Arizona basketball’s infractions case could be settled sooner after NCAA’s changes to IARP

Tired of the uncertainty surrounding Arizona basketball’s infractions case? So is the NCAA, apparently.

The Division I Board of Directors announced immediate changes to the Independent Accountability Resolution Process on Wednesday that are supposed to improve the transparency and swiftness of the process.

Among the changes is to allow case timelines to be developed and published for each case in the IARP. The NCAA also announced that the Complex Case Unit—the independent investigators assigned to each case—to accept the investigative work of the NCAA enforcement staff “unless the unit can demonstrate a compelling reason why additional investigation is required.”

“The oversight committee, which has expressed concerns about the delay in the resolution of cases referred to the independent process, determined that much of the delay is the result of efforts by the Complex Case Unit to ‘re-investigate’ cases that the enforcement staff thoroughly investigated,” the NCAA release said. “Accepting the enforcement staff’s results will speed the process significantly without compromising the goals of the Independent Accountability Resolution Process, committee members think.”

In December, it was announced that Arizona’s request to have the IARP, which is in its first year of operation, settle its infraction case had been granted by the NCAA. That was after the Wildcats were served a Notice of Allegations that accused them of several Level I violations, which are considered the most severe. Sanctions could include a postseason ban, loss of scholarships, fines, a head coach suspension, and/or show-cause penalties.

Arizona and new head coach Tommy Lloyd have been in the dark as far as when those penalties may be levied, leaving the basketball program in a state of uncertainty. That, in turn, affects recruiting and overall morale. (For example: Arizona does not know if it will be eligible for the postseason in 2021-22 or how many scholarships it will have moving forward.)

Other schools like NC State, Louisville, Kansas, and LSU are waiting for their cases to be settled by the IARP as well.

Even NCAA president Mark Emmett has said the process is “taking too bloody long”—and that was all the way back in May.