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Amber Searls-Imagn Images, USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect<\/p>\nAmber Searls-Imagn Images, USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n
Veteran college basketball coach Rick Pitino addressed the controversial reinstatement of Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby, and he made his opinion of it rather clear. Sorsby received a temporary injunction in his NCAA gambling case this week and is currently eligible to play during the 2026 season.<\/p>\n
Many feel that the ruling<\/a> sets a precedent that it is okay to wager on your own team. While at Indiana, Sorsby<\/a> bet on his own team\u2019s football games. He also reportedly wagered more than $90,000 over the last four years through sportsbook accounts registered in the names of friends and family members on his behalf.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, Rick Pitino<\/a> addressed the Brendan Sorsby situation during an appearance on Schein Time<\/a>. While not absolving Brendan Sorsby of any wrongdoing, the coach also placed much of the blame on gambling companies.<\/p>\n Rick Pitino lays a lot of the blame for the Brendon Sorsby situation on gambling companies and TV networks<\/p>\n During the interview, host Adam Schein called Brendan Sorsby\u2019s reinstatement a \u201cdisgrace of epic proportions\u201d and asked Rick Pitino for his reaction to the ruling.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, I agree with you, but let\u2019s look at it this way,\u201d Pitino began. \u201cLook, if you\u2019re constantly selling alcohol to players, you\u2019re going to have some addicts. If you\u2019re in the middle of games and they\u2019re breaking in, FanDuel\u2019s breaking in and saying the line is this and the line is that, and but I believe \u2026 you\u2019re creating addicts, by the way, you\u2019re showing it on television. <\/p>\n \u201cNow, I will say this. I can see you becoming a football gambler because of all day long on ESPN, all they\u2019re talking about is the line and gambling and who you\u2019re picking and so on. You\u2019re going to have a lot of athletes that become gamblers because of it.\u201d<\/p>\n Rick Pitino believes Brendan Sorsby crossed a line you simply can\u2019t \u2018step across\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cBut you can never ever step across,\u201d Rick Pitino clarified. \u201cPete Rose, I knew very well you could never put him in the Hall of Fame because he gambled on games. Now, you can\u2019t possibly let this young man play because he gambled on his games. <\/p>\n \u201cBut for some reason, I think that judge is saying you have advertisements during the game from FanDuel, from MGM, and saying, you\u2019ve got your talent on the air doing commercials about that. You\u2019re gonna have some people with addiction problems, whether it\u2019s alcohol, whether it\u2019s drugs, if you\u2019re constantly showing that, you\u2019re going to have some problems going ahead in college as well as the pros.\u201d<\/p>\n For what it\u2019s worth, Brendan Sorsby also blamed the gambling companies in a statement to the NCAA, saying, \u201cMy betting became a compulsion which made it virtually impossible to resist the constant notifications I received from betting apps. I lost complete control of my addiction. I now realize the apps controlled me and I did not control them.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t