In a statement issued Friday Louisville President Jim Ramsey said that after reviewing the results of an investigation into the allegations, “it was reasonable to conclude that significant violations had occurred in the men’s basketball program in the past”.
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The allegations first were made public in a book published in October by a self-described escort named Katina Powell and Dick Cady called “Breaking Cardinal Rules: Basketball and the Escort Queen”. The news comes in the midst of an NCAA investigation into the program’s alleged recruitment scandal.
An investigation in the athletic department showed that violations did occur, University President James Ramsey said during a news conference today. “He doesn’t need this heat because he’s done a lot of great things for this university, a lot of tremendous things for our university”. Further, is the NCAA’s most-egregious sanction, the Death Penalty, in play here?
Minimally we expect appropriate internal controls to make sure whatever transpired doesn’t again. Only time will tell at this point, but this entire matter is completely unprecedented, so it’s hard to tell where Mark Emmert and the NCAA will go from here.
Powell said that she told the story, not for attention, but that money was a factor and now she feels badly for Andre McGee. The mistake was not made with Tom making a decision. The NCAA is looking into a woman’s claims she and other women were paid thousands of dollars in exchange for having sex with Louisville players and recruits from 2010-14.
The ban is for all postseason tournaments, including the NCAA and the Atlantic Coast Conference tournaments.
Pitino did that on Friday after Louisville chose to self-impose a postseason ban this season amid an NCAA investigation involving the use of strippers and prostitutes in the team’s recruiting. We don’t know. They wouldn’t say, despite multiple attempts by the media to ask. “They were hit over the head with a sledgehammer for something they had nothing to do with”, said Pitino. “This is a punishment I thought would never happen this season”.
“This is a decision that’s as harsh as anything I have seen”.
But this was never about fairness to the student-athletes.
“You know all of this, but I do feel bad for them”.
Louisville self-imposed a postseason ban for the 2015-16 season for rules violations stemming from the school’s escort scandal. To have your basketball dream dashed due to the actions of someone who is playing for another school? There would be a run on the program’s talent that would leave the Cardinals fighting to just remain relevant for the next several years. This is the third incident in a year to feature a program inside a multi-bid conference to undergo a postseason ban. He also threw his athletic director, Tom Jurich, under the bus for the penalties instituted.
On 5 March, the Cardinals will travel to Virginia to play their final game of the season, and win or lose, the collegiate careers of Lee and Lewis will be over.
Specifically the segment of University of Louisville fans signing a petition calling for UofL to rescind the self-imposed probation, others seeking a court injunction to block the ban, and the ones requesting that the NCAA not accept the punishment.
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Lewis was given a long ovation by fans during the introduction of lineups and Lee, who sat out because of a bruised knee, tossed up the ceremonial opening tip as a crowd of 21,803 roared. But that doesn’t make it right.
