UConn is holding a press conference at 10 a.m. on Friday to announce an update to the NCAA investigation of its men’s basketball program.
What the press release from UConn announcing the presser did not mention — and what The Hartford Courant first reported — is that assistant coach Pat Sellers and director of basketball operations Beau Archibald have resigned from the staff in the wake of the investigation.
Sellers did not immediately respond to a text message and a voicemail seeking comment.
A year ago, Yahoo! Sports chronicled NCAA violations which occurred during UConn’s pursuit of recruit Nate Miles.
The Tampa Tribune later reported that Josh Nochimson, a former UConn student manager who became a sports agent, paid several thousand dollars for Miles to have surgery in December 2007.
“Could I have made a mistake? Sure.” UConn head coach Jim Calhoun told Yahoo! Sports during the 2009 NCAA tournament. “The [rules] manual is 508 pages. Someone could’ve made a mistake.”
In attendance at the press conference will be Calhoun, Director of Athletics Jeffrey A. Hathaway and Rick Evrard, the University’s outside counsel for NCAA-related matters.
SKERRY LEAVES PROVIDENCE FOR PITT
Jamie Dixon didn’t have to look outside the Big East to replace departed assistant Tom Herrion, who got the head job at Marshall.
The Pittsburgh head coach hired Providence assistant Pat Skerry away from the Rhode Island school to join his staff.
“I appreciate the opportunity to have had Pat work with us the last two seasons,” Providence coach Keno Davis said in a statement.
“As a head coach you always have to be prepared if a staff member leaves. We feel we are well positioned to improve our staff in the coming weeks. It became evident that our coaching staff has made great progress here at Providence. We have an excellent recruiting class coming in and our staff has worked very hard to improve the talent level.”
Skerry is one of the top recruiters in the Big East and helped bring in freshman point guard Vincent Council of Brooklyn as well as incoming 6-4 shooting guard Gerard Coleman of The Tilton (N.H.) School.
Skerry also recruited junior point guard Naadir Tharpe of Brewster (N.H.) Academy.
“I have not had an opportunity to speak with Naadir about it,” Brewster coach Jason Smith wrote by text. “We are in final exams. The prom is tonight [Thursday] and graduation is Saturday morning.”
Providence recently lost its top returning scorer, Jamine “Greedy” Peterson of Brooklyn, when he was removed from the team for a violation of team rules.
Peterson’s dismissal followed the arrests of teammates Johnnie Lacy and James Still, who were charged with assault and were suspended pending an investigation. Lacy already said he would transfer.
FREE THROWS
Rice associate coach Louis Reynaud is in the mix to join Oregon’s staff as an assistant, sources said.
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alifmuhammad / May 27, 2010
Skerry a good man and a very honest Coach !!! The best to him !!!!!
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DiamondbackRuss / May 27, 2010
Yeesh, making two assistants fall on their swords for violations on Calhoun’s watch? Take them off TV for a year and no post season for two years.
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rbcat / May 28, 2010
Where are all the Calhoun haters…Everyone hates Cal at Kentucky because they say he cheats…Here again, if this had been Kentucky or Cal we would have a hundred comments…I guess you can say “It’s Kentucky” and the expectations that goes with being the greatest College Basketball program in History.
Feel bad for the assistant coaches at UConn…You can’t tell me that Calhoun did not know what was going on?
Kansas and UConn having some difficulty with the control of their programs. Cal has had the last two Recruiting classes ranked number 1 and this will make it even easier for many years ahead. Go Cats!
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BostonCat / May 28, 2010
this is just uconn trying to get out in front of it and hope the NCAA buys the move as enough of a punishment. i dont think it will work.
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JonHuskyMS / May 28, 2010
i think you’re letting them off too easy!!! they should just completely disband the basketball program as a whole!!!
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JonHuskyMS / May 28, 2010
Agree with B-Cat. NCAA found 8 violations. I would guess they’ll take away a schollie for a year. The two assitants who were forced to resign were nothing special anyways.
