Arizona men's basketball team self-imposes one-year postseason ban two months after the NCAA charged the program with nine misconduct violations following bribery scandal
The University of Arizona has self imposed a one-year postseason ban on its men's basketball team two months after the NCAA levied misconduct allegations against the program related to the 2017 federal probe into improper payments to recruits and coaches.
The NCAA may still choose to tack on further punishment on top of the ban, which will deprive Arizona's athletic department of lucrative postseason television revenue for the 2020-21 season.
The punishment stems from the FBI probe into corruption in college basketball recruiting circles. The investigation, revealed in 2017, resulted in the arrest of 10 individuals, most of whom were apparel company representatives, sports agency employees, and assistant coaches, such as Arizona's Book Richardson.
Richardson was fired by the university and later pleaded guilty to accepting $20,000 in bribes from aspiring business manager Christian Dawkins. He was sentenced to three months in prison in 2019.
Arizona was accused of nine counts of misconduct, including five Level I violations, in a Notice of Allegations sent by the NCAA in October. The violations include a lack of institutional control and failure to monitor by the university, and lack of head coach control by basketball coach Sean Miller.
The school announced the one-year ban Tuesday.
Arizona was accused of nine counts of misconduct, including five Level I violations, in a Notice of Allegations sent by the NCAA in October. The violations include a lack of institutional control and failure to monitor by the university, and lack of head coach control by basketball coach Sean Miller
Arizona is off to a 7-1 start this season, including a 1-1 mark in the Pac-12, but won't have the opportunity to play in the NCAA Tournament. The Wildcats have a revamped roster after freshmen stars Josh Green, Zeke Nnaji and Nico Mannion were all selected in the NBA draft
'The decision is an acknowledgement that the NCAA's investigation revealed that certain former members of the MBB staff displayed serious lapses in judgment and a departure from the University's expectation of honest and ethical behavior,' the school said in a statement. 'It is also in accord with the penalty guidelines of the NCAA for the type of violations involved.'
Arizona is off to a 7-1 start this season, including a 1-1 mark in the Pac-12, but won't have the opportunity to play in the NCAA Tournament. The Wildcats have a revamped roster after freshmen stars Josh Green, Zeke Nnaji and Nico Mannion were all selected in the NBA draft.
'I understand and fully support the University's decision to self-impose a one-year post season ban on our men's basketball program,' Miller said in a statement. 'Our team will remain united and aggressively compete to win a Pac-12 championship.'
In the fall of 2017, acting US attorney in Manhattan Joon H. Kim announced that the investigation, which had been launched in 2015, focused on 'the criminal influence of money on coaches and student-athletes who participate in intercollegiate basketball governed by the NCAA' Kim referred to the underground economy as the 'dark underbelly' of college athletics.
The punishment stems from the FBI probe into corruption in college basketball recruiting circles. The investigation, revealed in 2017, resulted in the arrest of 10 individuals, most of whom were apparel company representatives, sports agency employees, and assistant coaches, such as Arizona's Book Richardson. Richardson was fired by the university and later pleaded guilty to accepting $20,000 in bribes from aspiring business manager Christian Dawkins. He was sentenced to three months in prison in 2019
The investigation centered on two schemes: One in which recruits and their families allegedly received bribes in exchange for commitments to specific universities, and another in which player advisers were supposedly paid to persuade the athletes to sign with certain managers, agents, and financial advisers.
The only basketball coaches to be charged with crimes were assistants, although Hall of Fame head coach Rick Pitino was fired at Louisville after the Cardinals program was implicated in the investigation. Although Pitino denies any involvement, prosecutors alleged that the family of top-recruit Brian Bowen Jr. was given $10,000 in exchange for his commitment to Louisville.
Pitino has since been hired to coach at Iona University in New Rochelle, New York.
Miller was accused of facilitating a bribe to top-recruit Deandre Ayton at Dawkins' 2019 bribery trial. Ayton was the first pick of the 2018 NBA Draft and is currently the starting center for the NBA's Phoenix Suns.
Miller has denied facilitating the bribe.
At the 2019 trial, prosecutors played a secretly recorded phone conversation in which Dawkins can be heard discussing a bribe with business partner Munish Sood.
Sood reportedly said that he and Dawkins were already paying Richardson to influence Wildcats' players and recruits to sign with their sports management company.
One of the two schemes investigated by federal authorities involves player advisers allegedly paying assistant coaches to persuade the athletes to sign with certain managers, agents, and financial advisers when they went to the professional ranks
Another of the two schemes involves recruits and their families allegedly receiving bribes in exchange for commitments to specific universities connected with particular apparel brands