Arizona head coach Sean Miller huddles with the Wildcats while awaiting for the verdict on a flagrant foul on forward Jordan Brown (21) against Montana in the second half of their game at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., December 22, 2020.

 Kelly Presnell / Arizona Daily Star

Arizona’s basketball program used to run with college basketball’s β€œin crowd.” Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, all of ’em. Glory days.

Now the Wildcats find themselves in the β€œout crowd,” literally.

Over the last 60 years, only four schools now in the Pac-12 have been banned from postseason basketball participation. Arizona is No. 5.

The Star's Justin Spears and Alec White recap a busy weekend in Arizona athletics, specifically the UA women's basketball team's split of the Bay Area, and the current state of the Wildcats heading into the final game of the regular season. Star basketball writer Bruce Pascoe joins to look back on the Arizona men's basketball squad's upset win over No. 17 USC, along with what's ahead for the Cats. Plus, are Arizona fans too impatient with Sean Miller?

That’s five basketball teams from a possible field of 720. It sheds light on just how damaging it is for Arizona to be in such grievous company.

If that’s not being out, what is?

Arizona self-imposed its postseason penalties this year, as did USC in 2010. The others β€” Utah’s 1962 team, UCLA’s 1982 team, Cal’s 1998 team β€” were banned by the NCAA.

How do you get removed from college basketball’s postseason? It’s predictable stuff, mostly linked to impermissible payments to players. Here’s a brief review of the Pac-12’s schools:

  • Utah, 1962. The Utes were coming off the 1961 Final Four and loaded, a serious national championship contender. But an NCAA investigation found that Utah boosters had given a loan to a basketball player and also paid him for a job that he did not work. The ’62 Utes went 23-3, finishing the season on a 14-1 run. Utah coach Jack Gardner was not implicated in the payments. He would coach the Utes to another Final Four in 1966.
  • UCLA, 1981. The Bruins’ streak of 16 consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament ended when the NCAA discovered that several players had sold tickets to boosters for excessive amounts, received use of automobiles at no charge and were allowed to live in apartments without charge. Head coach Larry Farmer, in his first year, served the penalties for what occurred under former Bruins coaches Gary Cunningham and Larry Brown. The 1981-82 Bruins might’ve won the national title had they been given the chance. They finished by winning 15 of their final 16 games.
  • Cal, 1997. The Bears were found to have paid $30,000 to the parents of a former player and fired coach Todd Bozeman. Coach Ben Braun, in his second season, served the ban in 1997-98, although the Bears only went 12-15.
  • USC, 2010. The Trojans self-imposed a postseason ban in January 2010 when it was discovered that 2008 star freshman O.J. Mayo had been paid by booster Rodney Guillory. Mayo’s coach, Tim Floyd, resigned in June 2009; Kevin O’Neill coached the 2009-10 Trojans to a 16-14 record.

USC returned $206,000 it had been paid to play in the 2008 NCAA Tournament. β€œNothing is more important than the integrity of the institution and its people,” said USC senior vice president Todd R. Dickey.

Arizona received the NCAA’s Notice of Allegations last fall, but has not made any of that content available to the public. But judging from the four conference basketball schools to serve a postseason ban the last 60 years, it’s probably not nickel-and-dime stuff.

In a broader historical perspective, Arizona’s decision to withdraw from the Pac-12 Tournament and eliminate itself from consideration for the NCAA Tournament, puts it in an even more damning category.

Since 1957, only 10 Pac-12 schools have served postseason bans in football. The consequences of all 10 were serious enough to make you wonder if any coach can survive such a penalty.

When the league’s ranking football power, Washington, was placed on a two-year postseason ban in 1994 β€” UW boosters were alleged to have paid a quarterback $30,000 for a summer job β€” iconic coach Don James resigned, even though he wasn’t linked to the payments. The Huskies never regained their West Coast dominance.

USC’s football powerhouse was taken apart in June 2010 when the NCAA placed the Trojans on a two-year postseason ban for impermissible payments to a player and his family. Head coach Pete Carroll had resigned five months earlier. The Trojans haven’t been the same since.

And it’s not just football and basketball postseason bans that have turned Pac-12 programs inside out.

Arizona State’s longtime baseball juggernaut was toppled in December 2010, banned from the 2011 postseason for alleged recruiting violations. Coach Pat Murphy, who led the Sun Devils to three straight Pac-10 championships and three College World Series in five years, resigned during the investigation.

He later told Baseball America: β€œThere’s a lot of people in this world that had a lot worse things happen to them. It’s unfortunate what happened. I know it’s a business and a political thing and it’s happened to many people. But you can’t feel sorry for yourself.”

ASU baseball has not won a Pac-12 championship or been to the College World Series since.

In 1995, UCLA won the NCAA softball national championship using three players the NCAA determined to be ineligible; those three players were counted as part of the UCLA soccer team’s scholarship limit.

As a result, legendary Bruins coach Sharon Backus, who won nine national titles, resigned before the 1997 season began. UCLA forfeited its ’95 championship and was barred from the ’98 postseason, a year in which it went 18-27, the only losing season in school history.

Said Backus, who was only 51: β€œThe ongoing NCAA probe of the softball program has created a lot of stress that I feel is best to put behind me at this time.”

Now Arizona and its coach, Sean Miller, know the feeling.

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Contact sports columnist Greg Hansen at 520-573-4362 or ghansen@tucson.com. On Twitter: @ghansen711.