The NCAA announced penalties for the Memphis men’s basketball and softball programs on Wednesday as the result of an investigation into academic integrity violations. The investigation concluded that two softball players were paid a combined $550 by a former academic advisor, Leslie Brooks, to give the basketball player test and quiz answers and do some of his coursework for him.
As a result, the three players competed in 20 contests while ineligible. Both programs will be placed on two-year probation and fined $30,000, plus 1% of their combined budget. From the NCAA’s statement:
… The enforcement staff and school agreed that the violations in this case occurred when Brooks asked two softball student-athletes to assist a men’s basketball student-athlete with coursework for classes they had in common and said she would pay the student-athletes for supporting him. The first softball student-athlete went on to complete three assignments for the men’s basketball student-athlete and was paid $150. The second softball student-athlete provided the answers to five tests and four quizzes to Brooks, plus the answers to an additional two tests and one quiz directly to the men’s basketball student-athlete. She was paid $400 by Brooks.
On top of the fine and probation — which does not prohibit either team from competing in the postseason — the NCAA is vacating the records from the 20 games that the players participated in while ineligible. Brooks has been given the stiffest punishment of anyone involved with a 10-year show-cause penalty.
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