South Carolina, one of the schools involved in the federal investigation of college basketball, received NCAA punishment.
Former South Carolina technical assistant Lamont Evans, who served three months in prison and was hit with a 10-year sentence for cause, for accepting “approximately between $ 3,300 and $ 5,800 in bribes” from one representative of a sports agent to arrange meetings with a South Carolina player.
South Carolina, however, has managed to avoid major sanctions. South Carolina received two years of parole from the NCAA, which accepted a series of previously self-imposed penalties from the university. These measures included a $ 5,000 fine, reduced recruitment visits and recruitment activities. South Carolina avoided a post-season ban and scholarship cuts.
“In exchange for paying the bribe, the coach agreed to set up meetings with a student athlete from South Carolina and his family and influence them to hire the agent’s services,” said the NCAA in its infraction decision. “Although the assistant coach did not actually organize any meetings between the agent’s associate and student athletes during his time in South Carolina, the committee noted that his conduct violated NCAA rules and seriously undermined the integrity of college sports.”
South Carolina officials say they were unaware of Evans’ activities during his time on the USC team. Still, the NCAA issued a Level I violation notice to the school in January 2020. South Carolina cooperated with the NCAA investigation, leading to Thursday’s decision.
“During the NCAA investigation process, members of our track and field team, SEC team and NCAA enforcement team met in Indianapolis to review the facts of the case. It was a cooperative meeting and I felt it was important to reach that conclusion, ”said South Carolina athletic director Ray Tanner. “I am proud of how our department handled this situation. As soon as we became aware of this situation, we were proactive in determining what happened and worked in cooperation with the Department of Justice and the NCAA. The NCAA’s acceptance of our self-imposed sanctions validates our commitment. and the work done by our compliance, management and coaches team ”.
Oklahoma has received more significant NCAA sanctions
The violations committed by Evans came to light when, in September 2017, the FBI arrested several college basketball coaches in connection with a larger case of “corruption” in college basketball. By this time, Evans, one of the imprisoned coaches, had moved to Oklahoma.
Evans worked in South Carolina for four seasons before taking a job at Oklahoma State after the 2015/16 season. In the federal case, Evans pleaded guilty to accepting between $ 18,150 and $ 22,000 to direct players from South Carolina and Oklahoma to specific agents and financial advisers.
The NCAA Infringement Committee hit Oklahoma with three years of probation and a one-year post-season ban in June. The Cowboys were also forced to cut men’s basketball scholarships by three and were given further recruitment restrictions by the NCAA.
Evans received a 10-year sentence for the show as part of that decision. During that 10-year period, NCAA member schools that employ Evans “must restrict you from any sport-related tasks, unless you show why the restrictions should not be applied”.
While the South Carolina infraction decision was reached through a cooperative summary provision, the State of Oklahoma is appealing the NCAA decision. Other universities involved in the FBI case, including Kansas, Louisville, LSU, Arizona and NC State, will resolve their cases through the Independent Liability Resolution Process.
The IARP was created in 2019 in response to the University Basketball Commission, which was set up after news of the FBI case surfaced. The IARP is composed of “independent investigators, lawyers and judges who are responsible for reviewing cases of offenses selected in Division I.”
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