OHIO STATE Hoops team is paying penalty

A tourney ban was self-imposed for alleged violations by Jim O'Brien.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Ohio State announced on Thursday that it has imposed a one-year postseason tournament ban on its men's basketball team for an alleged $6,000 payment to a recruit by former coach Jim O'Brien.
"It's too bad. It's a shame. I'm sick about it. I hate it," athletic director Andy Geiger said of what he termed a major violation of NCAA bylaws.
Ohio State President Karen Holbrook said the firing of O'Brien on June 8 was the first step in appeasing NCAA investigators. She and Geiger said more penalties may be coming.
A $6,000 payment in 1999
"It doesn't mean we're finished, that there's not other stuff we're looking at," Geiger said.
O'Brien, who had coached the Buckeyes for seven seasons, was fired six weeks after he spoke with Geiger about the payment. During their conversation, Geiger said O'Brien admitted he gave $6,000 to recruit Aleksandar Radojevic in 1999.
Radojevic never played for Ohio State. He was deemed ineligible by the NCAA before he enrolled because he had accepted money to play basketball in his native Yugoslavia.
O'Brien, 14-16 in his final year with the Buckeyes, has sued Ohio State for at least $3.4 million, claiming he was fired improperly.
Thad Matta, hired July 7 to take O'Brien's place, has led Ohio State to a 6-2 record this season. He met with players later Thursday afternoon to tell them of the ban.
"The shame of it is that our players had nothing to do with it," Matta said. "They're being penalized for a crime they did not commit."
Big Ten tourney okay
The Buckeyes have three seniors: Tony Stockman, who said he transferred from Clemson three years ago to play in the NCAA tournament, along with Matt Sylvester and Brandon Fuss-Cheatham.
The ban includes NCAA and National Invitation Tournament bids, but the Buckeyes will be permitted to play for the Big Ten regular season and tournament titles.
Matta said they were more confused than angry by the decision. He said the players had made winning a Big Ten title their "battle cry."
Geiger said it was decided that it would be easier to accept penalties now rather than waiting.
"It could be this year, next year, the year after," he said. "We chose to do it this year. Get it over with."
The postseason ban is just the latest in a series of blows to Ohio State athletics over the past six months.
O'Brien's alleged payment became known after a Columbus woman sued her former employers for expenses she said she incurred for housing, feeding and giving spending money to another Ohio State basketball player from Yugoslavia, Boban Savovic. That lawsuit is expected to be heard next summer.
Former running back Maurice Clarett, who led the Buckeyes to the 2002 national championship, has accused coach Jim Tressel of setting him up with cars, boosters of providing summer no-show jobs and Ohio State professors of giving breaks to football players.
Holbrook said she believes Ohio State's athletics program has been put in a negative light by media but is actually succeeding academically and in competition.
"I think you find a lot more things right than the few things that happen to be very high visibility," she said.
Geiger also announced that Matta's original seven-year contract will be extended one more year, through the 2011-20012 season.
"I knew things could go down when we got here," Matta said. "I was shown case studies of programs and what they've done and what [penalties] they've received. I feel extremely confident that a one-year ban on postseason play will get it done."