Tidal waves of fear were felt by fan bases nationwide last Friday when the NCAA announced the list of punishments Oklahoma State’s men’s basketball program will face as a result of its NCAA case.

Stated simply, the association dropped the hammer on the state school from the Sooner State.

The case dated back to September 2017 when former Oklahoma State associate head coach Lamont Evans became one of four assistant college basketball coaches arrested in the FBI’s now-infamous undercover sting operation.

In response, the school fired Evans two days after his arrest and chose to cooperate with the NCAA throughout its investigation. All that earned the program was a one-year postseason ban, scholarship reductions, tens of thousands in fines and years of probation, a punishment many deem excessive.

NC State fans can relate to being in hot water with the NCAA from an assistant basketball coach’s misconduct. At the moment, the Wolfpack basketball case is in limbo as it awaits a decision on the NCAA’s allegations.

While Oklahoma State’s case may appear similar to NC State’s on the surface, it’s not exactly an apples-to-apples comparison. In fact, there are three key differences in the cases that make NC State’s situation crucially contrastive.