Everyone knows that this week was going to be an important one on many recruiting fronts. Kyle Anderson’s decision to go to UCLA could mean Shabazz is now leaning towards joining the Bruins next season instead of the Wildcats. Archie Goodwin decided to pull the trigger for the Big Blue Nation and became the first commit in the class of 2012 for John Calipari, as many thought would be the case.
Then there was the much publicized decision of Perry Ellis, a top forward from the state of Kansas. Yesterday he decided to attend the home state Kansas Jayhawks over the likes of Kentucky, Kansas State, and Wichita State. While he was ranked 37th in the class, there is much debate on why he isn’t ranked higher. CBS Sports Jeff Goodman believes that it is because Perry’s mother over hyped her son, causing him to take a dip in the rankings. Our own Garrett Tucker, who just turned 18, was quite upset with Goodman’s comments, going as far as to say he went “full douche” this morning. While both arguments are understandable no kid should have his rank dropped due to an over zealous parent.The flipside to this is that a kid should have to deal with the circus of recruiting for a little bit. What do you think is going to happen in college when mommy isn’t there to do interviews for him? The media is involved in the recruiting process and can serve as a solid lesson on how to deal with the publicity before they hit college campuses.
Now that I’m done ranting on Ellisgate… Does it suck that UK couldn’t pry him away from Bill Self and Kansas? Of course it does. But Kentucky is far from done on the recruiting trail, making up serious ground for Gary Harris and having the likes of Dajuan Coleman and TJ Warren joining Archie Goodwin for Big Blue Madness. Either way, with Archie signed on for the future, Kentucky will have no shortage of talent.
