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NCAA strips Memphis of '08 season

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Jeff Goodman

Jeff Goodman is a senior college basketball writer for FOXSports.com. Check out his Yardbarker blog. MORE>>
 
Updated Aug 22, 2009 8:34 PM ET
     
 
Memphis had its Final Four and 38 wins from the 2008 campaign stricken from the record books and will have to repay postseason revenue after the NCAA's Committee of Infractions deemed that former Tigers star Derrick Rose cheated on a standardized test to gain admission into the school and his older brother received impermissible benefits. The program will also be placed on three years probation, but will not lose any scholarships or face a postseason ban. The official announcement was made by the NCAA on Thursday afternoon. The university isn't accepting the punishment, not yet. Memphis president Shirley Raines said shortly after the NCAA's announcement that the school is appealing what she called an unfair penalty. "We know the rules," Raines said. "We did our due diligence. We did everything we could to determine the student-athlete was eligible and that the rules were being followed." The NCAA notified Memphis back in January with a notice of allegations involving major violations for the 2007-08 season. Former Memphis coach Calipari, who wasn't directly linked to the allegations, participated in a hearing with the NCAA on June 6 while traveling in China. "No allegations were brought against the coach," said Paul Dee, the chairman of the Committee of Infractions. "Consequently, we didn't go further in investigating." In addition to Rose being determined to have fraudulently taken the SAT while at Chicago's Simeon High, his older brother, Reggie, was also found to have received more than $1,700 in illegal benefits from Memphis stemming from free airfare and hotel — an NCAA violation. In the report released on Thursday, the NCAA said that Memphis was first contacted regarding potential academic issues involving Rose in October 2007 by the Chicago Public Schools Internal Audit division, which determined irregularities may have occurred with the SAT exam taken in May of 2007 in Detroit, Mich. — more than 250 miles from his home in Chicago. In the official notice of allegations sent to Memphis on January 16, the NCAA alleged Rose became eligible after an "unknown individual" completed his SAT. The Memphis Commerical Appeal also reported that the SAT in Detroit came after Rose had failed the ACT test on three previous occasions. The university began an independent investigation into the allegations, but was unable to substantiate the possible academic improprieties and cleared Rose to play. The SAT's security testing agency conducted its own investigation, cancelled Rose's test score on May 5, 2008 and deemed him ineligible to compete. However, this came after Rose and the Tigers had concluded their season. Dee said that the committee didn't investigate further into why Rose took the SAT in Detroit after the testing agency canceled the test score. "The cancellation of the score was the critical fact and the rest was not inquired into," he said.
Rose left Memphis after his freshman season — one in which the Tigers went 38-2 and lost to Kansas in overtime of the national championship game. Rose became the No. 1 pick of his hometown Chicago Bulls in the 2008 NBA Draft and won Rookie of the Year honors last season. The university provided approximately $1,713.85 in impermissible benefits to Rose's brother — including free transportation on the team's charter plane as well as occasional free lodging at the team hotel. It is considered rare that players' relatives travel on the charter with the team. However, Dee said it is legal — as long as the benefit is offered to everyone in the program. Memphis cited "administrative error in the institution's athletic business office." However, the committee determined that the school failed to adequately monitor its athletics program. This is the second time that a Calipari-coached team has been forced to vacate a Final Four appearance. Calipari, who bolted Memphis for Kentucky and signed an eight-year, $31.65 million deal this past April, had his 1996 UMass team stripped of its Final Four after Marcus Camby was found to have taken money from an agent. The NCAA decided not to impose any other further sanctions — such as a loss of scholarships or a postseason ban — on the Memphis program, which has now been forced to vacate a pair of Final Four appearances. In 1985, the program was stripped of its Final Four appearance under coach Dana Kirk due to rules violations. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Tagged: Kansas, Kentucky, Memphis

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