

EUGENE -- Oregon women's basketball coach Kelly Graves knew the NCAA's notice of allegations was coming.



After all, his program had self-reported its violations detailed in the Dec. 18 report, which also named infractions within UO's track and field, football and men's basketball programs.



Graves didn't shy away from taking responsibility for the violations Wednesday, two days before No. 10 UO (11-2) opens Pac-12 play against Washington State at Matthew Knight Arena.



"I'm the head coach," he said. "It falls on me, and that's OK. I'll accept what happens out of this but listen, I'm focused on going forward and really working with this team because I think we can do some great things. We'll learn from our mistakes."



The NCAA alleged that between December 2016 and last April, Graves failed to monitor his program while an assistant strength and conditioning coach took part in on-court, basketball-related activities. Per the NCAA, the assistant strength and conditioning coach on at least five occasions "provided technical or tactical basketball instruction," during individual workouts. During or after practices, the coach also took part in on-court basketball activities on 31 occasions and provided "technical or tactical instruction" on three occasions.

The coach's participation largely involved rebounding for players, a program source said, but the involvement meant Oregon had exceeded the NCAA limit of four coaches. The NCAA called the infractions significant breaches of conduct.



In a statement Dec. 21, Oregon said it would contest the severity of the charges while defending Graves and men's basketball coach Dana Altman, who like Graves is alleged to have failed to monitor his own program.



"These cases do not merit the level of charges against the coaches sought by the NCAA," UO's statement said. The school added that the coaches -- who are "committed to compliance with NCAA bylaws" -- "each acknowledge the infractions that took place within their programs."



Graves said as much Wednesday, as well.



"We made some mistakes and actually we were the ones that turned ourselves in on that once we realized we were doing something we weren't supposed to," he said. "In the grand scheme of things it's not really anything major. Those are infractions, but we do take them serious. It's something I knew better, our staff knew better but I don't think it's affected us as a team.



"It just goes to show even an old dog like me, sometimes we make mistakes and need to learn from them and make sure that they don't happen again."



While Graves said he has kept players informed about the NCAA's allegations, he and his staff have also "tried to insulate the team from it" to keep their focus on the start of Pac-12 play.



The Ducks host Washington State at 3 p.m. Friday, and Washington at 1 p.m. Sunday (Pac-12 Networks) and carry high expectations into their conference schedule.



With the country's fifth-highest scoring offense (88.8 points per game), Oregon will be expected to make a run at its first Pac-12 title since 2000. Its lone losses have come against Louisville and Mississippi State, both of which were ranked fifth at the time of their matchups with UO.



Its victories, meanwhile, have come by an average of 28.2 points per game, the eighth-best scoring margin nationally. UO is ninth in the latest RPI, 10 spots ahead of UCLA, which was picked to win the conference in a preseason poll.

-- Andrew Greif

agreif@oregonian.com