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NCAA upholds penalties, rules Louisville men’s basketball must vacate 2013 national title

Posted at 12:12 PM, Feb 20, 2018
and last updated 2018-02-20 12:19:51-05

Louisville Cardinals celebrate 2013 NCAA Men’s basketball national championship.
(Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The NCAA has denied Louisville’s appeal, upholding the Committee on Infractions’ 2017 decision that a former University of Louisville director of basketball operations acted unethically and did not cooperate with the investigation. As a result, the Cardinals must vacate men’s basketball records in which student-athletes competed while ineligible during the 2011-12 through 2014-15 academic years according to a decision issued by the NCAA Division I Infractions Appeals Committee – including the 2013 NCAA national championship and 2012 NCAA Final Four.

Louisville becomes the first NCAA men’s basketball team to vacate a national championship in the Final Four era.

The appeals committee also upheld the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions penalty that requires the university to return to the NCAA money received through conference revenue sharing for its appearances in the 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championships.

The 2013 NCAA National Championship banner at Louisville.
(Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

In the Committee on Infractions’ decision, the panel found that a former Louisville director of basketball operations acted unethically when he committed serious violations by arranging striptease dances and sex acts for prospects, student-athletes and others, and did not cooperate with the investigation. The violations in the case resulted in some men’s basketball student-athletes competing while ineligible.

In its appeal, the university argued the vacation of records and financial penalty should be set aside because they are excessive. The university contended that the penalties were based on participation of student-athletes who were not culpable in the violations, received negligible benefits as a result, and for whom reinstatement would likely have been granted.