Fact Check

UCONN Huskies Players Suspected of Using Skill Enhancing Drugs Prior to Championship Game

Is the NCAA investigating the use of 'skill enhancing drugs' by the 2014 champion UConn Huskies men's basketball team?

Published April 9, 2014

Claim:

Claim:   The NCAA is investigating the use of "skill enhancing drugs" by the 2014 champion UConn Huskies men's basketball team.


FALSE


Example:   [Collected via e-mail, April 2014]


Is this true? Uconn Huskies are now under investigation for allegedly using skill enhancing drugs prior to the championship game.

 

Origins:   On 7 April 2014, the UConn (University of Connecticut) Huskies won their second NCAA men's basketball national championship in four years, defeating the Kentucky Wildcats in a 60-54 victory. Shortly afterwards, the Huzlers.com web site published an
article positing that Huskies players were being investigated by the NCAA for using "skill enhancing drugs" (i.e., performance-enhancing drugs) prior to that final game:



After defeating the Kentucky Wildcats in a stunning thriller for the NCAA championship (March Madness), the Uconn Huskies are now under investigation for allegedly using skill enhancing drugs prior to the championship game.

A prescription bottle filled with pills on the floor near one of the players lockers. The game official quickly piked up the bottle and went to notify league officials on what he had found. League Officials quickly took action and told the press and reporters to leave immediately. The game official who remains to be anonymous says that the prescription bottle was labeled "The Juice" but will not release the name of who that bottle belonged to. It is believed that the bottle contains steroids, given the fact that "The Juice" is street slang for steroids.

League Officials are now conducting a deep investigation by searching The Huskies lockers, duffle bags, backpacks, etc. to see if there are any other suspicious substances. If enough evidence is found, the Huskies can be stripped of they're [sic] newly acquired title and banned from NCAA basketball. We will update you on NCAA's investigation here on Huzlers.com.


By the following day links and excerpts referencing this article were being circulated via social media, with many of those who encountered it mistaking it for a genuine news

item. However, this article is just a fictitious bit of sporting spoof from Huzlers, whose disclaimer notes that the site "is a combination of real shocking news and satire news to keep its visitors in a state of disbelief." Huzlers ran a similar (and similarly fictitious) article two months earlier claiming the Seattle Seahawks' one-sided 2014 Super Bowl win over the Denver Broncos was being investigated by NFL officials on grounds that the contest had been rigged.

Unfortunately, belief in this false claim was reinforced when Cream Bmp Daily simultaneously ran a piece based on the very same notion. But that article was also nothing more than a spoof, as Cream Bmp Daily's "About" page notes that it, too, deals strictly in satire:



CreamBmp.com Written by comedian CREAM. This website is comprised of satire and parody of current news and urban culture. For entertainment purposes only.

Last updated:   9 April 2014

David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994.

Article Tags