UConn basketball charged with eight violations
NCAA Basketball Betting Lines
05/28/2010 -
Storrs, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The University of Connecticut has received a
notice of allegations from the NCAA in regard to possible recruiting
violations in the men's basketball program.
UConn officials and the NCAA have been investigating the basketball program
since March of 2009, when a report from Yahoo! Sports indicated possible rules
violations in the recruitment of Nate Miles, who was expelled from school in
October of 2008 without even practicing with the Huskies. The Yahoo! Sports
report said Miles was provided with lodging, meals and transportation by Josh
Nochimson -- a professional agent and a former UConn student manager.
The school on Friday said the notice from the NCAA contains eight allegations
of violations, including impermissible phone calls and text messages to
prospective student-athletes, impermissible benefits provided to a prospective
student-athlete by a representative of the institution's athletic interests
and an impermissible benefit to a prospective student-athlete by a member of
the basketball staff.
UConn head coach Jim Calhoun was also part of the allegations, as the NCAA
said he failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance in the men's basketball
program and failed to adequately monitor the program to ensure compliance with
NCAA legislation regarding telephone calls, text messages and benefits
provided by a representative of the institution's athletic interests.
"During these past fifteen months, we have fully cooperated with the NCAA's
inquiry into our recruitment of a particular student athlete and other matters
generally related to the recruitment and conduct of our program," Calhoun said
in a release through the school. "In this regard, we are steadfast in our
belief that we operate a program deeply committed to complying with the NCAA's
guidelines.
"In my 38 years as a collegiate head basketball coach, 25 of which I have
spent at the University of Connecticut, I look with particular pride at our
strong record of compliance and the impact that we have had on the young men
in our program.
"We look forward to working with the NCAA in the coming months and expect to
fully respond to their concerns. While we may have made some mistakes in the
recruiting process, UConn has never wavered in terms of its fostering and
maintaining a strong culture of compliance and has always striven to meet the
high standards expected of us."
The university has until August 20 to provide a response to the NCAA Committee
on Infractions. School officials are scheduled to appear before the committee
on October 15-16.
"The University of Connecticut is fully committed to NCAA rules compliance and
takes this matter very seriously," said UConn athletic director Jeffrey
Hathaway. "With regard to Coach Calhoun, he personally has a long standing
history of demonstrated commitment to NCAA compliance. We appreciate his
continued commitment, as well as the full cooperation and support that he has
provided throughout this process."
Other allegations from the NCAA include the provision of impermissible
complimentary admissions or discretionary tickets, as well as a failure by the
institution to adequately monitor the conduct and administration of the men's
basketball staff in the areas of: telephone records; representatives of the
institution's athletics interests; and complimentary admissions or
discretionary tickets.
The NCAA also alleged that two members of the basketball staff provided false
and misleading information to the NCAA Enforcement staff and to the
institution.
On Thursday night, the Hartford Courant reported that assistant coach Patrick
Sellers and director of basketball operations Beau Archibald resigned in the
wake of the allegations.
The notice of allegations says members of the basketball staff violated rules
by exchanging at least 160 impermissible phone calls and sending at least 191
impermissible text messages to prospective student-athletes. The NCAA permits
just one call per month to prospective recruits in a player's junior year of
high school.
In regard to Nochimson, the NCAA alleges he provided impermissible benefits
and that as a former team manager he could be considered a person with
"athletic interests" for the school. Therefore, he would be unable to be
involved in the recruiting process.
The school released documents from the NCAA detailing Nochimson's role and
correspondence with members of the UConn staff, including assistant coach Tom
Moore, now the head coach at Quinnipiac.
In late September 2008, Miles was arrested by UConn campus police and issued a
restraining order after a female student said she was physically and sexually
assaulted by him. Miles then made contact with the woman, leading to felony
charges of violating a restraining order.
The school expelled Miles in early October before basketball practice began.
Miles eventually enrolled at the College of Southern Idaho.
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Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.
As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.
Bet 2010 Super Bowl Odds
The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.
Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).
But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.
Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.
Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:
Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1
Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2
New York Giants - 9 - 2
Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).
Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.
So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.
And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.
They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.
Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.
But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.
Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.
Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.
Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.
Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?
Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.
In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.
Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.
Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.
The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.
The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.
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