LOOK: Oklahoma State athletics blasts NCAA following Memphis fine, probation

Oklahoma State is failing to see the logic behind the NCAA’s recent punishment of Penny Hardaway and Memphis basketball.

It was reported Tuesday that the Tigers were hit with a $5,000 fine and three years probation for Level II and Level III violations regarding the recruitment of James Wiseman. That means they avoided Level I violations and will not face a postseason ban — a stark contrast to what happened to Oklahoma State.

That led the OSU athletics Twitter account to respond to a tweet from ESPN’s Jeff Goodman comparing the Cowboys’ situation to that of the Tigers and several other schools.

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“Let’s try and summarize thus far: NCAA hits Alabama, South Carolina, USC, Creighton, TCU, Auburn, NC State & Memphis with basically nothing (Auburn self-imposed postseason ban in a year in which it knew it wasn’t going),” Goodman wrote. “Oklahoma State gets hit with a one-year postseason ban.”

“Good for the student-athletes at these universities who were not punished unfairly for something they had nothing to do with, years after it happened,” Oklahoma State replied.

Good for the student-athletes at these universities who were not punished unfairly for something they had nothing to do with, years after it happened. https://t.co/TKmUujHLF5

— Oklahoma State Athletics (@OSUAthletics) September 27, 2022

The Cowboys were banned from the 2022 postseason, even after appealing sanctions related to a 2017 FBI investigation. The ban was supposed to be effective for the 2020-21 postseason, but it was delayed due to the appeal.

It was the first punishment handed out as part of the wide-ranging investigation, and former Oklahoma State assistant Lamont Evans was at the center of the Cowboys’ case for illegal recruiting practices. However, at the time OSU’s punishment was handed out, neither Evans nor any of the players from that season were on the Cowboy roster.

The NCAA’s only piece of evidence in its investigation of any rule-breaking by Oklahoma State was proof of Evans being involved in a $300 payment to senior Jeffrey Carroll, who later paid back the money and served a three-game suspension during the 2018-19 season.

“The message is clear,” coach Mike Boynton said at the time. “We had one $300 violation — no failure to monitor. No lack of institutional control. No head coach control charge. No ineligible players playing. So if you have some of that stuff — don’t do what we did.”

Although OSU will be allowed to compete in the postseason this upcoming season, it is still dealing with a scholarship reduction through 2022-23. The Cowboys will hope to put all that behind them soon enough though, and open the season on Nov. 7 against UT-Arlington.

On3’s Nick Schultz contributed to this report.