By the afternoon of March 16, the palace coup was in full effect at Fifth Third Arena. Mason Madsen and Tari Eason, two freshmen members of the UC men’s basketball team, met with Bearcats athletic director John Cunningham amid speculation that Cunningham was looking for reasons to fire coach John Brannen.
Neither player was happy with Brannen. In fact, each was pondering a transfer. There was a caveat, though. The players spelled it out to Cunningham, as alleged in the lawsuit Brannen’s lawyers filed Friday against the school:
"Madsen and Eason told Director Cunningham that several members of the team were going to enter the transfer portal at the same time in an effort to get Coach Brannen fired, all the while fully intending to return to UC to play for the new head coach.''
Three and a half weeks later, Cunningham did fire Brannen. Eason still transferred, to LSU. But Madsen announced he was staying at UC, as did point guard Mike Saunders Jr. and other players who’d entered the portal.
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