Should Texas have concerns about Mohamed Bamba's eligibility?
In one of the more bizarre moments in recent recruiting history, the brother of Texas' coveted five-star freshman big man Mohamed Bamba posted a profanity-laced diatribe alleging multiple NCAA violations on Facebook.
So, should Texas be concerned about the allegations made by Ibrahim "Abe" Johnson regarding his brother's relationship with Michigan-based investor Greer Love?
No, and I'll tell you why.
During his rant, Johnson spends a lot of time focusing on Bamba's mentor Love – a vice president at investment firm Huron Capital. Love has been a well-known figure in Bamba's recruitment for some time now and there isn't a single school that recruited the five-star who didn't involve Love in the process. By all accounts I've ever heard, Love – who has known Bamba since elementary school through a charitable program called Locke's Lions – has been a very positive influence on Bamba.
That Bamba would surround himself with good people and look to avoid those with bad intentions doesn't surprise me. In my years of covering recruiting, Bamba is one of the most intelligent and high-character kids that I have ever come across. He has always made it very clear that he wants everything to be above board and unfortunately for him, he's now facing the wrath of a scorned family member who was hoping to jump aboard a gravy train.
The Facebook post by Johnson is not the first time he has tried to move members of Bamba's inner circle out of the picture; it is just the first to go public and it certainly comes off as ugly to the average fan. However, it also looks to be the final move of a man desperate to cash in on the riches that his brother could potentially earn as little as a year from now.
Late Wednesday night, Texas released a statement to Yahoo! Sports Jeff Eisenberg and the school does not appear to be concerned about any issues with Bamba either.
“As is usual practice by the NCAA, Mo’s amateur status was previously reviewed and final certified by the NCAA Eligibility Center,” the statement from Texas read. “The NCAA has not informed us of any pending issues or eligibility concerns at this time regarding Mo. If there are further questions, we certainly will cooperate with the NCAA to the fullest.”
Additionally, Love himself provided a statement to Andrew Slater of 247 Sports.
“When Mo asked me to guide him and help coordinate the logistics of his recruitment,” Love told Slater, “I immediately engaged the former Chief Compliance Officer of two Big Ten / Big 12 schools, who provided frequent consultation on a variety of matters. Doing things the right way has been our top priority since day one. Mo’s got way too much to lose to take any chances on anything even remotely impermissible.”
The bottom line is this, from the outside looking in, the allegations made by Bamba's brother are dirty, they are salacious and they make for great message boarding and water cooler talk. But, when you peel back the layers, it is pretty clear Texas shouldn't have to be worried about anything and as far as I can tell, everything regarding Bamba's recruitment was done on the up and up.
If anything, the video rant is a sobering look into the types of things that today's elite prospects have to deal with as people look to attach themselves in hopes of future riches.
