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Thursday, May 14, 2009

Painter's Color Of Choice? Wolfpack Red!!!!11omg


ACC Now; PackPride.com; Section Six (complete with anagram goodness); SFN; Wolfpack Hoops and more WPH

Or, "Lowe Plans To 'Paint' The Town 'Red!' With New Commitment!"

Or, "Painter? I hardly knew her!"

Or...

Alright, I'll stop.

When a guy named Deshawn Painter agrees to "run with the Pack," (another doozy of a pun that I see used WAY too much) the opportunity it affords makes it tough not to unleash a fury of headline cheesiness.

But let's not let my self-indulgent excuse to go pun crazy get in the way of the good news that State landed just what it needed to shore up a depleted front line: Painter, a 6'9" 200+lb. power forward prospect from Hargrave Military Academy, liked what Sidney Lowe was selling and has decided to join the Wolfpack over Gary Williams and the University of Maryland.



(Continues)

The bad news for any of you folks out there holding out hope that basketball Jesus, aka John Wall, would decide to stay close to home for his one year in the college ranks is that this exhausts State's last remaining open scholarship, effectively ending State's uber-slim hopes of shocking the world in securing his commitment (which should come roughly the first week of August).

Painter had originally committed to the Florida Gators way back when, but when it became clear that immediate playing time would be tough to come by, he opened up his recruitment again. My two cents on his decommittment? Kids naturally believe they are the best thing since sliced bread and want to go where they can immediately showcase their skills. Gone are the days of talented prospects waiting a year or so to get bigger and refine their skillset for the next level. So when Painter saw the writing on the wall, he decided to explore other options.

Juxtapose that situation against CJ Leslie's decommittment from State. Leslie most certainly faced no stiff competition from any of the existing or projected players on State's roster for playing time. His motivation for reopening his recruitment seems borne more out of a desire for some attention on a par that his high school teammate Wall has received (though it's hard to imagine anyone being fawned over more than Wall has in the last year).

Therefore I'm more apt to give a kid like Painter a pass on decommitting than Leslie. At least Painter has a logical reason to point to, versus Leslie's nebulous apparent desire for more attention from local and national media.

(The cynic says that of course I would side with Painter in this scenario, given his commitment to State and that it was State that Leslie spurned; I like to think I'd feel the same way about both players were State not involved with either.)

An excellent pickup for the Pack, and proof that Sidney can get the job done on the recruiting trail. Where Lowe needs to go from here is pretty obvious: converting these wins in the offseason into wins in the regular season, leading to appearances in the (real) postseason.

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