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jhawk4 / May 28, 2010
Give me a break. People steal money from the athletic department, and now KU doesn’t have control over its basketball program? Wrong
The ticket scandal has nothing to do with our basketball team (aside the fact that it was tickets to their games that the 6 employees were scalping) and wont effect how our basketball team performs on the court.
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TheFinger / May 28, 2010
allegations, investigations, violations and NOW resignations. ‘tions soon to follow are defections, rejections, sanctions… then terminations. with his questionable health, i just don’t see calhoun surviving this much less wanting to.
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TheFinger / May 28, 2010
“Everyone hates Cal at Kentucky because they say he cheats…”
having to vacate 2 final 4 appearances are not the results of a coach who follows the rules and is in complete control of his program.
“Here again, if this had been Kentucky or Cal we would have a hundred comments”
sure, maybe 5-10 comments on the article then 90-95 comments of sheer inanity. you’re so full of yourself, haha.
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BostonCat / May 28, 2010
massive cheating going down in oklahoma. ticket fraud for possible recruits at kansas. now uconn is in the mix for improper benefits to a recruit.
at some point the ncaa is going to have to move past “loss of a scholarship”. lets be real, no one really uses all 13 rides. rides 11, 12, 13 are reserved for guys who will never play and their sole purpose is to do well in school and pad the GPA. its an acceptable loss to basically everyone.
the NCAA will have to come up with something else if it wants to clean it up.
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pastaboy / May 28, 2010
What’s this????? A cheating scandal without Cal ? snickers
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blasphemy / May 28, 2010
I love how you don’t disagree that there would be about 100 comments, then say UK fans are full of ourselves, and then finally use a negation for proof that we are full of ourselves (which is faux reasoning fyi). Great stuff, I applaud you sir.
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blasphemy / May 28, 2010
He didn’t say they didn’t have control of their basketball program though he did kind of imply it, whether or not he knows it. However, his main point, that you overlooked, is that KU and UConn are getting free passes in the media compared to what UK would get. THAT is a valid point, whether you like it or not.
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blasphemy / May 28, 2010
Can you say all of those ‘tions 5 times fast?
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blasphemy / May 28, 2010
You really are special, you know that?
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tsmooth / May 28, 2010
UCLA is the best program ever, not UK.
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blasphemy / May 28, 2010
Are you really wanting to debate UK fans on that? UK has more wins and ten out of eleven of UCLA’s Championships are within a 13 year window, which is not consistent at all. Once again, it’s how you define, “the best basketball program” (these definitions seem to be filling the void fast in debates recently). I would define “the best basketball program” to mean one that has the most high level consistency and has the best combination of ‘other’ weighted achievements.
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tsmooth / May 28, 2010
I would define it as the one with the most championships.
Wins are a good stat, but championships are a better one.
I am aware of when they occured. It shows how dominant of a program UCLA had. That amount of success is still very apparent.
Therefore, UCLA has the best basketball program of all time, with UK coming in second.
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blasphemy / May 29, 2010
Therefore, by your definition, history of the program is irrelevant, and ALL other factors are too. So Indiana and UNC are tied, period, end of discussion as the third best programs. Now, do you really believe that? What about Duke being the 4th best, and Kansas the 5th best? And then…. OMG, Cincinatti, Connecticut, Florida, Louisville, Michigan State, North Carolina State, Oklahoma State (Oklahoma A&M) and….. what…..
San Francisco??…. tied for 6th place as the “best programs” ……San Francisco… Now, I’m not a scholar (yet) but I would say that’s not the best definition, as it implies these things. Retort? Correction? “I meant to say”?
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tsmooth / May 29, 2010
No, just that championships show who the best team is.
For example: IF the Lakers have more wins than the Celtics, yet the Celtics have more championships, who would the better team be? Celtics.
I meant to say what I meant to say. Winning percentage, wins, player of the years, draft picks, etc. Those are all factors, but the largest is winning titles, and when it comes down to that, UCLA emerges victorious.
UK isn’t a distant second. In fact, they are very close, but UCLA’s reign under Wooden puts them ahead.
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tsmooth / May 29, 2010
LOL. Let’s just agree to disagree!
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