The NCAA sort of announced it would expedite reviews of college basketball programs implicated in the recently completed FBI investigation.
‘Business as usual’ in college basketball is not the result many fans hoped for at the end of the FBI investigation into ‘pay-for-play.’ That is, those fans who don’t believe blatant cheating is acceptable, as long as their coach or program is not caught.
Based on testimony in multiple trials prosecuted by the United States Justice Department of the Southern District of New York, at least a half-dozen schools may have engaged in ‘pay-for-play’ recruitment of players. At least one media observer speculated the number could be close to 20 schools.
The Justice Department gained several convictions for criminal activity. Some individuals who pled guilty have not yet been sentenced. Overall, the punishments have not matched the apparent severity of transgressions. The FBI investigation was billed as a mechanism to clean up the dirty world of college basketball. It was to fix what the NCAA could not or had chosen not to repair.
The NCAA had to wait for much of the judicial process to evolve. Although, back in January the Justice Department was reported to have begun sharing information with the NCAA.
In a story reported by Heather Dinich of ESPN, the NCAA’s “role will soon become more apparent.” The Vice President of Division 1 Governance, Kevin Lennon said on May 22,
"now that the court cases are done, now we’re in a position where you’re likely to see notices of allegations going to institutions that have violated NCAA rules, etc. I think you can anticipate notices of allegations will be coming."
College basketball fans can now “anticipate” some level of review by the NCAA. Other details were not made available for public consumption. At the least, the NCAA is known to have already begun investigations of Arizona, Kansas, North Carolina State and Louisville. Speaking of Louisville, the school deserves a degree of credit. It acted long before an NCAA inquiry by firing head coach Rick Pitino and Athletic Director, Tom Jurich.
Everywhere else in college basketball, it seems to be business as usual. – At LSU and Auburn, particularly, a disregard for rules has been rewarded. After an uneventful suspension, Will Wade appears solidly entrenched at LSU. Despite two former Bruce Pearl assistants (one, Chuck Person pled guilty) implicated in the FBI investigation, Pearl was given a contract extension and a large raise in pay.
College basketball fans are left to ask. Is the NCAA clueless or spineless or both? Perhaps the NCAA we will let us know in “due time.”