From the "Oversigning" wikipedia page
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oversigning:
In the 2011 offseason, the
University of Louisville men's basketball team found itself with a roster of 18 players—five more than the NCAA limit of 13 scholarship players for that sport.
[7] In the
2010–11 season, the Cardinals had a 15-man roster, but two of these players were
walk-ons, placing them within NCAA limits. Three scholarship players departed after the season, but coach
Rick Pitino had initially signed a four-player freshman class, resulting in 14 scholarship players plus the two returning walk-ons. Then, coaching changes gave Pitino the opportunity to add a fifth freshman, former
Tennessee commit
Kevin Ware, and a future upperclass contributor,
George Mason transfer
Luke Hancock. These signings gave the Cardinals 16 scholarship players.
[8]
The situation was resolved when three returning scholarship players agreed to become walk-ons for the
2011–12 season. All had originally come to Louisville as walk-ons, but had earned scholarships.
[8] What made this situation especially unusual is that two of the three were seniors who were expected to start in the coming season. One of the senior walk-ons,
Kyle Kuric, was the Cardinals' only returning double-figure scorer.
[9] The other senior walk-on,
Chris Smith, was the Cardinals' third-leading returning scorer.
[10] Both were financially able to absorb being walk-ons—Kuric's parents are a neurosurgeon and a nurse practitioner, and Smith is the younger brother of NBA player
J. R. Smith, who had paid his brother's way at U of L when he had to sit out the 2009–10 season as a transfer.
[8]
