In a long-anticipated ruling, the Independent Resolution Panel (IRP), a judicial board part of the Independent Accountability Resolution Process (IARP), ruled on Wednesday that Kansas men’s basketball would have to vacate 15 of its wins from the 2017-18 season. That includes removing any formal acknowledgement of its 2018 Final Four appearance, which means the banner inside Allen Fieldhouse commemorating that Final Four run will be coming down, as will any trophies and other hardware associated with that season.
The vacation of wins stems from illegal payments made by a former Adidas associate to former Kansas player Silvio De Sousa. After an initial investigation into his freshman season regarding his eligibility, De Sousa was eventually cleared to play. This case, after the fact, ruled him retroactively ineligible for that season, prompting the stripping of wins and the Final Four.
“I actually did feel like it was fair and felt like it should have been done,” Kansas coach Bill Self said Wednesday. “By the rule, we had a player participate while ineligible due to an illicit payment that we knew nothing about.”
All of this stems from Kansas’ involvement and discovery that came about in the infamous FBI investigation in college basketball. It’s a story that came to life in September 2017. More than six years later, the news on Wednesday officially closes the elongated tribulation — for Kansas and all schools involved previously.
Aside from the 2018 Final Four banner being taken away and losing 15 wins (Kentucky is now, narrowly, No. 1 ahead of KU in the all-time wins list for men’s college basketball), the ruling is a huge victory for Self and KU. The school got its high-profile case of five Level I allegations from the NCAA reduced to the Level II and Level III variety in the eyes of the IRP. The program avoided a postseason ban, while Self was assessed just one Level III violation.
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