NC State has issued its response to the Notice of Allegations delivered by the NCAA over the summer. Not surprisingly, the response includes a good amount of push-back on what the NCAA alleged, particularly regarding T.J. Gassnola’s testimony in which he claimed that Dennis Smith Jr. received a $40,000 payment to attend NC State.
Namely that there is no evidence outside of Gassnola’s testimony that the payment was ever made. The NCAA is not likely to magically find that evidence—if it exists at all—at this point.
NC State also recommended several self-imposed sanctions, none of which include a postseason ban:
— the loss of one scholarship for 2021-22 (or sooner if one opens up)
— a reduced number of official visits during the 2019-20 academic year
— a $5,000 fine
— a two-week period in 2019-20 during which unofficial visits would be prohibited
That’s not exactly a crippling list of sanctions, and therefore I recommend that the NCAA agree to all of them and be done with the case.