Louisville coach Rick Pitino has hired Shabaka Lands to be a special assistant to the head coach, according to a Sporting News staff report.
Lands has connections to Marquis Teague, one of the top recruits in the class of 2011 and a premier point guard. He is a brother of former Wake Forest star Jeff Teague.
Marquis Teague is scheduled to officially visit Louisville in September after previously stopping by Kentucky. Wake Forest, Cincinnati, Indiana, Ohio State and Purdue are also in the mix.
The practice of hiring the friends and family of recruits is not uncommon, though ethically dubious. In theory, Louisville should have an advantage when courting Teague. However, the ploy is not always successful: Baylor hired John Wall’s AAU coach, but this year’s top recruit stuck with the national powerhouses and followed John Calipari to Kentucky.
Pitino’s move might symbolically represent Louisville’s concern that Calipari and Kentucky will gain a recruiting advantage unless they take action to attract top talent to the Cardinals.
