Oklahoma State was just hammered with a postseason ban and loss of scholarships by the NCAA, over a $300.00 payment to one player currently on their basketball roster.
With the Cowboys reporting the violation to the NCAA themselves, this would have dropped the infraction down to secondary. An investigation by both the NCAA and the school showed no further violations were committed after the player paid the money back. This would not be a “lack of institutional control” violation that the governing body of college sports normally hammers a program over.
This is Oklahoma State’s basketball program...not Arizona or Kentucky.
Regardless of whom the offending school would be is not the issue. The Cowboys are a Big 12 school that has reached the postseason every year but four since 1990, when legendary head coach Eddie Sutton took over the program. Current head coach Mike Boynton has taken Oklahoma State to the postseason two of his first four seasons, which would have been three if the 2020 postseason was not cancelled due to the infancy of the Covid pandemic.
The Cowboys are coming off a 21-9 season a year ago that saw them reach the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Oklahoma State’s penalty is fallout from the 2017 scandal that rocked college basketball. The same scandal cost Sean Miller his job at Arizona and Rick Pitino at Louisville. The NCAA later stripped Louisville of their 2013 National Championship. To date, this is the only time a National Championship has been stricken from the record books in men’s college basketball.
The ban is regarding any form of postseason play (NCAA Tournament, NIT or CBI) in 2022. The suspension originally was handed down during that cancelled 2020 season, and the Cowboys were allowed to play in the NCAA Tournament last year while their case was being appealed. The NCAA upheld the ban in one of the most ridiculous shows of strength in recent memory.
The NCAA’s lone merit here is that any of the other programs involved in the scandal had some form of postseason ban, whether handed down or self-imposed. Probation and just one scholarship should have been enough, however. What the NCAA did here was make an example out of a smaller fish because they could not hammer Kentucky or Kansas, who were also secondary offenders in the scandal.
Collin Sexton was a freshman at Alabama at the time of the scandal. The NCAA made Sexton sit out an exhibition game and saw their director of basketball operations resign after $15,000 worth of bribes were accepted to steer a recruit to Tuscaloosa. The player was not named, but Sexton’s eligibility was called into question.
Sexton is now the starting point guard for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Again, this was $15,000 instead of $300 and the school was just hit with the same three years of probation. The difference is that the Crimson Tide do not have to forfeit any scholarships and can play in the postseason.
If you just gave your screen a disgusted look, you’re not the only one.
The latest charade the NCAA pulled is an attempt to strengthen their grip on college basketball, while knowing their palms are very sweaty trying to hold onto college football with the other hand. All of the teams moving conferences and the College Football Playoff all point the direction that college football is likely to break away entirely from the NCAA in the next few years. The NCAA was embarrassed with the basketball scandal and knows that the NCAA Tournament is the largest revenue stream they have for a championship they actually award. Keep in mind that the NCAA does not issue the National Championship trophy in football.
-JC24