NCAA bans Georgia Tech from 2020 postseason, takes away scholarships

ATLANTA — Georgia Tech men’s basketball team and coach Josh Pastner were dealt a crushing blow to the impending 2019-20 season, as the NCAA infractions committee banned the Yellow Jackets from the postseason in the wake of an investigation into recruiting improprieties committed by former assistant coach Darryl LaBarrie and Ron Bell, a former friend of Pastner’s whom the NCAA classified as a booster.

The ban was handed down Thursday at the end of the NCAA’s investigation. Tech will also face four years of probation, a reduction of one scholarship for each year of probation, significant recruiting restrictions for the length of the probation and a $5,000 fine in addition to 2% of the team’s budget.

The postseason ban is particularly punitive, as Pastner has repeatedly spoken of his intention to return the Yellow Jackets to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2010. The ban means that Tech’s season will end with the final regular-season game, March 6 at Clemson, with no opportunity to play in the ACC tournament.

Pastner’s fourth Jackets team has had the look of a team capable of challenging for a tournament bid, with 73% of the team’s scoring returning, including returning starters James Banks, Jose Alvarado and Michael Devoe. The additions of transfers Jordan Usher and Bubba Parham also stood to add scoring and playmaking ability for a team that needed both.