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Yearbook-gate has hit Florida.
Florida recognized five games in its 2010-11 men’s basketball media guide that the NCAA vacated due to sanctions against former coach Norm Sloan.
The games in question were NCAA Tournament games in 1987 and 1988 in which Florida suited up an ineligible player. That player was not named in the NCAA report, but presumably, it’s Vernon Maxwell. Maxwell had his final two seasons expunged from the UF media guide.
According to the NCAA infractions report, Sloan paid child support to keep one of his players out of jail and paid transportation from Gainesville to Boston to allow one of his players to work as a counselor at a summer basketball basketball camp.
The Florida basketball yearbook placed an asterisk next to the 1988 NCAA Tournament games denoting those wins were vacated. But it didn’t do so for the 1987 NCAA Tournament games. In addition, Florida prints its 1986-87 record as 23-11 and its 1987-88 record as 23-12. The adjusted records for each season, according to the NCAA Division I record book, are 21-10 for 1987 and 22-11 for 1988.
On Page 138 of the yearbook, Florida prints its NCAA Tournament record as 29-13, which includes the 1987 and 1988 NCAA Tournament games. And on pages 139 and 140, Florida lists summaries of the five NCAA Tournament games from 1987 and 1988.
The controversy surrounding vacated wins brewed last week when the NCAA admonished Kentucky for celebrating coach John Calipari’s 500th coaching win (ironically at Rupp Arena against Florida). That 500th coaching win included 44 wins that the NCAA vacated during Cal’s previous coaching stints at UMass and Kentucky.
That sent Big Blue Nation scouring the internet, looking for other schools that recognized NCAA vacated wins in their media guides. The list of schools was close to 20, including Alabama, Arizona, Arizona State, DePaul, FAU, Florida A&M, Florida State, Maryland, Memphis, Morgan State, Oklahoma, Oregon State, San Diego State, Savannah State, St. Joe’s, Texas Tech, UCLA, UMass, Villanova and Western Kentucky.
NCAA spokesperson Stacy Osborn said it’s acceptable for schools to place asterisks next to vacated wins. But according to the infractions report, “The records of the individual’s and team’s performances in that championship shall be deleted, and the team’s place finish in the final standings shall be vacated.”
There’s no word yet from the NCAA on any potential penalties involved, but I’m sure it would be nominal at best. Besides, at this stage in the game, the NCAA has more pressing concerns than playing Columbo on school media guides.
UF men’s basketball spokesperson Denver Parler said in an e-mail Monday, “We’ll look to make sure the affected info is adjusted or noted where appropriate in subsequent guides.”
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Source: GatorSports.com - Hoops Scoop
