In NIL-era first, NCAA gives Miami probation for violation

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Miami was placed on probation for one year on Friday after the school and the NCAA said women’s basketball coaches inadvertently helped arrange impermissible contact between a booster and two players who signed with the Hurricanes.

It’s first time the NCAA has announced a penalty related to an investigation into name, image and likeness deals — NIL, as they are called.

The NCAA probed the actions of booster John Ruiz, who has signed several Miami athletes to NIL deals. Among them are women’s basketball players Haley and Hanna Cavinder, who transferred to Miami after meeting with Ruiz — though the Cavinders told the NCAA the meeting had nothing to do with their decision to play for the Hurricanes.

The NCAA and Miami worked through a “negotiated resolution” to end the saga, but the NCAA wanted the Hurricanes to agree to more sanctions than what were ultimately handed down — saying it was “troubled” by “the absence of a disassociation of the involved booster.” The NCAA said the violation stemmed from Miami coach Katie Meier having helped facilitate a meeting between the Cavinders and Ruiz, unaware that he was a booster.

“Boosters are involved with prospects and student-athletes in ways the NCAA membership has never seen or encountered,” the NCAA said. “In that way, addressing impermissible booster conduct is critical, and the disassociation penalty presents an effective penalty available to the (committee

Meier will not have to miss any more games; she served a three-game suspension to start the season in anticipation of the NCAA’s ruling.

The NCAA never named Ruiz in its ruling Friday, but referenced an April 13 tweet posted by a booster that included a photo of him and two recruits. On that date, Ruiz posted a photo of himself with the Cavinder twins after a dinner at his home.

“These girls decided where to go, no one else did it for them,” Ruiz tweeted Friday.

The Cavinders, who have an enormous social media following and several on infractions).” NIL deals, signed their letter of intent about a week after the dinner. They are not subject to any sanctions. Both are in their first season with the Hurricanes after transferring from Fresno State.

“Although the parties asserted that a disassociation penalty would be inappropriate based on an impermissible meal and an impermissible contact, today’s new NIL-related environment represents a new day,” the NCAA said.

Meier said Friday in a statement distributed by the university that she has led programs “with integrity” and has been “a collaborative partner with the NCAA.”

“Collegiate athletics is in transformation, and any inadvertent mistake I made was prior to a full understanding of implemented guardrails and the clarification issued by the NCAA in May,” Meier said.

The NCAA said it started an investigation in May, and interviewed Ruiz in June. But the NCAA cannot order Miami to disassociate itself from Ruiz based on a meeting that occurred before rules were changed last year.

“The (committee on infractions) will strongly consider disassociation penalties in future cases involving NIL-adjacent conduct,” the NCAA said.

Miami agreed to various other minor sanctions, such as a small fine — $5,000, plus 1% of the women’s basketball budget, which the school does not release as a private institution — and a slight reduction in what’s allowed in recruiting.

“The sanctions that we ultimately agreed to, to bring this to a close, are not (commensurate) with the violation or its intent,” Miami said in a statement. “Coach Meier is an outstanding coach, role model, teacher ... and we stand fully behind her, her program and our ongoing departmental compliance efforts.”

The Cavinders became stars of the NIL phenomenon as soon as it became an option for college athletes on July 1, 2021. Boost Mobile signed them immediately, touting that move with a giant advertisement in New York’s Times Square. Many other deals soon followed.

Meier is Miami’s alltime leader in women’s basketball wins with 338, not including the three games the Hurricanes won without her this season — the NCAA says those cannot be included in her record. She is a past Associated Press coach of the year and a past USA Basketball coach of the year and is a member of the Miami Sports Hall of Fame and the Hall of Honor at Duke, her alma mater.

has had in a since scoring 21 fast-break points against Georgetown just before Christmas.

In UConn's puzzling, 85-74 loss to the Johnnies on Jan. 15 in Hartford, the Huskies had zero fast break points. The Huskies finished with 19 on Saturday.

