Columbia, Mo. ? Missouri could start its basketball season under a lingering NCAA investigation, having received written confirmation Wednesday of a formal NCAA probe following months of intense scrutiny surrounding troubled former player Ricky Clemons.

A letter from the NCAA to Chancellor Richard Wallace, received Tuesday and released by the university Wednesday evening, was a formal notice of an inquiry already under way for several months.

Under NCAA bylaws, a school is notified in writing “if the enforcement staff has developed reasonably reliable information indicating that an institution has been in violation of the Association’s governing legislation that requires further in-person investigation …”

Missouri, which is also conducting its own investigation, will continue to cooperate with the NCAA, Wallace said in a statement.

“The NCAA inquiry and the internal investigation initiated earlier by the university will work in tandem to ensure that allegations about the men’s basketball program receive a thorough and factual inspection,” Wallace said.

The NCAA said its “present intention” is to complete the Missouri investigation by December, although David Price, the NCAA’s vice president for enforcement services, cautioned in the letter that “new information often is developed during an investigation that leads to expanded inquiries.”

Michael Devaney, the electrical engineering professor leading Missouri’s investigation, told The Associated Press he also hopes to wrap up his work by December.

Missouri plays its first exhibition game Oct. 25; the Tigers start regular-season play against Oakland in Detroit Nov. 29.

The investigation led by Devaney was prompted by allegations of academic cheating by Clemons, leveled by the athlete’s ex-girlfriend, Jessica Bunge.