Brian Bowen remains in limbo as he looks to transfer from Louisville but can’t find any takers at the moment.
His attorney, Jason Setchen, has started a #freebrianbowen hashtag on Twitter in hopes of gaining support for his client.
“It is time for the world to know what I know: Brian Bowen did nothing wrong and deserves the chance to play college basketball!” Setchen Tweeted.
Setchen added in an Instagram post: “It is up to the NCAA to step up and do something to right this egregious situation. To the kids wearing FBI shirts at UL road games — trade them in for FREE BRIAN BOWEN shirts. Demand that due process be afforded and that justice is done by reinstating Brian so that he can fulfill his lifelong dream of playing college basketball!”
“Brian looks to complete this semester at UL and then seek an opportunity to play elsewhere,” Setchen recently told ZAGSBLOG.
After leading La Lumiere (IN) to the Dick’s National High School championship last April, the 6-foot-7 Bowen chose Louisville out of the blue last June after he had initially listed a top five of Arizona, Creighton, Michigan State, N.C. State and Texas. His mother was quoted in FBI documents saying he “primarily considered Arizona.”
It remains unclear what schools would consider taking Bowen now.
“Who knows?” one assistant coach from a school that was on his initial list of five said.
It seems like Lavar Ball’s new league for high school graduates slated to begin this summer also isn’t an option. Setchen said he hadn’t heard anything about it as of Wednesday night.
Bowen remains in limbo after Louisville did not seek reinstatement for him. The school fired AD Tom Jurich and head coach Rick Pitino after the FBI investigation alleged Bowen’s father solicited a $100,000 payment from Adidas in exchange for Bowen attending Louisville and later signing with Adidas upon turning pro.
“I didn’t know anything, anything at all,” Bowen told ESPN’s Jeff Goodman Thursday on “Outside the Lines.” “The same way the whole media found out is the same way I found out.”
When Bowen learned his father, Brian Bowen Sr., was involved, he said, “I really didn’t believe it. Really to this day, I still didn’t believe it.”
Bowen said he hasn’t spoken with his father about what happened.
“I don’t want to know anything,” he said. “Whatever’s happened, I don’t want to know anything about it. I just want to see what happens with all the outcomes and everything. I’m very upset as far as not being able to play and everything. As far as the investigation and everything, I don’t even want to talk about it at all.”
For more on the Bowen situation, read our New York Times story here.
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