OU men's basketball close to resolving investigation, Castilgione says

ARDMORE — Athletic director Joe Castiglione believes Oklahoma is getting closer to resolving the NCAA investigation into its men's basketball program.

Castiglione said after a board of regents meeting Wednesday that there are "signs that we're moving toward resolution" and there "probably will" be developments he can comment on later this summer.

The university has been tightlipped about the investigation since acknowledging in April 2010 that it was working jointly with the NCAA in the process. The school has refused to release any records pertaining to the investigation, instead withholding them until the process is finished.

Former player Keith "Tiny" Gallon has said he took $3,000 from a Florida financial adviser so his high school would release his transcripts and he could play for the Sooners. Phone and e-mail records tied the adviser, Jeffrey Hausinger, to former Oklahoma assistant coach Oronde Taliaferro, who resigned following last season when the investigation was beginning.

"We're certainly hopeful to get it to a resolution soon," Castiglione said. "It just needs to be resolved. We've gathered every piece of information we could possibly gather and responded to every request, facilitated any and all interviews. We're just waiting for the next step."

Oklahoma was on probation for major rules violations involving hundreds of impermissible recruiting phone calls by former coach Kelvin Sampson at the time the new investigation started.

Jeff Capel, who was the Sooners' coach when Gallon was recruited, was fired in March and replaced by Lon Kruger.

Jeff Evans