Men's College Basketball

The National Labor Relations Board's Los Angeles region has ruled in favor of USC football and basketball players seeking legal employment recognition, per Daniel Libit of Sportico.

The National College Players Association filed an unfair labor practice charge against USC, the Pac-12 and the NCAA on behalf of the athletes, and the NLRB found "merit" in it in Thursday's ruling.

NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo said in a statement that all three bodies have "maintained unlawful rules and unlawfully misclassified scholarship basketball and football players as mere 'student-athletes' rather than employees entitled to protections under our law."

NCPA Executive Director Ramogi Huma said, "Gaining employee status and the right to organize is an important part in ending NCAA sports business practices that illegally exploit college athletes' labor."

Huma previously helped lead a unionization effort by Northwestern athletes.

While the NLRB's Chicago region ruled in 2014 that Northwestern football players should be considered employees, the national NLRB board declined to assert jurisdiction. Per Libit, though, it would have to assert jurisdiction with this case since it came through an unfair labor practices charge.

Barring a settlement, this case will go before an administrative law judge. Any findings from the judge can be appealed to the national NLRB board.

Thursday's ruling comes after the NCAA announced that Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker will take over for the departing Mark Emmert as the organization's president March 1.

It is a new era for college sports thanks to name, image and likeness rules that allow athletes to make money, and Baker will be juggling how to proceed under such a system.

Thursday's ruling in regards to USC could be another challenge for the NCAA.

Baker has a background in politics, and Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic reported those involved in the search saw him as "uniquely suited to the NCAA's present needs" because of a track record of "successfully forging bipartisan solutions to complex problems."

There will likely need to be a number of solutions reached as the NIL era continues, and Thursday's ruling could create another situation that has to be navigated by all sides.

Xavier head coach Sean Miller won't face any sanctions from the NCAA's investigation into alleged recruiting violations during his time at the University of Arizona.

Per Jeff Goodman of Stadium, Miller will not be subject to NCAA discipline based on the Independent Accountability Resolution Process' ruling.

Goodman did note that Book Richardson received a 10-year show-cause penalty and Mark Phelps received a two-year show-cause penalty. Both men were assistant coaches on Miller's staff with the Wildcats.

A majority of the penalties received by the University of Arizona were self-imposed, including its one-year postseason ban during the 2020-21 season, loss of one scholarship for the 2023-24 academic year and a $5,000 fine plus one percent of the average men's basketball budget based on the average of the previous three budgets.

The only new discipline imposed by the IARP was a seven-week recruiting communication ban for the 2022-23 academic year.

Richardson was sentenced to three months in prison and two years of supervised probation in June 2019 after pleading guilty to a bribery charge.

Former assistants Tony Bland (USC) and Lamont Evans (Oklahoma State) also reached plea deals with federal prosecutors. All three men accepted bribes to steer players toward agents and financial advisors.

Former Adidas executives James Gatto, Merl Code and business manager Christian Dawkins also received prison sentences on wire fraud charges.

Miller was initially expected to testify during the trial, but United States District Court Judge Edgardo Ramos ruled in April 2019 the question of whether or not Miller paid his players was "irrelevant" to the case involving Richardson.

The University of Arizona fired Miller in April 2021, with athletic director Dave Heeke saying in a statement they were "evaluating the overall position of the program, and that includes on-court and off-court elements."

After sitting out the 2021-22 season, Miller was hired at Xavier in March. He returned to the school after previously serving as head coach for the Musketeers from 2004 to 2009.

The following article contains descriptions of interpersonal violence.

The Texas Longhorns announced men's basketball coach Chris Beard was suspended ahead of Monday's game against Rice following his arrest.

"The University takes matters of interpersonal violence involving members of its community seriously," Texas said in a statement, per Dana O'Neil of The Athletic. "… The University has suspended Chris Beard from his position as head coach of Men's Basketball and will withhold his pay until further notice."

The school also said associate head coach Rodney Terry will serve as acting head coach.

Matt Norlander of CBS Sports reported Beard was arrested and booked on a charge of assault against a family/household member, a third-degree felony, early Monday morning.

Tony Plohetski, Danny Davis and Ryan Autullo of the Austin American-Statesman reported Beard was booked into jail at 4:18 a.m. and released on a $100,000 bond.

The Austin American-Statesman report cited Beard's affidavit, which said a woman who said she was the head coach's fiancée told police "he just snapped on me and became super violent" after she broke his reading glasses while taking them from his hand.

She said he slapped her glasses off her face and "choked me, threw me off the bed, bit me, bruises all over my leg, throwing me around, and going nuts."

The woman also said Beard used his arm to impede her breathing and choke her from behind for five seconds.

According to the affidavit, the woman's visible injuries included a bite mark, abrasions to the right eyebrow and left leg, and dried blood on a cut on her left thumb.

Perry Minton, who is Beard's attorney, said he is "100 percent innocent of these charges. He should never have been arrested."

Beard was the head coach of Little Rock and Texas Tech before joining the Longhorns ahead of the 2021-22 campaign.

Texas is 7-1 on the season. Its next game following Monday's is Sunday against Stanford.

Purdue is the new No. 1 team in the Associated Press poll after a chaotic week of men's college basketball.

Houston and Texas each suffered their first losses of the year, knocking off the top two teams from last week. It left Virginia, Purdue and Connecticut all as legitimate options to put on top of the Week 6 rankings.

