The scandals over the past week have scarred the 2002-03 college basketball season. Coaches have lost their jobs, teams have been denied postseason appearances, games have been forfeited and players have quit on their programs.

The ongoing investigations, allegations, denials and speculation will continue across the country and last long after a national champion is crowned next month. But, the ramifications will extend beyond the campuses of Georgia, Louisville, St. Bonaventure and Fresno State. The NCAA Tournament itself will be impacted.

It happened in 2000. It will happen again in 2003.

	As if Kentucky, the SEC and NCAA tournaments weren't enough, Damien Wilkins and the Bulldogs must deal with off-court issues.

Just ask Auburn coach Cliff Ellis.

Auburn was a potential top three seed team before Chris Porter's eligibility was stripped in 2000. The Tigers were 21-5 heading into a February game at Florida when Porter was ruled ineligible. The Tigers lost to the Gators, then got beat at home by LSU and again lost at Arkansas. The skid reached four in a row before the Tigers beat Florida and South Carolina, and then lost to Arkansas in the championship of the SEC tournament.

The Tigers, who were once ranked as high as No. 8 in the country, finished 24-10 and ended up with a No. 7 seed. Auburn beat Creighton in the first round and lost to Iowa State on the first weekend. Ellis said he sees a lot of those 2000 Tigers in some of today's scandal-ridden teams.

"What is going to happen to teams that go through this is you're going to have an initial down period before the team is resilient and that's what we went through," Ellis said. "You've just got to get through all of the media coverage."

Welcome to Georgia's world. There's been a media feeding frenzy in Athens since Tony Cole's interview with ESPN -- and the Georgia case is still developing.

No matter the outcome of the ongoing NCAA investigation, the Bulldogs could fall into a similar situation as Minnesota in 1999 when the Gophers learned of their academic fraud case as the NCAA Tournament began. Players were suspended and the team lost in the first round to Gonzaga.

Georgia won't lose any players and its seed shouldn't be affected by the allegations of academic fraud and extra benefits to Cole. The committee is supposed to be unbiased in its judging of teams that are only under investigation. But the firing of assistant coach Jim Harrick Jr. and the constant questioning of head coach Jim Harrick could weigh on this team as it approaches the tournament. The Bulldogs proved to be a resilient bunch Wednesday night, though, beating No. 3 Florida.

Fresno State's situation is far different, not only because the Bulldogs won't be going to the NCAAs, but in how the school treated the team.

The Bulldogs' administration pulled a selfish act by taking away the NCAA Tournament from the WAC regular-season champions only 48 hours after they won the title. This move was clearly an effort by those in charge to hopefully start with a clean slate next season when Fresno State moves into the SaveMart Campus arena. One problem, the administration is assuming that its self-imposed, one-year postseason ban will mean the infractions committee won't add on to it in 2004 when it issues its verdict on allegations of academic fraud. There isn't a penalty conversion chart, and nowhere does it states that if a school puts itself on a postseason ban, then the committee has to accept the penalty.

Fresno State should have followed the lead of Michigan and Minnesota, which is impose any penalties or bans at the start of the season. It's the only fair treatment of the current players, who'll then know going into the season that they aren't playing in the postseason. These Bulldogs were used as a pawn by the school to ensure it doesn't ruin next season.

Even Fresno State's absence impacts the NCAA Tournament, not only opening up a possible at-large spot, but also affecting the seeding of the WAC tournament champion. The Bulldogs had a chance to get in on their own without winning the league tournament. Now, they won't even compete in the WAC tournament.

The WAC tournament is now wide open, with teams like Tulsa, Hawaii or Nevada most likely emerging with the automatic bid. It's up to the selection committee to find a spot for the WAC champ at the back end of the bracket.

Fresno State coach Ray Lopes stated publicly that he was disappointed, but understood the timing of his administration's move. But privately Lopes wasn't pleased. The chance to win a conference tournament title and go to the NCAA Tournament in his first season was stripped away from him. He knew going into Fresno State that sanctions were likely, but not at this late stage, not for this season.

"I can't imagine what Ray is going through," said Minnesota coach Dan Monson, whose team sat out the 2000 postseason because of academic fraud under the previous coaching staff. "I would envision that it's harder to learn late about the postseason than at the beginning of the season. Ray was going somewhere."

