Celtics rookies Terry Rozier, Jordan Mickey named in Louisville sex scandal
The scandal in Louisville has made its way to Boston.
Katina Powell, author of a book called “Breaking Cardinal Rules: Basketball and the Escort Queen,’’ alleges former Louisville assistant coach Andre McGee held stripping and sex parties for basketball recruits. The self-described former escort repeated those allegations on ESPN’s Outside The Lines.
She says Celtics rookies Terry Rozier and Jordan Mickey were among the players that had sex with women during their recruiting visits. Rozier played for Louisville for two years, and Mickey visited the school but decided to attend LSU.
“Obviously it’s something that any time you see allegations of that regard, just from the whole big picture of everything that’s been alleged, it just saddens you,’’ Celtics head coach Brad Stevens told reporters Tuesday. “I just think it’s sad when — and, again, it’s all alleged and I want to make sure that that’s very, very clear — but I think it’s sad that any time obviously the allegations that came out just from the standpoint of adults and everyone else.
“But again out of respect to these guys, out of respect to Louisville, out of respect to the fact that I don’t know anything and I wasn’t there, it’s not really fair for me to comment on it.’’
Mickey declined comment at the time of the OTL report, and neither he nor Rozier were available to media Tuesday. When contacted by OTL, however, Rozier did not deny or confirm the allegations.
“I don’t want to talk about it,’’ Rozier told OTL. “I was already committed before I took my visit. … I will say, though, Coach P [Louiville head coach Rick Pitino], as far as the dorm situations and visits, he’d go out to eat with the recruits and their parents. As far as after that, he wouldn’t know. … I can say his nose is clean.’’
Pitino said he had no knowledge of the parties. However, Powell explained a scenario where she asked McGee whether Pitino was aware of the parties, to which she said McGee responded, “He’s Rick. He knows about everything.’’
Prior to coming to Boston, Stevens was the head coach of the Butler Bulldogs, who made two National Championship appearances during Stevens’s tenure. He acknowledged the difficulty of overseeing college students-athletes and visiting high school recruits.
“I think, at the end of the day, you hope that people make right decisions,’’ said Stevens. “You hope to help coach them in that regards and lead them in that regards. And, at the same time, you’re not there 24 hours per day. So, again, who knows? I don’t know the particulars of this, per se. But I think, at the end of the day, generally, that’s the way I feel about it. I think that you have, certainly, a large impact on [players], but again you’re not there every minute of every day.’’
During the preseason, Mickey has averaged 10.1 minutes for 5.6 points, 2.8 rebounds, and a 57.1 field goal percentage. Rozier has averaged 20.2 minutes, 13.0 points, 3.7 assists and 2.7 rebounds.
“Obviously, those guys, they’ll have to answer that for you,’’ Stevens said as to whether the allegations would affect the players on the court. “Again, I think it’s something that I don’t know a whole lot about and at the same time I think that they’ll answer the way that however they feel they need to and they’ll handle it the way they need to.’’
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