Balsa Koprivica, the 7-foot-1 Class of 2019 star who appears to be Player-11 in the U.S. Department of Justice investigation, recently visited Louisville with Brad Augustine and Christian Dawkins, according to Pat Forde of Yahoo Sports.
According to multiple sources, two of the men charged by the feds were in Louisville as recently as Sept. 16-17. AAU coach Brad Augustine and former/aspiring future agent Christian Dawkins, both arrested this week, accompanied a prospect identified by the feds as “Player-11” – sources tell Yahoo Sports that is 7-footer Balsa Koprivica, of Windemere (Florida) Academy and Augustine’s Adidas-backed AAU team, 1 Family. The federal complaint states that plans were being made in July to funnel $150,000 in Adidas money to ensure that Koprivica attended Louisville.
Koprivica, Augustine and Dawkins watched a Louisville basketball workout on Sept. 16, before the Cardinals played Clemson in football that night. Presuming David Padgett was at the basketball workout, the new coach of the Cards was sharing gym space with two men who would be arrested just 10 days later in part for their involvement with that very recruit.
Koprivica’s AAU program, the Adidas-sponsored 1Family, has already denied that any of its players took money.
Here is the relevant section of the U.S. Department of Justice investigation pertaining to “Player-11” and “University-6,” which has been identified as Louisville. Company-1 has been identified as Adidas.
“Second, DAWKINS and AUGUSTINE agreed to facilitate payments to the family of another high school basketball player (“Player-11”) in exchange for Player-11’s commitment to play at University-6 and ultimately to retain DAWKINS’s services. While these payments were not directly funded by Company-1, they were made to benefit Company-1, which, as noted, sponsors University-6, and with the expectation that Company-1 would provide additional funding to AUGUSTINE in return. AUGUSTINE noted, “all [Coach-2] has to do is pick up the phone and call somebody [and say] these are my guys, they’re taking care of us.”
“Because these payments from DAWKINS to Player-11’s family were both in violation of NCAA rules and illegal, AUGUSTINE suggested that the “easiest way” for DAWKINS to provide money for Player-11 and his family would be to send the money to AUGUSTINE’s “non-profit for the grassroots team,” although AUGUSTINE confirmed that he also would accept cash.
“As DAWKINS subsequently explained to UC-2 in the context of providing such money to AUGUSTINE and others, “obviously some of it can’t be completely accounted for on paper because some of it is, whatever you want to call it, illegal.”
Prior to his arrest, Augustine told ZAGSBLOG Kansas, Texas, Arizona State, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech and LSU recently offered the Class of 2019 big man from Serbia as well. Louisville was among the schools he said were talking to him “the most” about Koprivica.
Augustine compared Koprivica to two of the greatest European bigs ever to play in the NBA.
“Balsa has the chance to be one of those once-in-a-generation-type players,” said Augustine. “He’s 7-1 with an impressive frame and has the footwork of a polished wing performer. We see him growing into the mold of Pau Gasol or Dirk Nowitzki, a skilled 4/5 who is deadly out to 18-20 feet. His IQ and understanding of the game, coupled with his Euro experience give him a large advantage over the traditional American player.”
