Thread by @JFergusonAU

Massive news: Auburn basketball has decided it will not play in the postseason in the 2020-21 season, citing the Chuck Person scandal.

Bruce Pearl has said in the past that he felt like the worst of the scandal was behind Auburn basketball.

But with the NCAA handing out more punishments for what was uncovered in the 2017 FBI operation, there apparently was enough to feel like a self-imposed ban was warranted.

As quite a few people are pointing out, this would be the time to sit out a postseason — Auburn has a young roster with no seniors and two juniors, and the season itself still feels up in the air due to the pandemic.

But this is a *brutal* blow for a lot of uninvolved players.

Auburn is not making any further comment at this time, as the press release states.

HC Bruce Pearl was expected to meet with the media sometime later this week, before the Tigers’ season opener against St. Joe’s in Ft. Myers on Thanksgiving afternoon.

Also, a reminder of what the Chuck Person scandal actually was:

Person accepted bribes from financial advisors and paid money to families of two players in hopes of getting them to retain said advisors when their sons went pro.

It was not paying players to come to Auburn.

However, Auburn felt the need to have self-imposed recruiting sanctions right after the scandal broke, and the school has admitted it expected to be charged with rules violations by the NCAA.

So while it’s not “illegal recruiting,” it’s still enough to warrant all this.