July 31, 201412 yr His mentor is Brandon Bender Are you being facetious or is that true? (I was kind of wondering the same thing. Man, BB is nothing but toxic.)
July 31, 201412 yr Author Are you being facetious or is that true? (I was kind of wondering the same thing. Man, BB is nothing but toxic.) I'm being serious. It was publicly Acknowledged in an article by Adam Zagoria, the Canadian mouthpiece who thinks he has great sources.
July 31, 201412 yr His mentor is Brandon Bender This is the problem. It's ashame parents don't do their research before sending their kids off with this guy. Rumor is he gets paid to deliver these kids. The KHSAA needs to investigate him. Coaches who sell their souls to these people get what they earn. You see what happened at Thomas Nelson with him involved.
August 1, 201412 yr Brandon is the one who declared for the draft after his junior year of high school, right?
August 1, 201412 yr Author The man handling Kasongo’s recruitment is his mentor, Brandon Bender, a former Louisville player who has been involved in some controversy in recent years. Both Pat Forde of Yahoo! Sports and Pete Thamel, then of the New York Times, have written articles saying that Bender was involved with the alleged runner Kenneth Caldwell, who brought the NCAA’s attention to UCF in 2011 because of questionable recruiting tactics. For his part, Bender dismisses those claims. “I’ve never been a runner and never will be a runner,” he told SNY.tv. “My focus is to help kids who need help getting to college. People may call me names and talk reckless about me, but people close to me and around me know my intentions are good.” As for the UCF case, Bender pointed out that the NCAA investigator in that case, Abigail Grantstein, was recently fired by the NCAA “for trying to ruin Shabazz Muhammad’s life.” Grantstein compromised the NCAA’s investigation into Muhammad, a UCLA freshman, when her boyfriend spoke aloud about the case on an airplane. “If I was Central Florida, I’d appeal everything to the NCAA,” Bender said. As for his relationship with Bender, Kasongo calls him his mentor and says nothing but positive things. “I was in Canada and my head coach knew Brandon,” Kasongo said. “That’s how he put me in contact with Brandon and he took it from there. He became my mentor. He’s been helping me with this basketball thing, giving me advice.” Bender maintains relationships with college coaches, which he says can only help in recruiting. “I’m just glad and honored to still have relationships with college coaches who have known me since they recruited me in high school,” he said. “They know what I am and they don’t care what [reporters] write or wrote because they will forever be friends.” As far as Kasongo’s recruitment, Bender says the young man is looking for a good academic situation, as well as a coaching staff that is patient and can teach him the fundamentals. “He is looking for a good academic situation and a coaching staff that’s willing to teach and be patient,” Bender said. “There is a lot he has to learn at the college level but he has some great institutions after him and the kid’s ceiling is very high. “He has a freakish body. He is built like a man. In high school, he is the second-most athletic big man in 2014 I’ve seen behind Cliff Alexander.” Canadian Big Man Kasongo Wants to Be Next Amar?e | ZagsBlog.com
August 8, 201412 yr Author @HoopsHypeCA · 39m Brandon Bender sighting. Has recently offered sound bites about Ray Kasongo's recruitment ... @HoopsHypeCA · 38m “He’s super-chiseled, powerful dunker and physically athletic specimen. If you look at Ibaka’s body now, that’s what Ray looks like" -Bender @HoopsHypeCA · 37m Brandon Bender talking to ESPN radio today added "He’s like Amar’e Stoudemire when he first got in the NBA. That’s what he is." #CdnBallers
August 9, 201412 yr As for the UCF case, Bender pointed out that the NCAA investigator in that case, Abigail Grantstein, was recently fired by the NCAA “for trying to ruin Shabazz Muhammad’s life.” Grantstein compromised the NCAA’s investigation into Muhammad, a UCLA freshman, when her boyfriend spoke aloud about the case on an airplane. Can't really argue that the investigator in that case did anything but screw the pooch on that one. One way to ruin a great case is to go blabbing about it on a plane to someone you don't know and have an elderly attorney overhear it and report you for being so cavalier in your methods. Even if they had enough to nail Muhammed to the wall, it sounds like that one is no one's fault but their own.
August 9, 201412 yr I'm being serious. It was publicly Acknowledged in an article by Adam Zagoria, the Canadian mouthpiece who thinks he has great sources. Care to elaborate? I'm not questioning whether he does or doesn't, just curious.
August 13, 201412 yr Adam Zagoria tweets that Indiana is the "clubhouse leader" for Kasongo. He's visiting IU on Monday.
August 13, 201412 yr Adam Zagoria tweets that Indiana is the "clubhouse leader" for Kasongo. He's visiting IU on Monday. Crean was in Pikeville to watch Kasongo and Shane Hall in the 15th Region finals a couple years ago.
August 14, 201412 yr Author Adam Zagoria tweets that Indiana is the "clubhouse leader" for Kasongo. He's visiting IU on Monday. Ironically enough, Bender is posting pictures of IU's gym on Facebook.
August 14, 201412 yr Author Care to elaborate? I'm not questioning whether he does or doesn't, just curious. Not really. I just know who his sources are on a lot of his reports.
August 14, 201412 yr Maybe Bender is working on a package deal to IU? IU is a mess. I'd avoid that place.
August 18, 201412 yr Author Ray Kasongo has been denied admission into Indiana. The saga continues...
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