DEVELOPING: No Postseason Ban For UConn--Updated 3:10pm

Jim Calhoun/Courtesy: technorati.com

**Updated at the bottom of this story**

Looks like UConn's men's basketball team won't be banned from the postseason by the NCAA. Instead, the NCAA cited coach Jim Calhoun...

That never sounds good...

The NCAA has scheduled an afternoon conference call to discuss the findings of an investigation that began almost two seasons ago. The fireworks started from a Yahoo!Sports report saying a former team manager helped get highly-sought after recruit Nate Miles to Connecticut. Miles enrolled but never played there.

The school self-imposed sanctions, including reducing scholarships from 13 to 12 for the 2010-11 and 2011-12 academic years while also putting itself on probation for two years...

Sounded good to the folks in Indianapolis...

More when we know more...

We know more.

*We know that Coach Calhoun will be sitting out the 1st 3 games of next year.
*The team will be on probation for the next 3 seasons
*The booster involved in the recruitment of Miles will be disassociated with.
*Various other restrictions which will slow the ability for UConn to recruit.

For a full explanation, read the NCAA's Press Release RIGHT HERE

This, is kinda lame. There are some appropriate penalties here in our opinion, but Calhoun is essentially getting off with a slap on the wrist. We suspect it would've been more severe for a smaller school.

It appears, on the surface that there was a blatant flaunting or ignoring of the rules, something the NCAA should be sticklers on. They aren't.

So, we are quite sure that UConn will behave for awhile, but we wonder who will be next?

UConn Trying To Minimize Damage, Self Imposes Sanctions...

Like this will keep the NCAA from dropping some kind of hammer, anyway...

The men's basketball program committed "major" recruiting violations and has imposed its own sanctions, including two years' probation and a loss of one scholarship for the next two seasons.

As Count Floyd would say...


But UConn is stomping up and down and screaming from the heavens to anyone that will listen that the evidence does not support the allegation that Jim Calhoun "failed to promote an atmosphere for compliance."

Here's their proof (from UConn their ownselves and the Hartford Courant)... all four-bazillion pages of it...

Here's the story from our friends at WTNH-TV...


All this Nate Miles stuff is coming to bite them in their Huskie butt...
Not entirely shocking...

8 Charges Levelled Against UConn By NCAA

((HT: WTNH-TV New Haven))

The University of Connecticut says the NCAA found eight violations in the men's basketball program.

The alleged violations include improper phone calls, text messages to recruits, and the ever-popular and nebulous "improper benefits." Coach Jim Calhoun was cited for failing to "promote an atmosphere of compliance."

Whatever that means...

The school released the infractions letter it received from the NCAA following their 15-month investigation. UConn is supposd to appear before them in October to respond to the charges.

Most of the issues center around the recruting of Nate Miles last year. Miles ended up getting in trouble with the law and was expelled from UConn. But the claim from the NCAA is that a team manager paid for meals, transportation and hotel rooms for Miles before he signed with the school.

In the meantime, two UConn assistants, assistant coach Patrick Sellers and Director of Basketball Operations Beau Archibald, agreed to step down in light of the allegations.

Here's Coach Calhoun talking about what the NCAA has charged...

Oooops...U Conn in Trouble

Busted...

Well, it appears that the University of Connecticut basketball team may have a little bit more than playing in the Sweet 16 to worry about. A report has documented...well, lets just say a pretty serious recruiting violation concerning one Nate Miles. One that is serious enough that the school is probably going to be awash in NCAA visits over the next several weeks.

((nate miles photo, courtesy: Yahoo Sports))

Yahoo Sports, as part of their excellent series of reports on the evolving roles of agents not only trying to represent players for the pros but now college...has the whole story here .

Needless to say, we wouldn't want to be in Coach Jim Calhoun's shoes at the moment. U Conn has a press conference scheduled for later this afternoon, we can only assume to refute the charges. Read the story carefully though, it is documented pretty well, it will be interesting to see how the University will try and wriggle out of this one.

Calhoun's response is below from today's presser...

((HT: NCAA/ESPN))