NCAA unmoved by Louisville’s response

The University of Louisville has released the NCAA’s “response to the response,” which the school received last Tuesday.

You can spend a solid chunk of your day reading the entire 70-page document (which is available online here), or you can read this single quote, which pretty much sums up the entire thing:

“The enforcement staff is unaware of any factual information that warrants a lower penalty range for the institution related to the Level I and II violations present in this case.’’

In its response, the NCAA rejected Louisville’s assertion that adidas was not acting as a representative of the U of L men’s basketball program, that Jordan Fair was a mere spectator in the infamous Las Vegas hotel room meeting, and maintained that former assistant Kenny Johnson did, in fact, pay Brian Bowen’s father $1,300. It also had some harsh words for former head coach Rick Pitino and his argument (and the school’s) that the NCAA’s “failure to promote an atmosphere of compliance” charge was bogus.

To summarize once more: nothing has changed. The NCAA made a bunch of allegations, Louisville argued that the most serious of those allegations were misguided, and now the NCAA has said “nah.”

Expect U of L to ultimately take this to the newly-formed IARP, which has felt like the destiny for this case since the whole process started.

The fun rolls on.

UPDATE: Here’s U of L’s only statement on the NCAA response, or, if you will, Louisville’s response to the response to the response.

“The enforcement staff’s response is the latest step in the ongoing NCAA enforcement matter. The university stands firm in its position that the majority of the allegations are not supported by the facts or by NCAA bylaws.”