UTEP Hoops Kicks Off 3 For Betting

((HT: KVIA-TV/ESPN))

And, is it just us, or does Tim Floyd look old and tired now...???

The University of Texas-El Paso men's hoops program has kicked three players off their team for alleged betting- but not on their own games at present- as determined by an FBI investigation that is still ongoing...

Justin Crosgile, McKenzie Moore, and Jalen Ragland were kicked off the team and kicked out of school. Head coach Tim Floyd maintained in an afternoon press conference that the information on the three came from a tip to his office, but he declined to say who gave the tip...

Floyd tried to joke the situation off saying he "felt sorry for the kids on the team and the fans." He also asked the fans in El Paso to "let him know if they see any point guards in the grocery store."

"We are privy to the fact that they violated rules, but we do know that up to now they were not betting on UTEP games," Ricardo Adauto, the school's executive vice president of legal affairs, said in the afternoon news conference...

Jeff Goodman caught up with Jim Basquil to talk about just how bad this is...


Here's the full statement released by the school this afternoon:

“Last month, we received information that two men’s basketball players may have been betting on sporting events. Immediately Director of Athletics Bob Stull, men’s basketball coach Tim Floyd and Richard Adauto from the President’s Office reported these allegations to university police and the FBI. Law enforcement authorities conducted a thorough investigation and determined that three men’s basketball student-athletes – Justin Crosgile, McKenzie Moore and Jalen Ragland – participated in betting on one or more sporting events. To date, there was no indication that point shaving was involved. However, per NCAA rules, any type of sports gambling is prohibited and results in a one-year suspension and loss of a year of eligibility. All three players are upperclassmen, and therefore their college basketball careers are over. They are no longer enrolled at UTEP and are no longer a part of our basketball program.”

But the larger question will become, over time, just how much Stull and Floyd knew and when they knew it...