The Pac-12 announced Tuesday morning that it would be commissioning its own investigation into officiating during the Pac-12 men’s basketball tournament in Las Vegas last month.
The investigation stems from a report from CBSSports.com that surfaced last week, accusing now-former Pac-12 head of officiating Ed Rush of offering referees $5,000 or a trip to Cancun should they discipline Arizona head coach Sean Miller with a technical foul or eject him from the game. Rush said his comments were made in jest.
Rush took criticism for his words and resigned late last week after the conference.
Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott originally backed Rush, saying that he believed Rush’s comments were made jokingly and that the referees in the room did not take them seriously.
The investigation will be headed by “experts who are entirely independent of the Pac-12 Conference” and will be completed by June, the conference announced Tuesday.
Wildcats finish at No. 14
With the NCAA college basketball season in the books, capped by Louisville’s National Championship win against Michigan on Monday, the final USA Today Coaches’ poll was released. The Arizona Wildcats finished the season at No. 14, jumping six spots from a No. 20 spot in the final poll before the NCAA Tournament on March 18.
Arizona trending up for 2013-14 season
The season is over, so as it happens every year, a barrage of predictions for next year are surfacing.
And with its top-10 recruiting class, the return of last year’s No. 3 class and the return of Nick Johnson and transfer point guard T.J. McConnell, Arizona’s future looks bright.
The first UA prediction came from Vegas, where the Wildcats are listed with the eighth-best odds (18/1) at winning the 2014 National Championship. They trail Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina, Ohio State, Louisville, Memphis and Michigan State and are just ahead of Michigan, Florida and Syracuse.
The USA Today has Arizona at No. 7 in its early poll, ESPN.com and CBS Sports put it at No. 4 and RealGM.com’s statistical-based projection has Arizona coming in at No. 6. Sporting News has the Wildcats at No. 3 and NBC Sports at No. 2.
