Losing Rick Pitino puts Louisville basketball recruiting in 'uncharted territory'

As the University of Louisville basketball program recovers from the FBI investigation bombshell that rattled the school and team, interim head coach David Padgett is now taking on the challenge of recruiting amid uncertain times.

Padgett's first stop is St. Louis, where on Tuesday he was scheduled to visit Class of 2018 point guard Courtney Ramey, who committed to Louisville in February but withdrew his pledge the day after news broke of the FBI inquiry into corruption in college basketball recruiting.

Ramey's father, Terrell, confirmed Padgett's plans to the Courier-Journal, saying they were receptive to Padgett's overtures. Padgett was the primary recruiter for Ramey, who picked the Cards over scholarship offers from Creighton and Florida.

"David has always been good to us," Terrell Ramey said, "and he was proactive during the entire situation last week."

Since Ramey's decommitment, coaches from Marquette, Missouri, Ohio State and Purdue have visited the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's metro area player of the player, who is ranked 46th nationally by 247Sports.com.

Landing a re-commitment from Ramey would be a big boost for a Louisville program reeling from the suspension of Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino, who is likely to be fired by the school at Monday's University of Louisville Athletic Association special meeting.

Assistant coach Jordan Fair and associate head coach Kenny Johnson were placed on paid administrative leave on Friday while the university reviews their employment status.

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A Justice Department source confirmed to the Courier-Journal that Pitino was one of the unnamed Louisville coaches in the federal criminal complaint, and there are two other unnamed Cards coaches mentioned in the document. 

Padgett, 32, was appointed as the team's acting head coach on Sept. 29, and he is working through various tasks related to putting the program back together. One element of that rebuilding process is finding three full-time assistant coaches to help him coach this season.

Another key part is recruiting. 

Louisville lost pledges from Ramey and Florida guard Anfernee Simons, a Class of 2018 scorer who is ranked in the top 10 nationally by several recruiting outlets. A Class of 2019 guard, Trinity High's David Johnson, dropped his pledge, too.

"This is such an uncharted territory, such an unknown," said Jerry Meyer, the director of basketball scouting for 247Sports.com. "David's a great guy to have in charge, but Louisville doesn't know what it's looking at. ... Padgett's really going to have to sell himself, to recruit and get them to look past that. It's a difficult situation, to say the least."

The Cards have at least two open scholarships to fill in the 2018 class, but that number could grow to six depending on the status of several current players, which adds to the uncertainty Louisville already faces with a potential NCAA investigation looming once the FBI inquiry ends.

The eligibility status of freshman wing Brian Bowen, whom the Courier-Journal has identified as the unnamed Player 10 in the FBI complaint, is unclear as Louisville holds him out of practices and workouts.

Juniors Deng Adel and Ray Spalding and sophomore V.J. King are also included on several NBA draft projection boards and could explore the draft process this spring.

After the 2017-18 season, Louisville could be down to seven scholarship players, with Connecticut transfer Steven Enoch becoming eligible after this season.

Among that group, the Cards only have two guards, plus wings Jordan Nwora and Dwayne Sutton. Freshman Lance Thomas can play both forward spots, while classmate Malik Williams can help Enoch at power forward or center.

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But Louisville needs reinforcements if it wants to stay competitive in the Atlantic Coast Conference past this season.

Louisville's recruiting efforts prior to the FBI scandal focused on guards, a need Ramey and Simons satisfied, and then on one wing and one big man.

New Albany High star wing Romeo Langford and New York center Moses Brown both said they dropped Louisville from consideration.

Simons, who pledged to Louisville 11 months ago, told ESPN he made his decision to decommit once Pitino was suspended. Since his announcement, nearly 30 programs reached out to the 6-foot-3-inch IMG Academy guard.

Coaches from Florida, Florida State and South Carolina met with Simons and his family in recent weeks, and he also picked up scholarship offers from Dayton, Louisiana State, Memphis, Texas A&M and Virginia Tech.

Padgett has not yet reached out to Simons, but his mother, Tameka Simons, said their family would be receptive to re-opening the lines of communication.

"Sure, we are open to that," Tameka Simons said.