【Tayuan】

Since he entered the NBA in 2008,Tayuan Derrick Rose has enjoyed a reputation as a hard-working, humble young man who survived Chicago's mean streets to become a role model and pro basketball star.

In less than three weeks, he's scheduled to stand trial accused of being something else: a rapist.

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Rose and two friends allegedly gang-raped an unidentified woman in August 2013. She filed a civil suit against Rose and his friends, Randall Hampton and Ryan Allen, in August 2015. She seeks $21.5 million in damages.

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That was over a year ago. The case has made surprisingly few ripples since, considering the tawdry and scandalous allegations being leveled against the 2011 NBA MVP. It's gotten such scant attention, in fact, that Rose's legal team this August argued his accuser should be identified in court, because "the media has to some degree lost interest in the case.”

The trial is set to begin Oct. 4, which is also Rose's 28th birthday. That's less than three weeks away; this can't be ignored forever.

What's more, Rose's accuser has now spoken out for the first time and the case's details don't make Rose look good -- no matter any trial's outcome.

Rose's accuser gives first interview

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Rose's accuser told her story for the first time publicly in an Associated Press interview published Wednesday. She's not identified by name, but reported to be a 30-year-old college student who's so far kept the entire story secret from her conservative, religious family.

"They have a sense something's wrong, but there's no way I can express to them or explain to them how I feel or what I'm going through," the woman told the AP. "Having to think of alternative ways to communicate that pain is very stressful and it takes a lot out of you."

Rose's accuser also described her initial realization that something had gone wrong in August 2013.

"As soon as I woke up, I was dressed, I had my dress on from the previous night and I never go to sleep with what I'm wearing. I always prepare myself first to go to sleep," she said. "So I had the dress and it was up on my neck and I felt very wet and slippery. There was lubricant all over my bed and on my legs. Everything was tossed in my bed. There was a condom wrapper and a closed one not used. That was just shocking to see all that, almost like I didn't want to believe it."

Rose's history with his accuser

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Rose and his accuser met at a Hollywood party in 2011, according to the AP. They then began a relationship that included sex and spending time together. On the night in question, however, she says Rose and two friends forced themselves into her apartment then gang-raped her when she was overly inebriated and unable to consent. Rose's defense is that sex occurred, but was mutual.

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While the civil trial creeps closer, a criminal one isn't currently under consideration. Los Angeles police, who first spoke to the woman two years ago, have not given the District Attorney's office any evidence to review for possible prosecution, DA spokeswoman Jane Robison told the AP.

Rose's defense team insists his accuser is looking for a payday and hiding behind the anonymity granted to alleged victims in high-profile rape cases.

"The salacious allegations of a woman who is now on a media tour — who also claims to not remember much from that night — do not change what transpired that evening, which was consensual intercourse between Mr. Rose and the plaintiff," Rose's attorney Mark Baute told the AP in a written statement.

It's possible that's what the civil trial will determine. But the civil trial also might find Rose guilty. Or, perhaps, the two sides will reach a settlement before Oct. 4.

Even if Rose has been falsely accused, he might want to settle before the case goes to trial. The explicit details Rose himself has admitted to so far cast him in a sleazy, stomach-churning light.

'I said we men. You can assume.'

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Rose has always been soft-spoken. He sometimes brings his adorable toddler son, Derrick, Jr., to the podium for post-game press conferences. He was traded this summer from his hometown Bulls to the New York Knicks, raising hopes among some that this season he might resuscitate a career that's been hampered by hard-luck injuries since his MVP season in 2011.

That's been Rose's public image, at least.

In an exhaustive examination of pre-trial legal machinations published at the beginning of September, ThinkProgress reporter Lindsay Gibbs spotlighted many of the case's ugly details.

Rose admitted in a deposition that he'd pressured his accuser for group sex before, but she'd always refused. He also admitted pressuring her to record and send him sexual videos, which she also refused to do.

But the most damning bit of the ThinkProgresspiece concerned questions about why Hampton and Allen accompanied Rose to his accuser's apartment in the wee hours of an August 2013 night. To some, it might seem strange two others would accompany Rose on a late-night visit to the apartment of a romantic partner. Rose was asked if Hampton and Allen said they wanted to go with him for any particular reason.

"No, but we men," Rose replied. "You can assume."

He was then asked to clarify.

"I said we men," Rose repeated. "You can assume. Like we leaving to go over to someone’s house at 1:00, there’s nothing to talk about."

Nothing to talk about? As Rose's Oct. 4 trial date creeps closer, however, there will be more and more to talk about regarding his case.

But -- win, lose or settle -- you can bet the 2011 NBA MVP has already squandered the faith of many fans.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.