Quinn Snyder has a four leaf-clover horseshoe up his hiney.

[SirFozzie]

(And no I will not respond to crys of pixplskthx!)

INDIANAPOLIS -- Missouri's basketball team was placed on three years' probation Wednesday for NCAA recruiting violations but avoided a ban on postseason play.

The school also will lose one scholarship next year and two in 2006-07, NCAA infractions committee chairman Thomas Yeager said.

The committee found the Tigers violated NCAA recruiting rules from 1999 to 2003 and rejected the school's explanation that most of the violations were inadvertent.

"The men's basketball staff had the benefit of extensive rules education and compliance procedures," the committee said. "Nevertheless, the men's basketball staff took risks and pushed the limits with respect to recruiting legislation, particularly while recruiting top prospects."

The case came to light when former point guard Ricky Clemons accused ex-assistant coach Tony Harvey of paying him $250. Harvey later resigned.

The committee did not mention Clemons or Harvey by name in its report but acknowledged that an assistant coach violated NCAA rules by buying meals, providing transportation, and illegally contacting recruits and their families.

University officials already said they were putting the program on probation for two years, but the NCAA decided to extend the punishment through 2007. Coaches also will be prohibited from off-campus recruiting through November 2005.

In addition, the Tigers must reduce the number of official paid visits from 12 to nine this year and next year, although Missouri could delay that penalty by one year.

Additional punishments include a public reprimand and censure. The committee also accepted the school's self-imposed sanctions, which include not renegotiating coach Quin Snyder's contract until July 2006.

The Tigers will lose one additional scholarship for 2005-06 (the school already docked itself one) and is banned from recruiting on the road for one year. Missouri will also get an additional year of probation, making that a three-year stint in total.

Missouri will not receive a postseason or TV ban.

Head coach Quin Snyder and two former assistant coaches had been accused of various violations of NCAA bylaws, with Snyder accused of failing "to maintain at all times an atmosphere of rules compliance." Snyder was mentioned by name in more than a dozen allegations, some including multiple rules violations.

Missouri self-reported some of the violations and doesn't plan to contest them. The school did challenge several allegations, including that Tony Harvey, who resigned as Snyder's top assistant, paid ex-Tiger point guard Ricky Clemons $250.

The alleged violations also included multiple impermissible calls and contacts with prospects, and that Harvey provided impermissible meals to Amateur Athletic Union coaches.

In August, the university officials met with the NCAA in Seattle to present its case.

[DeToxRox]

he looks like the bad guy in billy madison

[MizzouRah]

We got lucky.


Todd

[mtaystl03]

Very lucky.

[MrBug708]

The real punishment for Mizzou is letting them keep Quinn Lavin.