An innocent basketball coach and 17 innocent players will be penalized at the University of Michigan this season because of the crimes committed by parties no longer associated with the program.

If that sounds familiar, it should.

ThatâÂÂs exactly what happened to Roy Williams and his Kansas University Jayhawks in 1988-89 when Williamsâ first KU team was held out of the NCAA Tournament because of violations committed by Williamsâ predecessor, Larry Brown.

âÂÂRight now my emotion is not, âÂÂ’What about those blankety-blank bad guys.â My emotion is feeling sorry for Tommy,â KU coach Williams said of Michigan coach Tommy Amaker, who worked at Duke when booster Ed Martin paid several Wolverines in the 1990s.

As a result of MartinâÂÂs actions, Michigan Ãi¿½” under a self-imposed penalty Ãi¿½” will not compete in the postseason this year.

The NCAA could issue additional penalties down the line.

âÂÂI really feel for the players there. ItâÂÂs just a sad scenario that some people allowed that stuff to go for such a long period of time. That is just bad,â Williams said.

âÂÂThereâÂÂs no way people who did the wrong (will be punished). ThereâÂÂs no way for them to be feeling the way TommyâÂÂs going to feel. ThatâÂÂs whatâÂÂs bad.âÂÂ

AmakerâÂÂs players no doubt will feel miserable come NCAA Tournament time.

âÂÂThe penalty of not going to the tournament this year is a difficult penalty,â Williams said. âÂÂHopefully for TommyâÂÂs sake thereâÂÂs no more than that. You can live through that. You start adding other things to the program âÂÂ: this is just the schoolâÂÂs proposal. The NCAA can come back and do more things.

âÂÂItâÂÂs one of the really tougher things Ãi¿½” that what went on Tommy is paying for 14 years later.âÂÂ

Martin testified in court he laundered money from illegal gambling activities by showering more than $600,000 in cash and goods on several athletes, including Chris Webber and other members of the famous Fab Five who beat KU in the 1992 Rainbow Classic Finals.

âÂÂWhat went on there is not what went on here, understand that,â Williams stressed. âÂÂThat is as big of a thing as IâÂÂve ever heard of.âÂÂ

Former KU coach Brown was penalized for allegedly paying improper benefits totaling at least $1,244 to an unnamed transfer student, believed to be Vincent Askew. Also, the NCAA found improper entertainment provided to one other prospective player.

Three âÂÂrepresentatives of the schoolâÂÂs athletic interests,â who were not named by the NCAA, but may have been boosters, were told to disassociate themselves with KUâÂÂs program.

Williams always has tried to keep boosters away from his players.

âÂÂYou canâÂÂt control everything,â the 15th-year KU coach said. âÂÂYou have heard my stance on boosters and alumni. I love âÂÂem to death, but I do try to keep âÂÂem at armâÂÂs length. I do try to keep our program under wraps. I do try to keep people away because I canâÂÂt watch every move. I canâÂÂt see everything that goes on.âÂÂ

Sometimes he just has to believe his players are doing the right thing in not accepting gifts from boosters.

âÂÂYou have to have a great deal of confidence in your players. You have to have a great deal of confidence in your playersâ families. You have to have a great deal of confidence in the alumni and everybody else to help you keep an eye on things,â Williams said.

âÂÂSome people would probably say IâÂÂm too protective or too dominating or whatever terminology you want to use, but that is a concern for every college coach in the country. Yet you are not with them 24 hours a day. You do not know whatâÂÂs going on.âÂÂ

What he does know is the pain probation can cause. NCAA sanctions prohibited KU basketball from paying for recruitsâ visits to campus for one calendar year.

âÂÂItâÂÂs the most difficult penalty the NCAA has handed out to this day. They realize how difficult it was (and havenâÂÂt handed out one as severe since),â Williams said.

At the time he knew the penalties were harsh.

âÂÂWe had a staff meeting because I wanted our coaches to hear it from me before they read it in the paper. I was really emotional speaking to my assistants,â said Williams. âÂÂSteve Robinson came from a good situation at Cornell; Kevin Stallings at Purdue; Jerry Green had been a head coach. Mark Turgeon was starting his career and I got them into something I wasnâÂÂt positive I could get them out of. I had tears on my face and Jerry said, âÂÂ’Man this bleep is getting serious.â His accent is a little more southern (than WilliamsâÂÂ). He was able to lighten the mood.âÂÂ

Also bolstering GreenâÂÂs spirit was Adonis Jordan, who signed with KU despite the probation.

âÂÂPeople have short memories. Somebody wrote that Adonis was a recruit of Larry BrownâÂÂs who stuck with me when I got the job or something. ThatâÂÂs not it,â Williams said. âÂÂWe recruited Adonis at a very difficult time. For him to stick with us made him special to the coaches and to basketball people that love Kansas who know how difficult it was at that time. It was dark days at that time.âÂÂ