A group of former University of Louisville men's basketball players is suing the NCAA over the organization's vacation of the Cardinals' 2013 national championship and other sanctions related to an escort scandal involving the program.
One of the former Cardinals suing the NCAA is Luke Hancock, the 2013 Final Four "Most Outstanding Player." Hancock said he and the other plaintiffs have been wrongly linked to the scandal that erupted when Katina Powell alleged in a 2015 book that former basketball staffer Andre McGee hired her and other dancers for sex parties to entertain players and recruits.
“I can’t tell you two days where I’ve gone without someone coming up to me and asking me if I had strippers or prostitutes in the dorm,” Hancock said at a press conference Wednesday. “I’m involved in the right things, I do the right things. I didn’t do anything wrong.”
The governing body in February denied the school's appeal and vacated 123 victories, including their third NCAA title.
John Morgan, one of several attorneys working on the complaint, said the wins were wrongfully taken and should be reinstated.
“They’re going to do it, by God, they’re going to do it. If we have to drag them by the…hair, all the way from Indianapolis to the courthouse here, they’re going to do it," he said.
Also listed as plaintiffs in the suit, filed in Jefferson Circuit Court, are former Cardinals Gorgui Dieng, Tim Henderson, Stephan Van Treese and Mike Marra.
The suit also seeks unspecified economic damages. It states the NCAA cast the plaintiffs in a false light and seeks declaration that it wrongfully vacated the plaintiffs' wins, honors and awards.
Earlier this year, a group of U of L fans filed a similar suit. The NCAA has asked a judge to dismiss the case.
