In brief: Louisville basketball program rocked by claims of sexual favors for recruits
College basketball: Louisville said Friday it has launched an investigation into allegations that former Cardinals staffer Andre McGee paid an escort service to provide sex for recruits.
The allegations by Katina Powell are in an upcoming book, “Breaking Cardinal Rules: Basketball and the Escort Queen” from a publishing arm of the Indianapolis Business Journal. Some details of the book were published on the Journal’s web site, and said that McGee hired Powell to provide strippers and prostitutes for recruits and some of their fathers during a four-year period.
Louisville issued a statement saying it learned of the allegations in August and immediately notified the NCAA. McGee left Louisville in 2014 to become an assistant at Missouri-Kansas City. He has been placed on administrative leave.
The Journal’s summary of the book said that Powell brought women to 22 parties from 2010-14 at Billy Minardi Hall, which houses Cardinals basketball players. The woman said that she and three of her daughters, along with other women, danced and stripped for Louisville recruits and players and performed sex acts with them, according to the book.
McGee played for Louisville from 2005-09 and started 57 games during his career. He became a program assistant in 2010 and was promoted to director of basketball operations in 2012.
Kenseth awarded pole position at Dover
NASCAR: For a driver on the brink of championship elimination, Kevin Harvick might have the biggest target at Dover.
The mission is clear: Knock out Harvick, knock out a champion.
“Everyone in this Chase knows they are the biggest threat for the championship,” four-time champ Jeff Gordon said. “If they get eliminated then that takes the biggest threat out of it.”
Harvick and his team have been doing a pretty good job of taking themselves out of the running in their title defense.
Time may have run out on the No. 4 Chevrolet.
The third race in NASCAR’s playoffs is a crucial one – the bottom four drivers out of the 16 in the field are cut and gone from the title picture.
Harvick is 15th and will have to win to advance and remain in championship contention.
Kyle Busch, Paul Menard, Harvick and Clint Bowyer are in the bottom four and most at risk of elimination Sunday.
• Bowyer lands ride with HScott: Clint Bowyer will spend next season with HScott Motorsports before he takes over for Tony Stewart in 2017.
Bowyer was released from his contract with Michael Waltrip Racing because the team is folding at the end of the season.
Court to reconsider Solo case
Soccer: U.S. national team goalkeeper Hope Solo could again face assault charges stemming from an altercation last year with family members after a Washington state appeals court reversed a lower court’s dismissal of the case.
A municipal judge dismissed the case in January, but prosecutors – in a rare move – appealed that decision. The appeals court sent it back to the lower court.
“We are shocked and disappointed by the judge’s ruling this morning. However, we maintain our position that the charges in this case should have never been filed, that the original trial court’s dismissal of the case was correct, and we plan to file an appeal of today’s decision with the Court of Appeals,” Solo’s attorney, Todd Maybrown, said in a statement.
Ex-football star sentenced
NFL: Former NFL star Irving Fryar was sentenced to five years in a New Jersey prison for his role in a mortgage scam.
His mother, Allene McGhee, also was sentenced to three years’ probation.
Fryar and his mother were convicted in August of applying for multiple mortgage loans in quick succession while using the same property as collateral.
Fryar claimed he was the victim of a con artist who told him to carry out the scheme.
Thompson now a holdout
NBA: Tristan Thompson declined to sign a one-year, $6.8 million qualifying offer for this season and didn’t report to training camp as the Cavaliers practiced at Cleveland Clinic Courts to officially become a holdout.
Thompson, a power forward, was a key contributor during Cleveland’s run to the NBA Finals last season, filling in when starter Kevin Love dislocated his shoulder. Thompson and his representatives believe he deserves a maximum contract.
• Bucks lock up Henson: The Milwaukee Bucks locked up big man John Henson on a four-year extension worth $44 million.
The contract could reach $48 million with incentives.
The 24-year-old Henson averaged 7.0 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.0 blocks in 18 minutes per game last season. The deal ensures that Henson will remain a core member of a young team on the rise as he enters his fourth NBA season.
BMX Rio event put back
Olympics: Organizers of next year’s Rio de Janeiro Olympics moved a BMX test event back one day over safety concerns.
The event, which was to have been held on Saturday and Sunday, has now been pushed back to Sunday in order to modify jumps and other parts of the course.
Rio organizers said athletes complained about the course and made test runs before deciding it was unsafe and needed to be changed.
Bickell placed on waivers
NHL: The Chicago Blackhawks placed high-priced forward Bryan Bickell on waivers.
In making the move, the Blackhawks free up $4 million that Bickell’s contract represents against their salary cap.