Fresno, Calif. ? Fresno State banned its men’s basketball team from playing in the postseason this year after the school confirmed allegations of academic fraud.

The Bulldogs (20-6 overall, 13-3 Western Athletic Conference) already have clinched the regular-season league title, but they won’t be permitted to play in the conference tournament, the NCAA Tournament or the NIT.

“I regret that this severe action will affect student-athletes, staff and coaches who were utterly unconnected to the problem,” university president John D. Welty said Monday. “However, it is important that this institution guarantee its academic integrity. We simply will not tolerate academic misconduct in any form.”

In mid-February, former basketball team statistician Stephen Mintz said he was enlisted to take part in a scheme to write papers in exchange for cash for three members of the school’s basketball team during the 1999-2000 season under former coach Jerry Tarkanian.

Kansas University athletic director Al Bohl was AD at Fresno State from 1996 to 2001.

While the specific violations were not revealed Monday, Welty announced that most of the allegations were true.

“While I regret having to take an action that is so hurtful to our current team, it is consistent with NCAA precedent, and I believe it is in the best long-term interest of the basketball program and the university,” he said.

¢ Al Bohl¢ Fresno State official athletics site¢ Fresno Bee report¢ Fresno State News

“Doing it now puts our program in the best possible position to enter next year with a clean slate,” he added. “Most importantly, it demonstrates to the NCAA that we are dealing with this problem in the most serious manner.”

Mintz told The Fresno Bee in February that he wrote and delivered 17 pieces of course work in 2000 for three players — Courtney Alexander, Terrance Roberson and Dennis Nathan — and was paid $1,500 for his work.

Alexander, who now plays for the New Orleans Hornets, faxed a statement to a Fresno television station after Mintz went public with the charges.

“I categorically deny that Mr. Mintz ever wrote a paper for me,” Alexander’s statement said. “All he did was type papers for me, for which he was fairly compensated. (Mintz) obviously is trying to make a name for himself at my expense.”