The corruption of the Louisville men’s basketball program supposedly went all the way over the heads of the players.
The Cardinals are getting whacked for a slew of recruiting violations from coach Rick Pitino, and according to a former five-star recruit, he didn’t even know it was happening.
Brian Bowen was recruited by the disgraced Louisville coach, and was slated to begin playing this season, but never did after getting pinched by the FBI due to a massive recruiting violation in which Adidas and Louisville reportedly funnelled $100,000 to his father.
Turns out Bowen had no clue it was even happening.
The 19-year-old alleges that he was unaware his family would be getting a payout to the tune of $100,000 from Adidas and Louisville, and he spoke out about it in an interview with ESPN.
“I didn’t know anything,” Bowen said, as transcribed by CBS Sports. “The same way the media found out was the same way I found out. … I really didn’t believe it. I still didn’t believe it — to this day, I still really don’t believe it.”
Even though he was cleared by the FBI, the ordeal certainly has tarnished his name, and while he can transfer to another school, he reportedly is considering other avenues to continue playing.
“My biggest thing is that I want to play college basketball,” Bowen said. “There are other routes I can go. I could go play in Spain or Australia or in Lithuania with the Ball brothers. But my dream was to play college basketball.”
This is a pretty unfortunate situation for the freshman.
