Serbian basketball standout Balsa Koprivica, a 7-foot-1 Windermere Prep junior whose name was circulated in September as a player implicated in the FBI probe into college basketball corruption, is benched until his school can be assured he is not in violation of Florida High School Athletic Association regulations.
Koprivica, regarded as one of the nation’s top 10 prospects in the Class of 2019, watched from the sideline in street clothes as Windermere Prep lost to West Orange on Monday night in a homecourt preseason game.
“We’re doing right by Balsa, right by our team and right by our school to hold him out until we hear something,” Lakers coach Ben Wilson said Tuesday. “It’s frustating for everybody concerned because he was named in this by all kinds of media outlets but nobody (from the investigation) has reached out to him or his mom. They haven’t heard from anybody. You don’t know when, if ever, they’re going to be told something.”
Koprivica was listed by media outlets as “player 11” in the FBI report. A passage stated that 1 Family travel program director Brad Augustine and pro sports agent Christian Dawkins conspired to facilitate a $150,000 payment to the family of “player 11” in exchange for the player’s commitment to sign to play collegiately at Louisville and ultimately retain Dawkins’ services.
Wilson said Koprivica and his mother have said they know nothing of that conversation.
“It’s very difficult for Balsa,” Wilson said. “He feels like people look at him differently now, like he did something wrong. There’s nothing wrong with how he transferred to our school. We’re just waiting on our end for word that there’s no wrongdoing (found in the FBI probe).”
The Lakers open their regular season next Tuesday at home vs. Tampa Catholic.
Koprivica played varsity for University School of Fort Lauderdale as an eighth, ninth and tenth grader. He enrolled at Windermere Prep this summer after switching from a Nike travel team to the 1 Family travel program, which is sponsored by Adidas and based out of Orlando.
Orlando Christian Prep senior Nassir Little, another highly-recruited member of the 1 Family 17U travel team, was also linked to the FBI probe as a target of sports agents and the University of Miami. But OCP played Little in preseason play last week and Warriors coach and athletic director Treig Burke said the school has no concerns that Little ever asked for payouts.
Burke said Little, who signed with North Carolina two weeks ago, and his father, Harold Little, both signed sworn affidavits for the FBI stating that they never discussed or received payments.
Augustine was initially charged with wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy as one of 10 defendants named in the probe — including four college assistant coaches. But as of several weeks ago Augustine was one of just two who had not been indicted.
1 Family announced by Twitter in September that Augustine was no longer part of the program and that founders Darryl Hardin and Leland Loper had become co-directors.
Also on Twitter, 1 Family posted a statement that said, in part: “There is not one single player in our program, nor family member of any player, that had any knowledge of discussion about payments being made in regards to making a college decision. We stand by this 100 percent and will allow the truth to come out as this process unfolds.”