Yahoo Sports: New book alleges Louisville basketball bought escorts for players, recruits

[StuckOnYouk]

Pat Forde and Yahoo Sports received an advanced copy of a book "Breaking Cardinal Rules: Basketball and the Escort Queen" involving a Louisville madam and Pitino's boys.
 

The University of Louisville is investigating explosive allegations in a new book that claims a basketball staff member paid escorts to dance for and have sex with players and recruits, Yahoo Sports has learned.


 


The book, “Breaking Cardinal Rules: Basketball and the Escort Queen,” is being published by IBJ Book Publishing of Indianapolis. The book is written by Louisville resident Katina Powell – the self-described madam who allegedly provided women to the University of Louisville team – and Indianapolis-based journalist Dick Cady.
 

 
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/new-book-makes-damaging-sexual-allegations-involving-louisville-basketball-202333537.html
 
 
 

The book alleges that over a four-year period, Powell brought women into Billy Minardi Hall – the basketball dormitory on the Louisville campus that is named after Pitino’s late brother-in-law – through a side door to entertain players and recruits. Powell also says her dancers – which included her daughters – also entertained Louisville players at other locations off campus. After the women danced for the players for an agreed-upon sum, Powell alleges that she would negotiate a second payment for the women to have sex with the athletes.
The book alleges: “At the peak of the dormitory and off-campus entertainment more than $10,000 cash changed hands to Katina for supplying the women. This does not include the hundreds of one dollar bills thrown at the dancers at each party by McGee, the recruits and players. Nor does it include the money paid to the women who had sex with the recruits afterward. So frequent were the escapades that Katina would later say, especially after the Cardinals won the 2012-2013 NCAA championship: I felt like I was part of the recruitment team. A lot of them players went to Louisville because of me.”
 

 
So any guesses what Louisville is looking at in terms of punishment, if any at all?

 

[DukeSox]

at least they paid the girls. unlike the schools that just use undergrads.

 

[Wings]

So you are a UK fan, and hear that a basketball program in Kentucky is about to have major allegations regarding their basketball program.  On a scale of 1-10, how nervous are you?
 
Other than that, my thoughts:
 
One would think that the IBJ would have somewhat vetted this story because of the potential lawsuits from University of Louisville.  Also, supposedly the reporter who worked on the book has a Pulitzer
 
Unless something comes out Pitino will have plausible deniability.  Penalty, who knows?  But get your popcorn ready! 

 

[soxfan121]

 

[tims4wins]

My boss is a huge Louisville fan. This is...awesome

 

[soxhop411]

Apparently IU tipped Louisville off

 

[soxhop411]

http://www.crimsonquarry.com/2015/10/2/9443463/did-indiana-somehow-rat-out-louisville-basketball-for-buying?_ga=1.145024820.1806754259.1415057798

 

[tims4wins]

So are they the Jets or Colts??

 

[21st Century Sox]

Watched Pitino's presser. He was SO SHOCKED. Twenty make up the full staff, and according to Rick, 19 did not have even the slightest clue. Yeah, because that type of stuff never gets out....LOL

 

[Kremlin Watcher]

I'll take "Lack of Institutional Control" for $500, Alex.

 

[DJnVa]

So, I always assumed this was going on at the big time schools anyway.

 

[Kliq]

So, I always assumed this was going on at the big time schools anyway.

 
Right? Has anyone else seen He Got Game?

 

[DukeSox]

I would like to see Duke get the 2013 title given we lost in the elite 8 to the hooker-fucking cardinals.

tx.

 

[theapportioner]

I'm sure her daughters must appreciate their mom outing them as escorts.

 

[StuckOnYouk]

If there was one school that was going to be involved with inappropriate sexual issues, wouldn't it be Louisville, when you consider who runs their basketball and football programs?

 

[Clears Cleaver]

Pitino: "I don't believe any recruits came because of these women."
 
Oh rick, you would've come in like 5 seconds, right?

 

[sachmoney]

So are they the Jets or Colts??

They're the Ravens. Tom Crean is John Harbaugh, who is his BiL.

