The future of NCAA basketball

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Hunter Merkley, Staff Writer

The past few weeks have not been good for NCAA men’s basketball. Many money scandals and illegal recruitment tactics have been brought to light. It all started with an investigation started on the way Louisville University was recruiting their players.

There were claims of money and services being given to high school recruits to influence them to come play at Louisville. Just last week these so called claims were proven to be true. The punishment for Louisville was very harsh, they were stripped of their 2013 NCAA Championship, of 123 wins throughout the year 2013-2015 and fined $600,000. Yet this was not the only college guilty of such crimes.

The latest addition to the list of colleges to be caught by the NCAA was University of Arizona. Head coach Sean Miller made headlines after an FBI phone tap caught him discussing a $100,000  payment to make sure five star recruit DeAndre Ayton would play at Arizona.

Following this news, Shareef O’Neal, decommitted from Arizona. He made his decision public on Twitter, stating “At this time I am opening up my recruitment due to the current events with the UofA Bball team. I would like to thank all the coaches for recruiting me. At the time my family and I think it’s in my best interest to look at other options to assure my play in the NCAA next year.”

The loss of O’Neal and future punishments will surely affect Arizona basketball heading into next season and years to come.