The [URL=”http://www.projo.com/pc/content/Ricky_Ledo_PC_Friars_Reynolds_02-03-11_CTMA4P_v2.d3a7f9.html”]Providence Journal[/URL] had a great article about 5-star 2012 wing man Ricardo Ledo. Ledo has evidently suffered a hard life in urban Rhode Island, seeing his father shot when he was a child and watching his brother sent to prison for gun possession. It’s a tragic story, but one not unique in the history of John Calipari recruits.
Derrick Rose – older brothers took turns taking him places because father was not around.
Tyreke Evans – father died two years before he stepped on Memphis’ campus.
John Wall – never really knew his father, who spent most of his life in prison.
DeMarcus Cousins – father ‘out of the picture’ by the time he was 14.
Eric Bledsoe – lived with his mother in high school, father never mentioned.
Mike Gilchrist – father died in 1996, from multiple gunshot wounds.
It was [URL=”http://twitter.com/goodmanonfox/status/32623062742474752#”]recently tweeted[/URL] that Louisville has dropped out of the recruiting of Ricardo Ledo. I don’t know if that’s due to something they don’t like about Ledo or something they like better about another 2012 recruit. Either way, it bodes well for Kentucky if they’re still interested in the #7 overall recruit in the class. And I think they are. Not only does Calipari have a history of recruiting troubled youth in need of a father-figure, but he also has a history of recruiting the top talent in the class.
The article above quoted Ledo’s former coach as saying, “He’s got to get away from Rhode Island.” I think I know a place where he can do that, and history can repeat itself. I wonder how Ledo feels about the color blue.
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