I would like to see Duke get the 2013 title given we lost in the elite 8 to the hooker-fucking cardinals.

tx.

Sorry Duke, Michigan has first claim. I want to know how much Louisville paid those officials for the Final.

 

[DukeSox]

That's fine, you know Spike was on the same train. 

 

[fairlee76]

I would like to see Duke get the 2013 title given we lost in the elite 8 to the hooker-fucking cardinals.

tx.

Yes.  I am sure Duke student-athletes have no history with hooker-fucking.
 
The family business aspect of this story is seriously fucked-up.

 

[Average Reds]

If there was one school that was going to be involved with inappropriate sexual issues, wouldn't it be Louisville, when you consider who runs their basketball and football programs?

 

[Monbo Jumbo]

A well-placed Roethlisberger .gif/pic after someone misses an obvious joke/explanation is probably my favorite part of this website.

Thanks for the explanation. I never have understood the Roethlisberger reference.
[/meta]

 

[edoug]

Poor, poor persecuted Louisville. Why would they possibly want to do this to Ricky.
 
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/eye-on-college-basketball/25339505/louisville-coach-rick-pitino-questions-motives-in-escort-scandal

 

[DukeSox]

I would like to commend UNC on digging this up in order to deflect attention from themselves

 

[DukeSox]

It really is amazing how dominant a clean Duke program has been able to be when the main challengers in the conference have all been cheating so aggressively!

 

[RedOctober3829]

My question is where did McGhee get the money to pay the escorts? He made peanuts as a GA. If the money came from the team budget then Pitino and many others are screwed.

 

[MetSox1]

My question is where did McGhee get the money to pay the escorts? He made peanuts as a GA. If the money came from the team budget then Pitino and many others are screwed.

 
The odds of this coming from the team budget are about 1%?  Someone external no doubt took care of this, likely someone who can also pay enough to keep his/her name out of this.  If anyone can find and then follow the money, then this will be a slam dunk for any number of authorities.

 

[RedOctober3829]

 
The odds of this coming from the team budget are about 1%?  Someone external no doubt took care of this, likely someone who can also pay enough to keep his/her name out of this.  If anyone can find and then follow the money, then this will be a slam dunk for any number of authorities.

My first assumption is a booster paid for all of this but dumber things have happened.

 

[LeftyTG]

It really is amazing how dominant a clean Duke program has been able to be when the main challengers in the conference have all been cheating so aggressively!

I know!  Reminds me of how dominant a clean Lance Armstrong was (after all, he was the most tested athlete in the world) when all his main challengers were doping so aggressively!

 

[StuckOnYouk]

Under the new NCAA rules, a coach is going to pay for this regardless of what he knew or didn't know, correct?
Pitino and Louisville are going to feel some serious pain from this

 

[StuckOnYouk]

coach K over the last few years is not any different than Calipari. Load up on guys who probably won't be on campus for then a few months before they hit the NBA.
Duke University is nothing more than a quick pit stop now and coach K doesn't even pretend to go after student athletes

 

[DukeSox]

I know!  Reminds me of how dominant a clean Lance Armstrong was (after all, he was the most tested athlete in the world) when all his main challengers were doping so aggressively!

 
Don't worry, we'll get to 7 titles pretty soon too
 

coach K over the last few years is not any different than Calipari. Load up on guys who probably won't be on campus for then a few months before they hit the NBA.
Duke University is nothing more than a quick pit stop now and coach K doesn't even pretend to go after student athletes

 
I can't remember if you're a Syracuse fan or a UConnvict fan, but in either case this statement makes me be all like

 

[Doug Beerabelli]

It's a mortal lock she is holding a Summer's Eve product in the other hand

 

[trotsplits]

 
Don't worry, we'll get to 7 titles pretty soon too
 
 
I can't remember if you're a Syracuse fan or a UConnvict fan, but in either case this statement makes me be all like
 

 
I live in the Triangle (not as a UNC fan, fwiw) and have a handful of Duke friends.  They all get salty about the one-and-done talk flying in the face of their elite academic status.  Even if you assume K is shenanigan-free, the one-and-done strategy seems at odds with Duke's otherwise pristine view of itself.

