South Carolina head basketball coach Frank Martin just landed his highest rated recruit in program history, and it will make national news.

Brian Bowen (La Porte, Ind./La Lumiere School) will attend South Carolina bringing an end to a tumultuous few months that saw him enroll at Louisville only to leave after the school decided he would not play for the program.

Bowen enrolled at Louisville and began taking classes but his world turned upside down in late September when the FBI brought four college basketball coaches up on federal fraud and corruption charges. In those documents were details alleging that Bowen, who was not mentioned by name, was steered to Louisville by his father, who was to receive $100,000 from an agent and an ADIDAS rep.

Once discovered, the Cardinals kept him from practicing and despite being cleared by the FBI of “investigative impediments” on November 2, the school announced he would not play for the program and granted him a release. (More background on Bowen’s situation from the Louisville Courier Journal.)



The 6-foot-7, 195-pounder didn’t want to go to Europe or the G-League and waited for the right opportunity to emerge in the college ranks. That opportunity came from South Carolina.

Bowen is a former McDonald’s All-American and five-star recruit in the 247Sports Composite with a 0.9941 rating. He was considered the No. 19 player in the 2017 recruiting class. He was considered a five-star prospect by 247Sports, which ranked him as the No. 13 prospect nationally.

Stay tuned for more information on this developing story from TheBigSpur.com.