Major violations cited in allegations against Kansas

LAWRENCE, Kan.— The University of Kansas received a notice of allegations from the NCAA on Monday that alleges significant violations within its storied men's basketball program, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press.

The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because neither the NCAA nor the school had announced the notice, which was first reported by Yahoo Sports. That initial report, citing unnamed sources, said the notice included three Level 1 violations tied primarily to recruiting, lack of institutional control and a responsibility charge leveled against Hall of Fame coach Bill Self.

Kansas had been in the NCAA'S crosshairs since early summer, when Vice President Stan Wilcox said at least six schools were likely to receive notices of allegations for Level 1 infractions. North Carolina State was the first of them, getting a notice July 10 of two violations. Arizona, Auburn, Creighton, Louisville, LSU and Southern California have also been under the microscope.

Level 1 infractions are considered the most severe by the NCAA and often include postseason bans, the forfeiture of wins and championships and the loss of scholarships. But the notice itself is only the beginning of a process that can often take more than a year.

Kansas was among the most prominent college basketball programs swept up in an NCAA probe into a payfor-play scheme that began with an FBI investigation into apparel company Adidas.

The inquiry centered on a former employee, T.J. Gassnola, who testified in October that he had made payments to several recruits for schools tied to Adidas. Among them were a $90,000 payment to the family of then-kansas recruit Billy Preston and $2,500 to the guardian of current forward Silvio De Sousa.

Gassnola testified that Self was unaware of the payments, but text messages and phone records indicate a close relationship with the coach, and an attorney for former Adidas executive James Gatto told a jury that his client approved the payment to Falmagne only after Self and his longtime assistant, Kurtis Townsend, requested Gassnola to provide it.