 

[DukeSox]

Wait really?  I love the one and done strategy.  How the fuck does that have one iota of impact on "their elite academic status"?  The NBA has a rule that high school players must wait 1 year before going to the NBA.  That's the defined market.  How is operating within that market "at odds with [a]...pristine view"??
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_NBA_draft
 

 
The 1999 NBA Draft was held on June 30, 1999 at the MCI Center (now Verizon Center) in Washington, D.C. It was the first draft in which four players from the same college were picked in the first round, with Elton Brand (1st selection), Trajan Langdon (11th), Corey Maggette (13th) and William Avery (14th) being selected out of Duke University.

 
Please send your friends this.

 

[DukeSox]

That was 16 years ago.  16!  Also known as 3 NCAA championships ago.  
 
Of course, I really suspect your 'friends' have said nothing really of the sort, and you're just projecting.  

 

[Gdiguy]

Yeah, the one-and-done strategy actually seems like a non-terrible way to compete without actually doing anything grossly illegal or against NCAA rules. I don't place any blame for that on the college coaches - it's an NBA rule, if you force a bunch of young athletes to go to college for a year and then choose between multi-million $ contracts or staying in school for 3 more years (when they didn't really want to go in the first place), what do you expect to happen?
 
I doubt Louisville is stupid enough for this money to be connected to the school itself, but it'll likely be very hard to track unless McGhee rolls on someone for some reason.

 

[trotsplits]

Wait really?  I love the one and done strategy.  How the fuck does that have one iota of impact on "their elite academic status"?  The NBA has a rule that high school players must wait 1 year before going to the NBA.  That's the defined market.  How is operating within that market "at odds with [a]...pristine view"??
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_NBA_draft
 
 
Please send your friends this.

1.  Duke is a college.  A good one. 
 
2.  The one and done's are at Duke for the primary purpose of playing basketball, as opposed to earning a coveted and illustrious degree.
 
3.  Therefore, the one and done's seem at odds with the purpose of earning a degree at a good school.  In effect, you're not much different from the basketball factories at other, less academically elite schools.
 
I didn't link to whatever it is you wanted me to read.  

 

[trotsplits]

That was 16 years ago.  16!  Also known as 3 NCAA championships ago.  
 
Of course, I really suspect your 'friends' have said nothing really of the sort, and you're just projecting.  

 
Actually, your reaction is pretty consistent with theirs. I really didn't mean to strike a nerve...

 

[Average Reds]

 I doubt Louisville is stupid enough for this money to be connected to the school itself, but it'll likely be very hard to track unless McGhee rolls on someone for some reason.

Given how many recruits have acknowledged the existence of the hooker hook ups, it seems pretty clear that Louisville isn't going to be able to skate here whether they can tie the money to the school or not.

And with Pitino publicly challenging him, odds are that McGhee rolls sooner rather than later.

 

[HomeRunBaker]

How much is The Rictator paying him to roll in the other direction?  The money obviously came from boosters and obviously Pitino knew stuff was going on.  The hooker herself said she has no proof that Pitino was aware and it's unlikely there is any paper trail to Pitino. 
 
This is the difference between the NCAA rules of "lack of institutional control" and the far less serious "failed to monitor".......based on what we know right now this seems to fall under the latter.  It will be interesting to hear why McGhee left the school......was he pushed out once officials found out what he was doing with the boosters and the girls?  That's what it smells like to me which clears Louisville from the more serious violation since they did address the situation once they were aware.

 

[HomeRunBaker]

Andre McGee's Tweet after he was let go by Louisville after playing and coaching there.

Andre McGee
Andre McGee ‏@DreTheCoach

Sometimes it takes a good fall to really know where you STAND
6:05 AM - 22 Apr 2014
17 RETWEETS11 FAVORITES

What was the "good fall?" It sounds like he feels wronged in thinking that he had job security and was one of Pitino's guys until something happened. More to follow I'm sure.

 

[Clears Cleaver]

he's not resigning anytime soon it appears, but more and more within the UL community seem to support it. no way he can recruit at age 63 with this hanging over him and the school