'Longer it drags on, the more damage it does': How UC's Brannen review could impact program

The cloud of confusion and uncertainty hovering over the University of Cincinnati men's basketball program gets bigger and increasingly darker every day.

The latest episode in the saga between Cincinnati men's basketball coach John Brannen and UC Director of Athletics John Cunningham premiered Monday with Brannen's lawyer, Tom Mars, calling the situation an "avoidable embarrassment to UC Athletics." Cunningham declined to comment.

"I have never seen anything like this in the history of college basketball," Sporting News college basketball columnist and Big Ten Network studio analyst Michael DeCourcy told The Enquirer. "I've been doing this for 35 years. I cannot think of a comparable…