USF's athletic department is self-reporting a secondary rules violation to the NCAA after men's basketball coach Stan Heath and his assistants spent nine more days on the road recruiting than allowed during the 2007-08 school year.

The coaches "mistakenly calculated" multiday tournaments as a single day, the report shows, and USF has offered to reduce the number of recruiting days, normally 130, by 14 in 2008-09, a penalty of 1.5 days for each extra day taken. Heath and his staff did not travel for player evaluations last weekend as a result of being over the limit. Once spring classes have ended, coaches have unlimited days to recruit during the summer.

Heath and USF declined to comment. The report shows that a "letter of admonishment" was issued to Heath and his three assistants, but no additional sanctions are expected from the NCAA.

SOFTBALL: USF sits atop the Big East standings with a 14-4 record, one game ahead of DePaul entering the final weekend of the regular season. The Bulls, who have doubleheaders at Providence today and Connecticut on Sunday, can't clinch the regular-season crown until Sunday. Three other teams are still mathematically alive, as Notre Dame and Louisville are 12-6 and Connecticut is 11-7. The Big East tournament is next weekend at Louisville.