Brad Underwood has been around long enough to know the score.
He is attuned to the reality that adversaries are cooking up schemes to spoil his party. Borderline shenanigans are the nature of the business.
Before he arrived as head basketball coach, Illini efforts to land Belleville Althoff star Jordan Goodwin were rebuffed when new Saint Louis coach Travis Ford hired Corey Tate, who was Goodwin's AAU (Eagles) coach.
That's easier than hiring a coach to recruit from scratch, even if it is a tad shady. Just rent the young superstar's summer coach, or his father, and you're in business.