[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Times New Roman][FONT=Tahoma]Summertime in AAU basketball is always fertile ground for the rumor mill to begin churning. Putting together a good performance or two in the different camps and skills academies seems to add a few more schools to players’ lists interested teams. That is especially true in the case of highly-rated players who just recently de-committed from their first verbal commitment.[/FONT][/FONT][/COLOR][FONT=Tahoma]
[/FONT] [FONT=Tahoma][COLOR=#000000]The summer has been a very good one for Spiece Indy Heat and Oak Hill point guard D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera. The 6-foot-3, 210-pounder has been playing very well, averaging around 17 points a game coming into the skills camps this week. He decided back in October to commit to Xavier, and then re-opened his recruitment around the first of the year. [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Tahoma]
[/FONT] [FONT=Tahoma][COLOR=#000000]It looks like that was the right decision, because Smith-Rivera has a much longer offer list this around. During some of the early summer AAU events, new schools were trying to enter the fray for his services. [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Tahoma]
[/FONT] [FONT=Tahoma][COLOR=#000000]Now it seems some services are saying that Kentucky and John Calipari were trying to throw in their hat, as it were. Nationofblue.com caught up with Kelena, D’Vauntes mother, to see if there was any fire under the smoke.[/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Tahoma]
[/FONT] [FONT=Tahoma][COLOR=#000000]“Right now, he’s open,” Kelena said. “He’s making sure that everyone knows that he is wide open. There are a lot of new coaches getting involved every time he goes somewhere. There are a lot of new schools involved. Things are going really good. He’s playing well, and he’s working hard in the gym.”[/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Tahoma]
[/FONT] [FONT=Tahoma][COLOR=#000000]Smith-Rivera is attending the Deron Williams Skills camp, as well as the LeBron James Skills camp currently, and then his Heat AAU team will play in the Peach Jam in July. [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Tahoma]
[/FONT] [FONT=Tahoma][COLOR=#000000]But is Kentucky one of the schools that will come and see him play this summer? Kelena doesn’t think so. “They may have had direct contact with D’Vauntes in the last couple of days, but I haven’t had any contact with them. And I don’t think his AAU coaches have mentioned that Kentucky has talked to them, either.[/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Tahoma]
[/FONT] [FONT=Tahoma][COLOR=#000000]“D’Vauntes has always been fond of Kentucky. He hasn’t ever made any secret of that. We enjoyed the unofficial visit we took there a couple of years ago. And I think with Coach Cal…he’s always been fond of him, too. I don’t think it would matter if he was at Kentucky or…anywhere. He liked Coach Cal when he was at Memphis. But I don’t think there has been a great deal of contact there, if any.”[/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Tahoma]
[/FONT] [FONT=Tahoma][COLOR=#000000]There are many new names on Smith-Rivera’s list. “The new schools involved are Texas, Tennessee, UCLA, Louisville, Kansas, Michigan State, Memphis, and Georgetown. Georgetown was involved before, but they hadn’t offered. They have now.”[/COLOR][/FONT]
