Roundup: Three Pac-12 schools respond to Yahoo! Sports reports of NCAA violations

Yahoo! Sports is reporting that documents involved in an FBI investigation of college basketball show payments were allegedly made from a sports agency to current and former student-athletes, in violation of NCAA rules. Among those named in the documents were current USC players Bennie Boatwright and Chimezie Metu as well as former student-athletes Kyle Kuzma (Utah) and Markelle Fultz (Washington).

Before the Wildcats’ overtime win at Oregon State, Allonzo Trier was declared ineligible by the NCAA after testing positive for a banned substance (ESPN). Arizona said in a statement the test “revealed the reappearance of a trace amount of a banned substance” and “the amount detected was miniscule by scientific standards and appears to be a remnant of a substance, which the NCAA agreed, Allonzo had unknowingly ingested in 2016.” Allonzo’s mother, Marcie, gave a statement to ESPN that is included in the link.

On the court, The Salt Lake Tribune covers how Parker Van Dyke, David Collette and Justin Bibbins led surging Utah to its fifth straight win. The Runnin' Utes downed UCLA 84-78 Thursday in Salt Lake City.

The Seattle Times' Percy Allen writes that a 94-78 loss Thursday night on The Farm has left the Huskies battered, bruised and NCAA Tournament hopes severely hampered.

Kristen Simon hit a 3-pointer with one second left to lead USC women’s basketball to a 53-52 overtime win over Utah (Pac-12 Networks recap). Simon finished with 16 points and 15 rebounds to keep the Trojans’ NCAA tourney hopes alive and well.

Malachi Flynn talked with Pac-12 Networks’ Matt Muehlebach after Washington State’s 78-76 win at Cal, giving the Cougs their third conference victory of the season.

Rusty Simmons notes that after the loss to Wazzu, Cal men’s basketball is all alone in last place. The Golden Bears have their final home game of the season against Washington.

UCLA women’s basketball held off Colorado 73-67 Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion behind 20 points and 11 assists from Jordin Canada (Pac-12 Networks recap).

Read this Michelle Smith feature on Oregon women’s basketball sharpshooter Lexi Bando, who grew up living and breathing Oregon athletics in Eugene and is now two games away from helping lead the Ducks to a regular-season conference title.

A cold second half cost Arizona State men’s basketball in a 75-68 loss at Oregon Thursday night, writes Doug Haller. The Sun Devils shot 39 percent for the game but just 29 percent in the second half.

Fresh off a sweep of the LA schools at home, Oregon State women’s basketball feels like it can beat anybody, notes Andrew Greif. Kudos to Scott Rueck and his players for churning out a 21-6 season thus far after losing the talent it has over the last couple of years due to graduation.

The Pac-12 Wrestling Championships are Sunday in Corvallis, and Stanford heavyweight Nathan Butler was named Pac-12 Wrestling Scholar-Athlete of the Year. The potential All-American is the No. 8 heavyweight in the country and carries a 3.54 GPA as a computer science major.

Here’s a Colorado spring football position preview of the running backs, brought to us by Brian Howell. The Buffs begin spring practice Friday.