Voters decided on the Boilers, marking the third different No. 1 team for the 2022-23 season. Purdue received 27 first-place votes for a narrow edge over Virginia (19) and UConn (15). Tennessee also received one first-place vote.

Here is the full Top 25 this week.

AP Poll

1. Purdue

2. Virginia

3. UConn

4. Alabama

5. Houston

6. Tennessee

7. Texas

8. Kansas

9. Arizona

10. Arkansas

11. Baylor

12. Duke

13. Kentucky

14. Indiana

15. Gonzaga

16. UCLA

17. Mississippi State

18. Illinois

19. Auburn

20. Maryland

21. TCU

22. Wisconsin

23. Ohio State

24. Virginia Tech

25. Miami (Florida)

Alabama has earned a reputation as a giant killer already this season, knocking off then-No. 1 North Carolina last month before pulling off a 71-65 upset over Houston on Saturday.

Houston led by as many as 15 points, but the Crimson Tide fought their way back with a balanced effort and some key momentum-swinging plays.

It put the 8-1 squad in rare territory this season:

Alabama surged up four spots to No. 4 in the latest poll, while Houston is now down to fifth.

UConn, the only team to beat Alabama this year, is No. 3 after convincing victories over Florida and Long Island University.

Texas dropped from No. 2 to No. 7 after suffering an overtime loss to Illinois at Madison Square Garden. Terrence Shannon Jr. was a star in the extra session to help the Illini clinch the upset:

It was a high point of a strange week for Illinois, which also lost to Maryland and Penn State to start 0-2 in the Big Ten.

Purdue has also had some problems early in conference play, barely escaping with a 65-62 overtime win against Nebraska. The squad is still 10-0 and a clear top contender in both the conference and nationally.

Virginia remains undefeated at 8-0 after a 55-50 win over James Madison, once again showing the grit needed to pull out a tough victory. There are now only seven teams in Division I without a loss this season, including three in the Mountain West.

Tennessee (9-1) has bounced back from an early-season loss to win eight in a row, including a hard-fought victory over Maryland to climb one spot to No. 6 in the latest poll.

There should be even more movement after next week's games, with Saturday's slate featuring Virginia at home against Houston, Gonzaga against Alabama and Kansas versus Indiana.

Texas men's basketball coach Chris Beard was arrested early Monday morning and charged with assault on a family/household member, a third-degree felony, according to Tony Plohetski of the Austin American-Statesman and Matt Norlander of CBS Sports.

Austin police reported to a "disturbance hot shot" at 12:15 a.m. local time, per Norlander.

According to the Travis County Sheriff's Office (via The Athletic), Beard's official charge is "assault by strangulation/suffocation – family violence."

Beard is engaged and has three daughters from a previous marriage.

Per the sheriff's office (via The Athletic), Beard's bond was set at $10,000. The Athletic also noted additional conditions to the bond:

"An additional condition of the bond requires Beard to stay 200 yards away from the victim and from his house as the case is pending. There is also a protection order in place, meaning Beard cannot communicate in a threatening way with the victim through Feb. 10, 2023."

Dana O'Neil of The Athletic reported on Monday afternoon that it appears Beard is no longer in jail:

Beard has since been suspended without pay, with associate head coach Rodney Terry set to fill in as the head coach for Monday's game against Rice at the Moody Center in Austin.

The 49-year-old is in his second season with Texas, joining his alma mater after spending the previous five years with Texas Tech.

He led the Longhorns to the NCAA tournament in his first season before helping the squad to a 7-1 start to the 2022-23 campaign. Texas won its first six games, reaching No. 2 in the Associated Press poll, before suffering its first loss last week against Illinois.

Beard has a 171-73 career record in Division I across eight seasons with Texas, Texas Tech and Little Rock, including one Final Four appearance.

The No. 8 Alabama men's basketball team beat previously undefeated No. 1 Houston 71-65 on Saturday afternoon from Fertitta Center.

Freshman forward Noah Clowney led the Crimson Tide with 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting, 11 rebounds and two blocks to take down the host Cougars, who fell to 9-1.

First-year guard Jaden Bradley added 12 points, five rebounds and four assists off the bench. Freshman forward Brandon Miller missed all eight of his field goals but hit eight of nine free throws alongside five rebounds and two steals.

Houston led 44-29 early in the second half, but Alabama outscored the Cougars 42-21 for the remainder of the game.

The Crimson Tide slowly chopped away at the Cougar advantage before a Mark Sears three-pointer gave Alabama a 63-62 lead with 3:05 remaining.

Miller hit six free throws in the final minute to keep Houston at bay and lead Alabama to an 8-1 mark.

Junior guard Jamal Shead's 19 points led Houston and all scorers. Tramon Mark added 10 points for the Cougars.

This was a rough offensive outing for the Cougars, though. Houston shot 39.1 percent from the field and hit just three of 13 three-pointers. The Cougars also made just 12 of 22 free throws.

Alabama didn't shoot particularly well either (40.7 percent from the field, 30.4 percent from three). But the Crimson Tide frequently went to the line, making 20 of 32 shots from the charity stripe.

Both teams will play at home Tuesday. The Crimson Tide will host Memphis, and Houston will welcome North Carolina A&T.