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College basketball: NCAA notifies Arizona of 9 misconduct allegations

The NCAA has charged Arizona men's basketball coach Sean Miller (pictured) and women's swimming and diving coach Augie Busch with a lack of head coach control. File photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI
The NCAA has charged Arizona men's basketball coach Sean Miller (pictured) and women's swimming and diving coach Augie Busch with a lack of head coach control. File photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI | License Photo

Oct. 26 (UPI) -- The National Collegiate Athletic Association -- college sports' governing body -- has notified the University of Arizona of nine allegations of misconduct, with several linked to the men's basketball program.

Sources informed ESPN, Sports Illustrated and The Athletic of the violations on Sunday. Five of the nine violations are Level I allegations, the most-serious under NCAA rules.

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The allegations follow a multiyear investigation into the Wildcats athletic program and are part of an FBI investigation into corruption in college basketball.

Arizona officials on Friday confirmed they received the notice of allegations from the NCAA, but did not detail the allegations. The school's board of regents is expected to convene Monday for a special meeting.

Arizona has been charged with a lack of institutional control and failure to monitor. Men's basketball coach Sean Miller and women's swimming and diving coach Augie Busch have each been charged with a lack of head coach control.

Arizona joins Kansas, North Carolina State, Louisville, USC, TCU, South Carolina and Oklahoma State as the eighth university to acknowledge they received a notice of allegations from information obtained from a federal investigation into bribes and additional misconduct in college basketball.

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Former Arizona assistant coach Emanuel Richardson in January 2019 was one of four former assistants who pleaded guilty for his role in the federal bribery case. Richardson was one of 10 college basketball figures arrested in September 2017 as part of the scandal.

He pleaded guilty to a felony count of conspiracy to commit bribery as part of a plea deal. Prosecutors had accused him of accepting $20,000 in exchange for steering players to managers and financial advisors once they became professional basketball players.

Richardson was sentenced to three months in prison and two years of probation. Prosecutors played a recording to the jury during the federal criminal trials, which featured Richardson's claim that Miller paid former Wildcats center DeAndre Ayton $10,000 per month when he played at the school.

Richardson also claimed former Wildcats guard Rawle Alkins received improper benefits from Miller during the same recording.

Ayton went on to become the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft. Miller has denied the allegations. Reports of the NCAA's expected issuance of the notice to Arizona broke last week, but details of the allegations were not divulged at that time.

"I'm not going to comment on anything that is around any investigation," Miller told reporters Thursday. "That's really what I'm called to do as a member of our athletic department. I'm not able to comment."

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Arizona's nine allegations are the most received by any school to date, in relation to the federal investigation.

Several other schools were also investigated, but have not received or confirmed noticies of allegations from the NCAA. Arizona has 90 days to respond to the allegations.

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