NCAA’s Investigation Of The University North Carolina Coming To A Close

The North Carolina men's basketball team, led by former Linn-Mar prep Marcus Paige, has advanced to the 2016 NCAA Final Four this weekend, but a dark cloud is looming over the university.

The Tar Heels head to Houston this weekend as the favorite to win the NCAA Basketball Title. Meanwhile, the NCAA is getting close to wrapping up its investigation of the school's academic fraud violations. The trail of violations could date to 1993. It's said to have continued until 2011 and involved multiple sports and over 3,000 student athletes.

NCAA president Mark Emmert told USA Today Sports, “It has obviously been a long, drawn-out process. It took the university a long time to gather the facts on their end. “Sometime in the relatively near future, we’ll move toward a resolution."

The investigation started in July 2010 and uncovered violations within the football program. It resulted in sanctions against the program, which have already been fulfilled.

In May of last year, the NCAA charged North Carolina with five major violations, which resulted in what was called a "severe breach of conduct." "Fake classes" and wrongful help finishing classwork are all being investigated.

What will the penalties be? Will a future postseason ban and/or a loss of scholarships be ahead for one or more of the university's programs? The answers should be coming soon. The NCAA Committee on Infractions will hear all the information before the final judgment is announced.

[via Sporting News and USA Today Sports]