The North Carolina Tar Heels can continue business as usual.
The NCAA announced Friday it "could not conclude that the University of North Carolina violated NCAA academic rules" when it allowed its pupils, a group that included myriad student-athletes, to take Afro and African-American Studies "paper classes" that were deemed, for a lack of a better term, extremely easy.
As the NCAA reasoned, players did reap the benefits of cupcake courses, but so did the general student body. So, the student-athletes, who may have taken the classes to remain eligible, didn't receive special benefits due to their status, and thus ended a more than three-year investigation into academic fraud, the findings of which set college basketball Twitter on fire.
MORE: North Carolina avoids major NCAA sanctions in academic fraud case
Let's look at some of the hottest takes offered after the ruling — or lack thereof.
Dear boosters: Go pay players and members of the “general student body,” then use the defense that it didn’t benefit only student-athletes. https://t.co/Zw8AmK25zm
— Gary Parrish (@GaryParrishCBS) October 13, 2017
From the start, it was clear NCAA rules did not cover this matter. What a colossal waste of time and money when NCAA knew it had no case. https://t.co/xpeJXv5gr5
— Jay Bilas (@JayBilas) October 13, 2017
Only people pissed on North Carolina’s campus today are the kids that actually went to all of their African-American studies classes.
— Fran Fraschilla (@franfraschilla) October 13, 2017
You can argue NCAA is ridiculous for failing to punish UNC or for wasting 3.5 years on a case outside its jurisdiction. Bad look either way.
— Jeff Eisenberg (@JeffEisenberg) October 13, 2017
Now y’all know the NCAA wasn’t going issue severe penalties against one of their most profitable teams. pic.twitter.com/Y0UOHe00XF
— Carolina Blitz (@VashtiHurt) October 13, 2017
SMU got a tourney ban bc one player cheated in one class, then left school. Entire University of North Carolina was cheating and got nothing
— Aaron Torres (@Aaron_Torres) October 13, 2017
The NCAA has never looked more impotent than today
— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) October 13, 2017
UNC paid more than $18 million in legal fees in their academic scandal case.
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) October 13, 2017
It was worth it.
Somewhere Jerry Tarkanian is laughing his ass off
— Seth Davis (@SethDavisHoops) October 13, 2017
Essentially, every school should create fraudulent classes for athletes, but throw a few non-athletes in there to keep the NCAA at bay.
— Jerry Palm (@jppalmCBS) October 13, 2017