Hurricane Katina

The allegations brought forth by self-proclaimed escort have brought a storm to the doorstep of UofL athletics unlike any I have seen.

By: Raashaan Myers

     The University of Louisville men's basketball team is caught in the tempest of a hurricane. This ferocious storm of public, private, media, and most importantly NCAA scrutiny is as transparent and damaging as any I can remember. This storm should be aptly named Hurricane Katina and the UofL Athletic department, coaches, players, and fans should just go ahead and prepare for the storm of the century.

     I'm not writing this piece to talk about the allegations put forth by Katina Powell and everything she says happened at Billy Minardi Hall over the span of 4 years at UofL. The court of public opinion is doing that job very well in the form of Twitter, Facebook, as well as radio and television. I'm not here to get into the ramifications of these possible infractions as far as post season bans and lengthy probationary periods. The NCAA will conduct their investigation on that and once that is complete and the facts are known I will comment on those then. My question is how in the world this situation could have gotten this far without anyone knowing and the awful look that has been given to the program REGARDLESS of the outcome of the investigation.

     UofL basketball has been under a firestorm of negative press before in situations involving players such as Chane Behanan, Chris Jones, and the general issues with previous players as well including Terrence Williams and Derrick Caracter. These problems have been alarmingly consistent and ongoing and are truly shocking considering the guys this issue includes may have been one of Coach Pitino's most highly thought of groups of players from a morals and ethical standpoint. With all the talk in the aftermath of the Karen Sypher situation and the microscope placed on this program one would think a better job of self-policing would have been done.

     Now ESPN comes out with this Outside the Lines investigation interviewing Powell and naming names of guys both at UofL and others that never even committed. To say it is ugly is the understatement of the year. Coach Pitino says that he didn't know anything about this going on pertaining to this situation and I absolutely believe him. I don't think this reflects on him and no I don't think he should lose his job. What I do believe is that UofL should be better than this. Maybe I am completely blind but I really do believe they do things the right way and I think the guys at the top Tom Jurich and Rick Pitino live by that. But obviously more needs to be done to make sure you KNOW they guys under you share your belief in doing things the right way as well as the staff around the players as well to make sure if there is anything shady going on that it gets back to the top.

     I remember when UofL hired assistant coach Larry Gay to replace Wade Houston who was headed to that the head coaching job at Tennessee. Gay was supposed to be a great recruiter and known for getting guys and UofL needed that replacing Houston who was a key part of bringing titles to UofL because of his recruiting efforts. Well Gay did recruit and the way he recruited Samaki Walker landed UofL on sanctions and really put a bad stain on the latter years of Denny Crum's Hall of Fame career. I don't want to see Rick Pitino go out like that so there needs to definitely be some changes made to ensure nothing like this happens again because it is an exhausting and tired narrative that has shown itself WAY too many times lately. My word of advice to UofL, Card Nation, and everyone associated with the program is to batten down the hatches because Hurricane Katina is here and she's just getting started. And her path of destruction will be felt for years to come.

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