Oklahoma State MBB Reportedly Banned from 2022 March Madness After FBI Probe

The Oklahoma State men's basketball team will reportedly be banned from postseason play during the 2021-22 season after the NCAA denied the program's appeal related to infractions from the FBI's 2017 investigation into corruption within college basketball.

CBS Sports' Matt Norlander reported the news Wednesday, six days before the Cowboys are scheduled to open the new campaign by hosting UT Arlington.

In September 2017, the FBI arrested 10 people, including former OSU assistant coach Lamont Evans, after detailing what it called the "dark underbelly of college basketball" that included fraud and corruption, per CNN's Shachar Peled.

"The picture painted by the charges brought today is not a pretty one," prosecutor Joon Kim said at the time. "Coaches at some of the nation's top programs soliciting and accepting cash bribes. Managers and financial advisers circling blue chip prospects like coyotes. And employees of one of the world's largest sportswear companies secretly funneling cash to the families of high school recruits."

In June 2019, Evans was sentenced to three months in jail, a $22,000 fine and 100 hours of community service after he pleaded guilty to bribery conspiracy. Prosecutors had sought a minimum of 18 months in prison.

"In hindsight and upon reflection, I knew that it was wrong," Evans said at the sentencing.

The NCAA handed down the postseason ban, along with a reduction in scholarships, in June 2020.

Oklahoma State appealed the ruling, with athletic director Mike Holder saying it was an unfair punishment since the NCAA's findings suggested Evans acted alone to cause the infractions, per Frank Bonner II for the Tulsa World.

"I find it almost impossible to reconcile the severe penalties imposed by the NCAA for the violations that were detailed in today's report," Holder said. "The NCAA agreed that Lamont Evans acted alone and for his own benefit. The NCAA also agreed that OSU did not benefit in recruiting, commit a recruiting violation, did not play an ineligible player and did not display a lack of institutional control."

The Cowboys played the 2020-21 season without restriction during the appeals process, posting a 21-9 record and reaching the second round of the NCAA tournament, but they will now sit out the 2022 men's edition of March Madness.

Oklahoma State ranked just outside the Top 25 in both the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches preseason polls. The Cowboys had a strong chance to earn another tournament bid before the ban was upheld.