The NCAA's investigative arm made life a bit easier for the selection committee when it ruled Marvin Stone eligible at Louisville. Had the NCAA kept Stone out longer than the one-game suspension he served, pending his investigation, it would have had a major seeding dilemma. Well, the issue is back again.

Stone was held out of Saturday night's game against Charlotte based on what school officials called a "rules interpretation" that it sent to the NCAA, Louisville officials told the Courier-Journal newspaper.

Stone's attorney, Don Jackson, told the Courier-Journal that the ruling involved Western Union money transfers that Stone has received from family members.

Should the committee have assumed Stone could return for the dance? Which Louisville does the committee seed? The one with Stone, or the one that played the first semester of the season without him and beat East Carolina and Charlotte without him? Should the Cardinals be penalized for having a player under investigation?

These are all questions that would have arisen in the Indianapolis headquarters next week. Instead, the issue is moot. The committee can judge Louisville on its own merit and that's why the Cardinals seeding will drop because of losses in five of seven games. And that does include judging Louisville without injured forward Ellis Myles, out for the rest of the season with an ACL injury.

"What you do with these teams that have eligibility issues is you treat them like it's an injury. Sort of like what happened to Cincinnati when Kenyon Martin got hurt and they dropped from a No. 1 to a No. 2 seed because he wasn't coming back and they lost when he was out for a game," one selection committee member said. "But the Georgia situation is different. You can't judge a seeding based on allegations about the program. Now, if they lost a couple of games then that's different."

As for the St. Bonaventure case. While intriguing, it's safe to say the Bonnies weren't going to be an NCAA Tournament team at .500 in the A-10 and a long shot to win the conference tournament. The RPI for the teams that played the Bonnies in the league, or during the non-conference season, won't change. But the win total in the league for Dayton might be an interesting case study.

What we're hearing ...
About exempted tournaments ... There are some dog tourneys being formed for next season because of the 2-in-4 rule. Teams just don't have an exemption left for 2003, leaving a number of tourneys with weak fields. The Maui Invitational might be the worst ever with Central Michigan, Dayton, Hawaii, Ohio State, San Diego State, Santa Clara, Villanova and Chaminade. The tournament might not have a ranked team when it begins Nov. 24-26. The Paradise Jam in the Virgin Islands has commitments from Boston College, Hampton, Monmouth, Appalachian State and LaSalle and is looking for one more.

On foreign tours ... Portland and New Mexico want to commit to a fall break October trip like Duke did this season. The Pilots are willing to go to Europe, while the Lobos want to go to Vancouver. The trip has to be on days off from school. Freshmen and newcomers can attend if it's during the school year. Michigan is trying to set up a trip across the boarder to Canada. Some schools have told tour operators at Basketball Travelers that they might want to switch their trips from Europe to Australia, because of the pending war. The only school that has called to cancel with Basketball Travelers was the Connecticut women's team, which had a trip planned to Italy and France.

On Lon Kruger ... His name is circulating for UCLA's impending opening, among others. He will be a part of the coaching carousel and his price tag doesn't have to be so high considering he got his payday with the Hawks.

On Larry Shyatt ... If Clemson doesn't honor his final two years of his contract, look for Shyatt to go home and ultimately replace Rollie Massimino, who' battling with Cleveland State. The Vikings haven't pushed him out yet, but it could occur within a few weeks if an agreement can be reached.

On Jameer Nelson ...The Hawks don't think the junior point guard will bolt for the NBA, and they've got the enticement of retiring his jersey next year at Saint Joseph's. The Hawks haven't had a player who has had this much influence in decades.

About Injuries ... Don't be surprised to see teams with banged up players like Florida's Matt Bonner (foot) and Arizona's Luke Walton (ankle) sit out the middle game of the conference tournament, or have them play limited minutes. Both players have benefited from playing games with a two- or three-day break. But both injuries could be inflamed by playing back-to-back-to-back games and that could hurt them in the NCAA Tournament.

On Texas ... The Longhorns picked up a major recruiting coup away from Oklahoma and Kansas when they got a commitment from Houston Jones High guard Daniel Gibson -- one of the best players in the junior class. He's the third junior from Houston to commit to a school. The first one was 6-5 shooting guard Jawann McClellan (Milby High) to Arizona and the second one was 6-4 Dion Dowell from Texas City High to the Longhorns.

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com. His Weekly Word on college basketball is updated Fridays throughout the year.