in the Pac-10 knew this cheating had been going on for several years -- and had been complaining, so why did the NCAA wait 'til Lute had stepped down before acting in anyway?
I think I know.........

[AZ BU Fan]

somewhat of a surprise, the University of Arizona has announced self-imposed sanctions on its basketball program...

But -- there is a little more to this story....a couple years ago Arizona coach Lute Olson got caught using an AAU tourney they had on campus to help raise money for their athletic department..
This was an NCAA violation, yet early on Olson and Arizona kinda laughed it off and didn't even check into it...
But reportedly behind the scenes, a couple other schools complained and the NCAA got involved, now before the NCAA issues a ruling, they are reportedly tipping off their friends at AZ and letting them self-impose a few minor slaps (like loss of a scholarship and limiting a couple days off campus...)
that really amount to virtually NOTHING - but then the NCAA will go easy and let them off the hook entirely...

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/188/story/1227275.html

watch and see if this indeed happens as it did at IU and is happening now at USC...just tricky ways so the NCAA can look tough yet not really issue a danged thing against their friends at the BCS schools.....

Meanwhile, they'll be looking for a way to hammer Georgia State so hard they'll have to shut down their entire program!

I'm shocked, just shocked, cheating is going on at one of my local universities. Did this cost Lute his job at UA?

Surprisingly little in the Phoenix area media on this incident in the 18 months I have been here. Although most of the focus in PHX is with the ASU Sun Devils vs UA Wildcats.

[tornado]

But this one is technically even bigger than the Reggie Bush case...because in this one, the NCAA documented over $200,000
of booster money (which is basically considered the same as if the $$ was coming straight from Lute or the university)
went directly into the pockets of an AAU promoter, who has extremely close contact with and influence over
many recruits, and who brought all those guys year after year right to the campus for AAU events,
and some of those kids subsequently landed at Arizona, and are now deemed illegal recruits, resulting in the forfeits of the games!
So $200,000 paid to a middleman/agent for influience and recruiting favors, actually puts this case among the worst ever -
yet no real current penalties, no current employee penalized, no fines, no TV restriction, no post-season penalty...virtually nothing
except probation, a few days of recruiting limits, and a single scholarship loss...

[Da Coach]

FoxSports Jeff Goodman writes about how these minimal penalties (no postseason sanctions and no television limitations) won't really hurt Arizona-

http://community.foxsports.com/goodmanonfox/blog/2010/07/29/arizonas_restrictions_nearly_irrelevant