Louisville basketball: Vacated wins not enough to end NCAA corruption
By Connor Hope
After the news regarding Louisville’s punishment for its recruiting corruption dropped, it became even clearer that the NCAA has no serious intention to punish the top school involved in the extensive NCAA corruption.
Tuesday morning it was announced that the NCAA’s Infractions Appeal Committee would uphold the decision that Louisville must vacate 123 wins, including its 2012 Final Four appearance and 2013 National Championship, as a result of the program’s recruitment violations involving strippers to have sex with recruits.
This is not Louisville’s first time being punished for recruiting violations, as the program self-imposed a postseason ban in 2016 in addition to recruiting sanctions, for the actions of staffer Andre McGee.
It is great that the NCAA is finally cracking down on the programs involved in the massive corruption scandal uncovered by the FBI. However, we should all hope that this is not the end for Louisville and the Infractions Committee.
There needs to be pressure on the NCAA to further punish the Cardinals, for the extensive corruption uncovered by the FBI. If they use the past violations for the McGee scandal as evidence of punishment for the additional violations uncovered, it will set a bad precedent for the rest of the league.
I understand that it seems unfair to punish current players for actions they may not have taken part in; however, if programs do not hurt, the issue will not go away.
While the vacated wins come with monetary repayments and the removal of banners, they do not provide the same deterrent as postseason bans. Postseason bans can lead to transfers, lost recruits and decreased future earnings, which all hurt programs in deeper ways than taking down a piece of cloth.
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If the NCAA is serious about ending corruption in college basketball, they need to do more than “reverse” the effects of past violations with the removal of wins and championships. College basketball needs to make a strong statement, ensuring programs understand that they will no longer get away with violating the rules.