NCAA notifies Vols of rules violations

The NCAA says both Tennessee basketball coach Bruce Pearl and former football coach Lane Kiffin committed recruiting violations and failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance of NCAA rules within their programs.

Following its 22-month investigation of the athletic program, the NCAA notified Tennessee of a dozen rules violations by the coaches, their assistants and the university itself in a letter released by the school yesterday. Kiffin, who is now at Southern California, received a separate notice of the allegations against him.

Tennessee's baseball program was included in the investigation, but was not accused of any violations.

The university has until May 21 to respond to the NCAA's allegations and is expected to appear at a June 10-11 meeting of the Committee on Infractions. A final decision by the NCAA and any sanctions likely would come several weeks after that.

Pearl has been charged with unethical conduct after misleading NCAA investigators in a June 14 interview about hosting high school juniors at a cookout at his house on Sept. 20, 2008, and phoning John Craft, father of recruit Aaron Craft, during the probe in an effort to influence Craft's statement to investigators about the cookout. Craft is now a freshman at Ohio State.

Tennessee reduced Pearl's his salary by $1.5 million over four seasons in September and banned him from off-campus recruiting for a year. The Southeastern Conference suspended him for eight conference games, which he has already sat out.

The NCAA alleged that Pearl's assistants, Tony Jones, Steve Forbes and Jason Shay "violated the NCAA's principles of honesty" by not providing complete information to investigators about the cookout. Tennessee lowered each assistant's salary and banned them from off-campus recruiting for various lengths of time for their role in the scandal.

Kiffin and his assistants also are accused of making improper phone calls to recruits even after Tennessee officials had warned them against making such phone calls.

* Authorities say Texas forward Alexis Wangmene, who was suspended indefinitely this week for a rules violations, was arrested on a drunken driving charge.

* At Arkansas, Marcus Britt's layup in the final minute of overtime lifted the Razorbacks (17-9, 6-6 Southeastern Conference) to a 77-76 win over No. 22 Kentucky. Rotnei Clarke led Arkansas with 26 points. Brandon Knight's 26 points led the Wildcats (19-8, 7-6).

* At Providence, Ben Hansbrough scored a career-high 32 points to lead No. 9 Notre Dame (22-5, 11-4 Big East) to a 94-93 win, a Big East-record 52 points by Marshon Brooks.

* At Missouri, Laurence Bowers scored 20 points to lead the No. 20 Tigers (22-6, 8-5 Big 12) to a 77-59 victory over Baylor.

* At North Carolina State, Harrison Barnes scored 16 points to help No. 19 North Carolina (21-6, 11-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) beat the Wolfpack, 75-63.

* At BYU, Jimmer Fredette scored 34 points to lead the No. 7 Cougars (26-2, 12-1 Mountain West Conference) over Colorado State, 84-76.

* At Texas A&M, Khris Middleton scored 13 points and the No. 21 Aggies (22-5, 9-4 Big 12) won, 61-47, over Oklahoma.

* At Michigan, Josh Gasser banked in a desperation three-pointer at the buzzer as No. 12 Wisconsin edged the Wolverines, 53-52. Jordan Taylor scored 20 for the Badgers (21-6, 11-4 Big Ten).

* At Georgetown, Yancy Gates had 17 points and 11 rebounds and Cincinnati (22-6, 9-6 Big East) beat a Top 25 team on the road for the first time in 7 years, topping the No. 11 Hoyas, 58-46. Georgetown (21-7, 10-6) was led by Austin Freeman's 19 points.

* At Indiana, JaJuan Johnson had 20 points and nine rebounds to help No. 8 Purdue (23-5, 12-3 Big Ten) win, 72-61.

* At St. John's Dwight Hardy had 21 points and the No. 23 Red Storm (18-9, 10-5 Big East) routed DePaul, a 76-51. *