Fresno State Athletics
WAC Rules Men's Basketball Ineligible for Conference Tournament
3/4/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 4, 2003
University Statement: The Western Athletic Conference decision today to bar the participation of the championship Fresno State men's basketball team from the WAC Tournament is a major disappointment.
Academic fraud violations are serious and California State University, Fresno, has already taken harsh action in self-imposing sanctions to ban our participation in the NCAA or NIT postseason tournaments. As a result, our current players and the university today are paying a heavy price for the mistakes of former players and employees.
We are very disappointed for our players and Coach Lopes; we will abide by the decision of the WAC.
In doing so however, we acknowledge the WAC's declaration of support for stringent action when a university is in violation of NCAA rules and presume that it will hold every WAC member to this standard.
The Fresno State Bulldogs men's basketball team of 2002-03 will always be the undisputed 2003 champions of the Western Athletic Conference.
"We are disappointed not to be playing in the WAC Tournament," said head coach Ray Lopes. "But we've got to be strong. We've still got two games left to play, and we need to go out and compete like the champions we are. Our team accomplished a lot this year. We won a conference championship, and that's not easy to do. We played hard, were resilient and overcame adversity. I'm very proud of what this team was able to do this year."
Those who have already purchased tickets for the WAC Tournament should submit them by April 1 to the WAC Office for a full refund. The address is 9250 E. Costilla, Suite 300, Englewood, CO 80112-3662.
