Oklahoma St. appeal rejected, postseason ban on

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  • Graduate of University of Delaware.

The NCAA has rejected Oklahoma State’s appeal and banned the Cowboys from the 2022 men’s basketball postseason, sources confirmed to ESPN.

An official announcement is expected later Wednesday.

Oklahoma State was originally given a postseason ban in the summer of 2020, but the Cowboys appealed the decision and were allowed to play while under appeal. Led by No. 1 NBA draft pick Cade Cunningham, Oklahoma State went 21-9 and received a 4-seed in last season’s NCAA tournament.

The penalty stems from the 2017 FBI investigation into college basketball corruption. Oklahoma State was given a Level 1 violation involving former associate head coach Lamont Evans, who accepted between $18,150 and $22,000 in bribes to steer players from Oklahoma State and South Carolina, where he also spent time as an assistant coach, to certain agents and financial advisers. Evans was sentenced in June 2019 to three months in prison.

Evans was also given a 10-year show-cause penalty by the NCAA.

“The University is stunned by the severity of the penalties and strongly disagrees with them,” the school said when the original postseason ban was given. “The penalties do not align with the facts and are unfair and unjust. The NCAA agreed with OSU that Lamont Evans acted alone and for his own personal gain. Evans was terminated by OSU on Sept. 28, 2017, within 72 hours of learning of allegations against him.

“The NCAA also agreed that OSU did not benefit in recruiting, commit a recruiting violation, did not play an ineligible player, and did not display a lack of institutional control. As the report documents, OSU cooperated throughout the process, which lasted two years.”

Oklahoma State is the first school to be given a postseason ban by the NCAA due to the FBI investigations. Auburn and Arizona, which also had assistant coaches plead guilty, self-imposed postseason bans last season. USC was not given a postseason ban.

South Carolina, where Evans was also determined to have committed violations, avoided a postseason ban when the NCAA handed down its penalties in February 2020.

The news was first reported by CBS Sports.

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