UNC Basketball: Will FBI investigation have impact on major recruits?

Some big news on Tuesday may have just changed the college basketball recruiting landscape.

On Tuesday, the college basketball world woke up to a bombshell.

It was announced by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York that four assistant college basketball coaches from Oklahoma State, Arizona, Auburn and Southern California were charged and arrested in a federal corruption investigation that has lasted three years.

The NCAA said it was not aware of the investigation until it was released on Tuesday morning.

The news rocked the college basketball world and there’s a general thought that this is just the tip of the ice berg.

On Tuesday, the NCAA released this statement:

NCAA statement from Mark Emmert pic.twitter.com/iNsULEWhOI

— NCAA (@NCAA) September 26, 2017

Jim Gatto, director of global sports marketing at adidas, was arrested and accused of helping funnel $100K to the family of a recruit to help secure his commitment to an adidas school.

That recruit?

Brian Bowen who committed to Louisville just months ago. After the name was revealed, the dominoes started falling for the Cardinals.

On Wednesday the school announced men’s basketball head coach Rick Pitino had been placed on unpaid administrative leave. Athletic director Tom Jurich was placed on administrative leave as a final decision will be made in October.

But it’s more likely than not that Pitino will be fired.

Just hours after that news broke, class of 2018 five star Louisville commit Anfernee Simons announced he has decommitted from the school. With that news, it makes many wonder about another big recruit that was targeted by Louisville and how this will impact his decision.

One of the top players in the 2018 class, Romeo Langford, had Louisville high on his list as the Cardinals were reportedly a favorite to land him.

Langford is also a UNC target and will visit during “Late Night With Roy” in October. This news could very well take Louisville off of Langford’s list.

With UNC making a strong push as of late for Langford as of late, they are now in better shape to land him.

Indiana is also considered a favorite for the five-star recruit as is Duke.

Like we mentioned earlier, this is likely just the beginning of a big shakedown in college basketball and what can really change the landscape of recruiting.

Editor's Note (9:11 AM): @TheDevilsDen reached out on Twitter and suggested that Indiana has stopped recruiting Langford.