The USC Trojans were one of the schools caught up in the FBI Probe into college basketball back in the fall of 2017. Their former assistant coach Tony Bland was arrested as part of the probe and received a three year show ban. USC has also now received their punishment and escaped receiving a postseason ban and will only have a two-year probation period and a fine. They seemingly escaped out pretty easy compared to Oklahoma State who was given a postseason ban that they promptly appealed for this season and has yet to be resolved.
Schools like Auburn and Arizona were also caught up in the same probe and took the initiative of self-banning themselves from the postseason this year. Neither team was expected to compete for a title and in Auburn’s case most likely wasn’t making the tournament anyway.
Very interesting to see USC escape a postseason ban.
Wonder what that will mean for Oklahoma State’s appeal, and schools like Auburn and Arizona.
Not a ton of consistency within the NCAA’s enforcement process. https://t.co/wGpTs9z1xD
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) April 15, 2021
The USC Trojans were fined $5,000 and one percent of the men’s basketball budget for their assistant getting caught up in the FBI bribery investigation. This finally puts to rest an open issue for USC that has been ongoing for nearly four years. After everyone initially thought a reckoning could be coming to college basketball, many of the schools have gotten off easy. While some are still dealing with the issue, most of the schools who have had their investigations resolved have received very little in punishment.
