30 biggest college basketball scandals of all time

17. Kentucky gets a two-year postseason ban

The first program to appear on our list twice is Kentucky, and that’s not an accomplishment the elite basketball program is proud of. After surviving the point-shaving scandal of the 1950s, Kentucky found itself in more hot water in the late ’80s.

Under head coach Eddie Sutton, Kentucky committed a series of significant recruiting and eligibility violations. Those infractions ranged from having assistant coach Dwane Casey pay a recruit’s father to letting Eric Manuel compete despite knowing he cheated on a college entrance exam.

To make matters worse, Casey refused to cooperate with NCAA investigators, making the infractions even more severe. The NCAA even considered instituting the death penalty against Kentucky for its multiple willing rules’ violations but decided against it thanks to some swift actions from the institution.

School president David Roselle forced Sutton and athletic director Cliff Hagan to resign once the allegations surfaced, allowing the NCAA to see that Kentucky was taking steps to get its program under control. Instead of handing out the death penalty, Kentucky was placed on probation for three years and banned from postseason play for the next two seasons.

In addition to those penalties, Kentucky was forced to forfeit all the money it received from its 1988 NCAA Tournament appearance. The Wildcats also saw Manuel and Chris Mills, whose father received the money from Casey, get permanently barred from suiting up for them.