In lieu of a typical Monday Overreactions column this week, I have decided to write a few words about Oklahoma State and the looming postseason ban that is hanging over the head of the program as we inch ever closer to the NCAA tournament. I wanted to wait until after the Pokes finished their home-and-home with Oklahoma on Monday night.
This post will be free for all to read, because I think it’s important enough that everyone read it. If you enjoy this, please consider subscribing to the newsletter for $7 a month or for $70 for the full year.
The question for Oklahoma State is no longer whether or not they are good enough to play in the NCAA tournament. After starting the Big 12 season by losing three of their first four games — with that one win coming in overtime at Texas Tech thanks to a very questionable decision foul call on a Cade Cunningham three-ball — Oklahoma State has won 10 of the last 13 games despite a COVID pause, a game without Cade Cunningham and time missed by a couple of other key contributors.
In the last week, they’ve knocked off Texas Tech and landed a sweep of the Sooners in a three-day span. They’ve beaten Arkansas. They’ve beaten Texas. They’ve beaten Kansas. And thanks to Monday night’s 79-75 win over the Sooners, they are now sitting at 17-6 overall with an 8-4 mark against Quadrant 1 opponents. No one has more than eight Quadrant 1 wins. Michigan and Illinois both had eight. Ohio State and Gonzaga both have seven.
I say this with 100 percent sincerity: If they hadn’t been swept by TCU, we would legitimately be talking about whether or not the Cowboys could creep up to the No. 1-seed line if they win at Baylor and at West Virginia to close out the regular season.
There a dozen very legitimate candidates for National Coach of the Year this year, a trio of whom reside in Mike Boynton’s league, but he very much deserves consideration for the highest award in the land.
This has been an incredible season for the Cowboys.
And if the NCAA has the audacity to rip it away from these kids in March, I don’t think there’s any coming back from it.
For those that are unclear, here’s what happening with this program right now.
In June, the Committee on Infractions handed down to Oklahoma State a number of sanctions as a result of violations that were dredged up during the FBI’s investigation into corruption in college basketball. Among them was a one-year postseason ban, one that was supposed to keep them out of the 2021 NCAA Tournament.
Oklahoma State appealed that decision. That appeal as not yet been ruled on, and until the Committee on Infractions determines that they will deny the appeal, Oklahoma State will not be hit with those sanctions. In other words, we’re in a holding pattern as this decision works its way through the NCAA red tape, and as long as we’re in a holding pattern, Oklahoma State’s eligible.
Now, I actually think they have a pretty strong case to get this ruling overturned, but a lot of that has to do with the fact that this was one of the most egregious examples of the NCAA overstepping with a punishment that I can ever remember.
Here’s what happened: A former assistant coach named Lamont Evans accepted a little under $20,000 in bribes from financial advisors in exchange for peddling his influence over a pair of players he had strong relationships with. One of those players played for Oklahoma State and one of them played for South Carolina, where Evans was coaching before he arrived in Stillwater in the spring of 2016. Of that money that he accepted, $300 of it went to Jeffery Carroll, the Oklahoma State player that those financial advisors were recruiting.
That’s it.
That’s all that happened.
And, before you tell me how cheating is morally wrong, understand this: Evans did not cheat. Oklahoma State did not cheat. Cheating, by definition, means going outside of the rules of the game to gain a competitive advantage.
Lamont Evans provided no competitive advantage for Oklahoma State, unless you consider the $300 he paid to Carroll — who was already on the roster and suspended for three games as a result — a competitive advantage. Evans was lining his pockets. He was not doing this to benefit the basketball program. He was doing this for the benefit of Lamont Evans’ bank account. This was greed, plain and simple.
Technically speaking, the players Evans claimed to have the power of persuasion over were the victims of the crimes that got him sentenced to three months in prison on federal bribery charges. He steered them to financial advisors that were willing to shell out bribe money. He knew nothing about the people that he was telling these players to invest their money with. One of the men Evans accepted bribes from was Marty Blazer, who sparked this entire investigation to try and avoid prison when he was caught by the SEC embezzling millions of dollars from clients to make what I can only assume is the worst movie of all-time.
That’s where Evans was guiding players who trusted him. To a guy that thought his ticket to riches was taking money he stole to make a movie with the girl from The O.C. and the guy from the Stan video about a kid that comes back from the dead to haunt his bullies. I wish this was a joke.
The players that Evans was guiding were the victims here.
And the NCAA still handed down a postseason ban despite the fact that Evans has been gone for more than three years, Carroll has been gone for more than two and neither the current head coach nor the head coach that the violations were committed under were mentioned in the Notice of Allegations.
Here’s the most infuriating part: the NCAA was actually able to punish the man responsible. That’s not usually the case. Evans received a 10-year show-cause penalty from the NCAA in addition to a three month jail sentence for pleading guilty. His coaching career is over. He’ll never be a Division I head coach. He’ll never coach at a level where he is able to earn a couple hundred grand as an assistant. The person entirely at fault for this situation had his life blown up.
And Oklahoma State still got a postseason ban despite the fact that, as Larry Parkinson of the Committee on Infractions said, “the institution fully cooperated from the moment they learned about the circumstances.”
The kicker here, and one of the things that I believe will impact the appeals decision, is that both Alabama, where an Associate AD did what Evans did, and South Carolina, where Evans previously worked and committed the same violations, were only given probation.
Huh?
How does that make any sense?
I think I made my stance pretty clear. Oklahoma State never should have gotten this postseason ban in the first place. After the success this team has had in a year as fucked up as this one, the NCAA has a chance to make the right decision here.
Take it.