If you thought that the 2015-2016 basketball season might be lacking drama with no clear cut preseason favorite for everyone to hate, the past few weeks and months must have been quite entertaining.
Recruits were denied admission. North Carolina continued waiting for their impending penalty from the NCAA’s investigation into academic misconduct. Larry Brown, once again, got suspended and left the broken dreams of undergraduate players in his wake.
Finally, Rick Pitino’s Louisville program was shocked with allegations that a former staffer paid prostitutes to sleep with former players and recruits during his time with UL–the allegations coming from a recently published book, Breaking Cardinal Rules, written by the alleged ring leader of the girls in question.
While no current players are suspected of having been jeopardized by these claims, former UL star Terrence Williams showed no shame in his denial of any involvement.
“Motherf**kers pay me for pictures and handshakes.” –Terrence Williams/Josh Appleby
— Mike Rutherford (@CardChronicle) October 12, 2015
At this point, it doesn’t look like the book will have any sort of impact on this season’s Cardinals, there are questions about whether Pitino’s national title with UL will be called into question, the kinds of questions that could threaten the title’s legitimacy.
Like it or not, these types of stories could be reported at numerous top college campuses across the country. Perhaps not with the involvement of staff members, but it’s unrealistic to think that players aren’t put in questionable situations by community members looking to make a move for themselves.
Here’s to hoping that Pitino and others in the program aren’t directly involved.
