[Lefty Noob]

The NCAA has put OSU on 3-years of probation and will force them to remove all references to any Buckeyes team that made the NCAA Tournament under former head coach Jim O'Brien. This year's team will not be affected at all.

More details can be found at the link below:
http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaab/news;_...v=ap&type=lgns

[pete_b]

I saw that Lefty. Its bigger than the press makes it out to be. You just don't hear anything about it. I guess $800,000 is not that big of a fine compared to everything else that is going on in sports today. What do you think is the biggest punishment? The fine or the taking down of the banners? The coach is prohibited from recruiting until '07. Is it fair to punish the coach? Shouldn't just the school be reprimanded?

[Lefty Noob]

I think the bigger penalty will be the reduction in on-campus visits by basketball recruits next year that they also face. Removing the banners might also hurt recruiting (less to brag on about your program), but ultimately the past is the past. Anything that hurts the team's future preparation to play is the bigger sanction.

[cjg11582]

The only real punishment the school could endure would be fiscal in nature. And that is either a much greater fine (OSU makes $800,000 four times over at one home football game) or rendering OSU ineligible for post-season play. Maybe restricting the number of available scholarships OSU can give, but the recruiting class is so good for 2007 that OSU can stay competitive for the next two-three years without another commitment. That is assuming they all don't leave after their freshman year.

[Lefty Noob]

So who thinks the punishment was too light, and that the school should have been sanctioned further?