“It's been a point of emphasis, to play off-script more,” Hurley said. “It created some really good 3's and opportunities to make plays.”

And it could have been more. Late in the first half, the Huskies missed a lob opportunity to Jackson Jr., and Tristen Newton blew a wide-open layup.

“We smoked a couple of layups,” Hurley rued. “I felt like at halftime, we should have been up 15.”

UConn scored the first six points of the latter half and pushed its lead up to 17 (62-45) after a Donovan Clingan tip-in with 13:35 to play. St. John's would get to within single digits a couple of times, including within eight with 28 seconds left after an 8-0 run covering 36 seconds. But the Huskies were able to close it out, sending at least half (maybe more) of the 12,241 fans home happy.

“It basically felt like a home game for us,” Hawkins noted.

“And the Big East tournament's gonna be even better,” Newton added. “It seemed like a home game with all the fans we had here.”

Indeed, the Huskies will return to their “home” arena in about 10 days for the conference tourney.

“Now, when we come back into this building, we're certainly going to have a lot of offensive confidence,” Hurley said. “Guys made shots here today, had some good offensive games. You get a little taste of what the environment is going to be like.”

An incredible November and December was followed by a “pretty forgettable” January for UConn. February has seemed to get the Huskies back into gear. The Huskies' last three wins, over Seton Hall, Providence and now St. John's, avenged losses back in ... you guessed it ... January.

“This set up perfectly,” said Hurley, “to get Seton Hall and Providence and St. John's, all in the same week, and to be thinking revenge week and ‘let's make a statement with our February,' and really finish February.”

Added Hawkins: “We had to get revenge. These teams got us when we were at our lowest. We had to beat these teams and finish out the season strong.”

Next up, March. DePaul in Hartford on Wednesday, at redhot Villanova on Saturday, then the Big East tournament followed by the Big Dance. And guess where the East Regionals will be held this year?

Yup, UConn's home away from home, Madison Square Garden.

Adama Sanogo added 18 points and nine rebounds for the Huskies, despite enduring chants of “G-League” by St. John's student section.

“That's cool,” Sanogo said with a smile. “I'm cool with that.”

Sanogo's backup, 7-foot-2 Donovan Clingan, contributed nine points, six boards (five of them offensive) and five blocks in just 13 minutes off the bench.

“I thought he made a huge impact,” Hurley said.

Jackson Jr. was a gametime decision after experiencing flu-like symptoms the past few days.

“He was kind of iffy this morning,” Hurley reported.

Jackson Jr.'s 15 points tied his career-best, set two games earlier against Seton Hall, but he wasn't feeling well enough to meet with the media after the game.

New York product Hassan Diarra suffered an abdominal strain in Wednesday's win over Providence and was not available to play on Saturday.

Four technical fouls were assessed on Saturday, three of them on St. John's: Esahia Nyiwe, Dylan Addae-Wusu and coach Mike Anderson. UConn's Newton was also hit with one. At first, he was hit with a second, which would have meant his ejection from the game. But after a replay review, the tech was assessed to Addae-Wusu instead.

“I picked up the ball, I guess he was trying to get the steal,” Newton recalled. “I looked over and he double-teched us. I'm glad they changed that, because that would have been not good, obviously.”

Nahiem Alleyne scored the 1,000th point of his career. He spent his first three seasons at Virginia Tech.

It was the first game in Madison Square Garden for many UConn players, including Calcaterra, a grad transfer from San Diego, and Newton, a transfer from ECU.

“I've seen it from the outside, first time inside,” said Calcaterra, who also finished with 15 points. “It was a great atmosphere here. I was just happy to give my team a lift. “This is the Mecca of basketball. Just a great environment, and I'm just happy that we're getting out of here with a win.”

Said Newton, an El Paso, Texas native: “New York is a different type of city. I stay down South. It's alright, it's cool. The Garden's great. I like the Garden. This is a great place to be, great atmosphere.” Long way from El Paso? “Long way,” he concurred.