Memphis finds no proof of cheating

ESPN.com news services

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Memphis was unable to find proof that a former player cheated on his SAT exam in its internal investigation of NCAA allegations against the men's basketball team.

The investigation report, released to The Associated Press and other news outlets Tuesday under a public records request, details Memphis' internal investigation into allegations that a former player -- widely reported to be Derrick Rose -- allowed a stand-in to take his SAT test and of grade tampering.

Memphis was first notified by the NCAA by e-mail in May 2008, one month after the Tigers lost to Kansas in the NCAA championship game, that star freshman point guard Rose had an invalidated standardized test score the previous year at Chicago's Simeon High School, multiple sources with direct knowledge of an e-mail told ESPN.com.

Most names in the report released Tuesday were redacted by Memphis because of privacy concerns, but an attorney for Rose has acknowledged that Rose cooperated with an investigation of similar allegations while still a student, and multiple sources have told ESPN.com that representatives of Rose did tell Memphis he took the SAT in question.

Memphis will present its findings to the NCAA Committee on Infractions on Saturday.

Rose helped the Tigers to an NCAA-record 38 wins in the 2007-08 season and appearance in the NCAA final. Last June, Rose became the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft by his hometown Chicago Bulls.

On Monday, Bulls executive vice president for business operations Steve Schanwald said the team stood by Rose.

"Where the truth lies, who knows?" Schanwald told Comcast SportsNet Chicago. "But Derrick says it didn't happen, and I take him at his word."

A source told ESPN.com that former Memphis coach John Calipari was floored to think Rose could have been ineligible as a freshman. So, too, was the university's legal counsel, which is fighting the NCAA over finding out about the "student-athlete's" invalid test score, after the season concluded and after he had been ruled eligible by the NCAA clearinghouse to compete the previous fall.

Memphis athletic director R.C. Johnson has said throughout the past week he doesn't anticipate the case will affect new coach Josh Pastner's program, either in scholarship reduction or any kind of postseason ban.

Calipari left Memphis in April to become the new coach at Kentucky.

Information from ESPN.com senior writer Andy Katz and The Associated Press was used in this report.