BATON ROUGE, La. -- LSU avoided losing its eligibility to play in the Southeastern Conference tournament this week. But the school's recruiting violations will be punished with scholarship reductions that could keep the school out of the NCAA tournament for years to come.
An NCAA committee has agreed to let LSU play in the SEC tournament but will not return scholarships lost as a result of violations committed in recruiting former Tiger Lester Earl."The committee felt that on balance, the serious scholarship penalties were appropriate. The postseason ban was not appropriate since it involved young people who were not even at the university at the time of the infraction," committee spokesman Michael Slive said Sunday.
The infractions took place before Dale Brown retired as coach two years ago. None of the old coaching staff is still at LSU, and only one player remains on the team.
The ruling ensures the school will receive about $1 million in tournament money.
"It was a very large financial problem if we didn't go," athletic director Joe Dean said. "It is a great thing for our team. The appeal was worthwhile from that point of view."
But coach John Brady is concerned about the effect of the penalty that stayed in place.
"What I never had the idea they would do is limit you to signing four over two years," Brady said.