SMU hit with 2016 postseason ban, coach Larry Brown suspended

The NCAA has banned the SMU men’s basketball team from the 2016 postseason and suspended head coach Larry Brown for 10 percent of the team’s 2015–2016 games.

The NCAA has banned the SMU men’s basketball team from the 2016 postseason and suspended head coach Larry Brown for nine games of the team’s 2015–16 season, reports Jeff Goodman of ESPN.

SMU will also lose nine scholarships over the next three years.

Brown’s suspension and team penalties are the result of “lack of coach control” and academic misconduct after the NCAA investigated allegations concerning the eligibility of guard Keith Frazier.

The NCAA investigated whether former SMU assistant coach and former basketball secretary Ulric Maligi helped Frazier with his coursework and whether Brown was aware of Frazier’s academic issues.

Frazier was ruled academically illegible halfway through the 2014–15 season.

As part of his suspension, Brown will have to attend a regional rules seminar over the next two years, reports Goodman. This is Brown’s third time being penalized by the NCAA.

The nine-game suspension will amount to Brown being sidelined for 30% of the Mustangs’ season, but will allow him to return before conference play begins.

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