The NCAA interviewed Ohio State freshman guard JaQuan Lyle about his recruitment by Louisville, the school confirmed on Thursday.
“Yes,” Dan Wallenberg, Ohio State Associate Athletics Director for Communications, said by email. “No issue at Ohio State.”
“The NCAA already knows the answers to every question they are going to ask,” a source told SNY.tv. “[Lyle] had to tell them or he was going to get hit with the amateurism issue on benefits.”
A source also told Gary Parrish of CBSSports.com, “He told the truth.”
The news was first reported by Pat Forde of Yahoo! Sports.
The NCAA is looking into allegations that came out of the book “Breaking Cardinal Rules” which maintain that former Louisville basketball player and graduate assistant Andre McGee hired strippers and prostitutes to dance for and have sex with Louisville players, recruits and, in some cases, the recruits’ fathers.
The 6-foot-5 Lyle committed to Louisville on June 26, 2013, only to decommit on Sept. 13 of that year. After enrolling at Bradenton (FL) Academy, Lyle committed to Ohio State on June 30, 2015.
Yahoo cites several journal entries from Louisville madam Katina Powell in the book relating to Lyle.
“Been a long time since we’ve been up to U of L to do a show. McGee texted me like, what’s up? He wanted me to bring three girls up there for a new recruit named JaQuan Lyle, he and his friend. I took (escorts) Rod-Ni, TooTall, Jazmine and Shay, who calls herself Sammi. TooTall made $100, Shay made $100, and Jazzy made nothing because she did absolutely nothing.”
On Monday, June 10, 2013, Powell allegedly texted McGee: “Hey Andre what was the name of the recruit the tall chic was with Saturday.” McGee allegedly responded: “jaquan lyles (sic) … some other dudes is looking for tall chick.” The book says that was part of a 22-text exchange between Powell and McGee pertaining to Lyle’s visit.
FATHERS OF 2016 RECRUITS SAYS ALLEGATIONS WON’T IMPACT DECISION
Elsewhere on the Louisville front, the father of 2016 guard Andrew Jones says the latest allegations aimed at Louisville won’t affect his son’s college decision.
“We’re not making decisions based on that,” David Jones told USA Today.
Andrew Jones, a 6-4 point guard from Irving (TX) MacArthur, visited Louisville this past weekend along with T.J. Leaf, a 6-9 forward from Foothills Christian (CA).
“They were pretty good about it,” David Jones said. “I know it hit the fan when we got there. They came to us and they told us what was going on.”
USA Today reported Louisville head coach Rick Pitino spoke to the recruits twice about the book’s allegations, on Friday and again on Sunday morning before the family left.
“I did some more research on it, but hey, I don’t know what to say,” Jones said. “When stuff like that goes on, when you’ve got a person writing books, you’ve got to read between the lines real good and you have to make sure what she’s saying is true. You have to make sure that she’s not just making more of what it really was.”
It remains to be seen how this will all play out with these recruits.
Jones is still considering Arizona, Baylor, Texas and Oklahoma State, among others.
As for Leaf, his father told SNY.tv, “[Pitino] was very transparent regarding [the] allegations. Don’t think [it will affect the decision].”
Leaf visits Oregon beginning Friday and UCLA Oct. 23. He cancelled his visit to Kansas, his father confirmed. Leaf has also visited San Diego State unofficially.
