Friday, March 10, 2006
Ohio State - 1999 Final Four
Ohio State will pay dearly for the successes under former men's basketball coach Jim O'Brien. OSU will be on probation for three years; the recent NCAA ruling wipes out records from four national tournament appearances. The Buckeyes must no longer display a banner saying they went to the 1999 Final Four.
Former Buckeye Boban Savovic was deemed ineligible for getting improper gifts from a booster. The school will have to pay back about $800,000 of tournament revenue for the four years Savovic played.
On a positive note, the NCAA did not ban OSU from postseason play. Thankfully, current coach Thad Matta and his Big Ten Champions will not have to suffer because of his predecessor's misdeeds. That would have been very unfair.
I think O'Brien, Savovic, and the booster should pay that $800,000, and not the school. Just because the NCAA is vacating the Buckeyes' 1999 Final Four appearance doesn't mean it didn't happen. While the Buckeyes have to remove the reference to that Final Four in Value City Arena, I have no plans to erase it from this Web site.
Former Buckeye Boban Savovic was deemed ineligible for getting improper gifts from a booster. The school will have to pay back about $800,000 of tournament revenue for the four years Savovic played.
On a positive note, the NCAA did not ban OSU from postseason play. Thankfully, current coach Thad Matta and his Big Ten Champions will not have to suffer because of his predecessor's misdeeds. That would have been very unfair.
I think O'Brien, Savovic, and the booster should pay that $800,000, and not the school. Just because the NCAA is vacating the Buckeyes' 1999 Final Four appearance doesn't mean it didn't happen. While the Buckeyes have to remove the reference to that Final Four in Value City Arena, I have no plans to erase it from this Web site.
# posted by Steve Seepersaud : 5:22 PM
