NCAA places Ohio State on probation

The school must also remove the 1999 Final Four banner and pay back $800,000.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Ohio State was placed on three years' probation Friday and ordered to erase all references to its 1999 trip to the Final Four and three other tournament appearances for NCAA violations under former coach Jim O'Brien.
The school escaped additional penalties on this season's team, which is 23-4 and ranked seventh in the country. It could have been banned for a second year from the NCAA tournament as a result of using an ineligible player from 1999-2002.
"The positives are closure," Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith said.
The banner hanging from Value City Arena's rafters will be altered to erase the run to the national semifinals in 1999, four years of tournament revenue totaling about $800,000 will be repaid and record books will be blotted out to eradicate pictures and statistics for the four tournament teams that included an ineligible player, Boban Savovic. He received improper gifts, including housing and cash, from a booster.
Came down hard on coaches
The NCAA came down hard on O'Brien and former assistant coach Paul Biancardi, now the head coach at Wright State. If O'Brien gets a job at another college in the next five years, he and his new school must appear before the NCAA's infractions committee to discuss whether he will face additional limits.
"I wouldn't even dream of asking any other program to jump through hoops to give me an opportunity to get back in," O'Brien said.
Biancardi was prohibited from recruiting until Oct. 1, 2007. If he does, Wright State could face NCAA sanctions.
Wright State athletic director Mike Cusack said he supported his coach in a statement.
"Statements, having no basis in truth, have been used to make decisions affecting the lives of dedicated individuals," Biancardi said of the NCAA's findings.
Ohio State had acknowledged eight of nine violations alleged by the NCAA. The school fired O'Brien in June 2004 and held last season's team out of the postseason to try to avoid any additional penalties. The Buckeyes also limited their men's basketball scholarships to 11 this season, instead of the allowed 13.
Other penalties
Other penalties announced Friday include a public reprimand and a reduction in on-campus visits by basketball recruits next year.
Coach Thad Matta will welcome one of the nation's top recruiting classes next season.
"The confusion is gone," said Matta, adding he was looking forward to putting the two-year investigation behind him.
Seven violations involved the men's basketball program under O'Brien. The other two involved women's basketball and football.
O'Brien was fired after he told then-athletic director Andy Geiger that he gave a recruit $6,000 in 1999.
Last month O'Brien won his lawsuit accusing the university of wrongfully firing him. Ohio State could have to pay him as much as $9.5 million.