I'm not saying that I disagree with your overall post, but the NCAA has shown extreme leniency toward Big-10 schools and ND in the past.
What would get an SEC, ACC or Big-12 team (except Tennessee) 4 years of probation usually results in a "job well done - nothing to see here" from the NCAA when it happens to Big-10 team.
yeah but this wasn't the case here, at least with the football team.
I think the basketball team should've gotten nailed. as it was, they were skating on REALLY thin ice last year with the NCAA until they said everything was fine. They did lose an entire tournament team in 2004-2005 because of it though.
It's actually very interesting that teams in the SEC, especially teams that have a rivalry with Tennessee, don't try to plant things on them, considering what Fulmer did to Alabama.