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Report: Arizona hit with nine alleged NCAA violations, including several Level 1 allegations

The NCAA hit Arizona with nine misconduct allegations last week, five of which were Level I allegations, according to The Athletic’s Seth Davis.

The allegations reportedly include a lack of institutional control and failure to monitor by the university itself and lack of control by both basketball coach Sean Miller and women’s swimming and diving coach Augie Busch.

NCAA hits Arizona with 5 Level I allegations

Arizona acknowledged receiving the official notice of allegations from the NCAA on Friday. The school’s outside attorney, according to The Athletic, asked that the case be sent to the new Independent Accountability Resolution Process — which was created in 2018 specifically for the most complex and contentious infractions cases. The IARP has yet to hear any case since its founding.

Per the report, one of the reasons for the allegations was former basketball assistants Book Richardson and Mark Phelps refusing to speak with NCAA investigators — which the NCAA said “compromised the integrity of the investigation.”

Arizona’s outside attorney, Paul Kelly, said that was “adversarial posturing” and that the school “strenuously denies this allegation and intends to establish that this claim is unfounded,” per The Athletic.

The desire for the IARP’s involvement, Kelly said, is to ensure “a neutral and unbiased tribunal to hear the evidence, consider the legal and factual arguments and issue and decision that is fair and just.”

Richardson was arrested and sentenced to three months in prison for accepting $20,000 in bribes to try and swing Arizona players toward aspiring sports agent Christian Dawkins. He was one of several arrested — along with former USC assistant Tony Bland, former Auburn assistant Chuck Person and former South Carolina assistant Lamont Evans — in the FBI’s massive investigation into corruption within college basketball in recent years.

Kansas, Louisville, NC State, Oklahoma State, South Carolina, TCU, USC and Arizona have all been hit with allegations relating to the FBI investigation.

Arizona’s board of regents has a special meeting scheduled for Monday.

Arizona head coach Sean Miller
Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller and the university were hit with several NCAA allegations last week. (AP/Rick Scuteri)

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