Emmert: Reform coming soon

NCAA President Mark Emmert is hopeful the scandal roiling college basketball will lead to major rule changes, but schools paying players is likely a nonstarter.

In a 45-minute phone interview Friday with the Associated Press, Emmert said he expects a commission to reform college basketball to put forth proposals to modernize NCAA rules on player-agent relationships, devise new ways to handle high-profile enforcement cases and address the NBA’s one-and-done rule. The commission, led by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, is on track to give its recommendations to NCAA leadership April 24-25.

Emmert says he does not think the NCAA is in crisis and that the “vast majority of what’s going on inside” the associations is working “incredibly well.”

“Yes, we’ve got these very serious issues which require serious change and they erode people’s belief in the integrity of all college sports,” Emmert said. “That’s a very serious problem and that’s got to be addressed and we’re doing that right now and I’m really optimistic that before basketball season next year we’re going to have really meaningful change that makes this circumstance, if not completely go away, dramatically better than the problems that exist today.” Big Ten tournament: Cassius Winston hit a goahead jumper with 7:17 to play and No. 2 Michigan State won its 13th straight game, battling past Wisconsin 63-60 in the quarterfinals at Madison Square Garden.

Miles Bridges led the topseeded Spartans (29-3) with 20 points and Winston finished with 17 in advancing to a semifinal Saturday against No. 15 Michigan. Ethan Happ scored 22 points to lead the Badgers (15-18).

Muhammad-Ali AbdurRahkman scored 21 points and Moe Wagner added 20 as the fifth-seeded Wolverines (26-7) dealt a significant blow to Nebraska’s NCAA hopes, beating the Cornhuskers 77-58.