Fallout from the NCAA/FBI Scandal: Lawyers Being Hired and Recruiting
Despite it being a couple weeks now, there are still some major fallouts in regards to the schools listed in the FBI documents. We’ve seen what happened at Louisville with Rick Pitino being fired and Tom Jurich being placed on administrative leave, but what about everywhere else? What about recruits that these schools and coaches were going after?
Louisville places assistant coaches on administrative leave:
No real surprise here as Louisville’s assistant coaches were implied to be in the pay-for-play situation in the FBI court documents, but it’s still noteworthy. Louisville placed Kenny Johnson and Jordan fair on paid leave, while obviously promoting David Padgett to interim head coach. The important thing here is the fact that Padgett now has to scramble to find an assistant coaching staff with the season underway. He added three temporary assistant coaches in Michael Bowden (former director of basketball operations), Logan Baumann (former video coordinator) and RJ Evans (former grad assistant). He’s also planning on having his father, who is a well-known high school coach in the area, be an adviser. This is an important thing to watch when it comes to scouting and player development. Talking to a handful of former players I asked them specifically about assistant coaches and the role they play during practices and things like that. They all agreed the most important role the assistant coaches can play deal with scouting, both at an individual and team level. If you see Louisville out of sorts early, chalk it up to this more than simply not having Brian Bowen.
Jahvon Quinerly hires a lawyer:
Current Arizona commit Jahvon Quinerly and his family have reportedly hired a lawyer despite not being contacted by the FBI. While Quinerly isn’t listed in the documents, it’s implied that he is ‘player-5′ and combined with Book Richardson being arrested, there is speculation regarding his eligibility and what role he had in all of this. The documents allege that Richardson paid Player-5 a $15,000 bribe who, “verbally committed to attending” (Arizona) “on or about August 9, 2017.” Quinerly is still committed to Arizona and the only statement he has made is a ‘no comment’ during USA Basketball Men’s Junior National Team Mini-Camp.
Bol Bol cuts list – including Arizona and USC
Bol Bol, the son of Manute, announced he’s down to his final two teams – Kentucky and Oregon. Bol was once a pretty heavy Arizona lean, but in the wake of the FBI scandal, he decided to cut Arizona and USC from his list and just go with Oregon and Kentucky. He’s a top-5 player in the Class of 2018 and is a unique player due to his agility along with his 7’2″ height. It’s interesting just hearing how open these recruits are as Bol had a quote saying he wanted to avoid any team involved in the FBI scandal right now. It’s not a surprise, but it’s still jarring to hear recruits speak this freely.
Nassir Little commits to UNC :
I know it’s currently a little shocking to hear a player committing to UNC to avoid scandals, but that’s exactly what Nassir Little did this past week. Little was supposed to decide between Arizona and Miami, but with both named in the FBI documents, Little decided to pick UNC. Little is a top-10 recruit who can play the small-ball four in today’s game. He’s an absolute menace defensively and a great rebounder who thrives getting out in transition, which fits well with Roy’s secondary transition offense. Now that said, there is some worry with Little as there are many who think he’s ‘player-12′ in the FBI documents. That player was alleged to be in the middle of bidding war and his AAU program 1Family is involved in the scandal as well, with Brad Augustine being the program’s former director. Keep an eye on reports with him, but for now this is a really nice get for Roy and UNC.
Brian Bowen seeking reinstatement:
Speaking of lawyers, there is a report that Brian Bowen has hired an attorney to help seek reinstatement after being suspended by Louisville. Bowen has hired Jason Setchen, a Miami-based attorney, who helped DeQuan Jones get reinstated after the Nevin Shapiro scandal at Miami. I don’t know how he’d be able to get reinstated this quickly, especially with what was said in the FBI documents vs what Jones dealt with at Miami, it’s still worth noting. It’s also hard to imagine Louisville taking Bowen back right now as they try to keep a clean house after getting rid of Pitino and possibly getting rid of Jurich. Regardless, it’s worth tracking as Bowen was a top-20 recruit.