Just because the Tigers’ rivals over in Tuscaloosa were slapped with numerous violations doesn’t mean this is good news for Auburn basketball.
Today should be a day to celebrate for Tigers fans because of what should be a cakewalk Saturday evening affair against the Tennessee Volunteers at Jordan-Hare Stadium on the gridiron. Instead, it’s a day to sift through the ashes of the fire that was produced by yet another SEC scandal…one that does very much affect the Auburn basketball program:
"Friday, the NCAA Committee on Infractions gave the Crimson Tide three years’ probation after a former associate athletic director accepted bribes to facilitate a meeting between a player’s father and a financial adviser.ESPN says their sources say the unnamed player is Cleveland Cavaliers guard Collin Sexton.The NCAA also fined Alabama $5,000 plus 1 percent of its operating budget for men’s basketball and issued a 10-year show-cause order for former associate athletic director Kobie Baker. He resigned in September 2017 after the university officially approached him about involvement in the bribery scheme."
It’s embarrassing that the NCAA can’t seem to stay out of trouble. The big schools seem to always be in the center of it.
And this one hits close to home.
The Alabama basketball program is obviously one the War Eagle doesn’t root for, but when this sort of thing happens, it’s a black eye for the entire conference. Auburn basketball should be (and will be) under the microscope as well in the very near future.
Let’s not forget this is far from the first scandal to rock the Yellowhammer state. Auburn football has gotten in trouble in the past, so it isn’t even something foreign to Lee County.
With everything going on in the world, it may seem like yet another NCAA scandal is a nice shot of normal.
Make no mistake about it though: this isn’t good for the SEC.