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Friday, April 9, 2010

The Seedy, Shady Side Of Recruiting


Y'all have probably seen this already at various other sources, but just in case, it bears re-posting:
The phone calls came and then the text messages.

All of them were wrong. NC State coach Sidney Lowe is not getting fired Friday. There is no truth to the rumor among college coaches being spread over the last 24 hours.

Coach Sidney Lowe has had two 20-win seasons with the Wolfpack. And if it was getting to the media, you can only imagine how much it was hitting at NC State.

"It started in the coaching circles," NC State athletic director Lee Fowler said. "I’ve had to tell [signee] Ryan Harrow's mother three times this year that there is nothing to worry about."

If you don’t think this kind of negative recruiting goes on every day in college basketball then you’re being naive. Lowe has had to deal with this for the past two years and he’s hardly alone. And yet credible head coaches believed it to be true Thursday and Friday and were calling each other and media members on the subject.
The world of college recruiting is pretty cutthroat, probably moreso in college basketball where one or two prospects can mean the difference between winning it all and not making the tournament.

There's a pretty big fish out there that two prominent programs are still fishing for...Raleigh's CJ Leslie. State had him once and wants him back; Kentucky wants him too. Badly, especially since they lost an entire TEAM to the NBA draft this week.

Though there's no concrete evidence (at least none unearthed at the moment) linking the rumors to Kentucky and John Calipari, it certainly doesn't take long for folks like myself to see that the stability of State's coaching situation would have a large impact on Leslie's decision, and that UK would be the prime potential benefactor if Leslie balked at returning to State's fold.

Compound that with Calipari's history as being just one step ahead of the NCAA's investigators, and it seems hard to imagine these rumors starting somewhere other than Lexington, KY.

9 comments:

  1. Plus, Calipari was in NC for an inhome visit with CJ Leslie just yesterday.
    http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/basketball/ncaa/04/09/kentucky.calipari.ap/

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  2. I hope KY fans enjoy sleeping with the devil...

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  3. As long as it gets them banners, they don't care who they sell their soul to...

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  4. ...says the NC State fans that would have loved him had he signed four years ago. But, yeah, he's TEH devl

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  5. I am sure everyone is concerned about Sid Lowe and NC State!

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  6. This has Calipari finger prints written all over it just for him to land CJ Leslie.

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  7. UK fans ribbing another fan base on basketball ethics...now that is funny coming from an institution that employed Eddie Sutton and was home to the biggest bigot in coaching for a half century, Adolph Rupp.

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  8. Now, im a state fan 100%, and i do believe that this stuff happens more than its reported. But i feel that callipari might have gotten unfairly thrown under the bus here. I mean, i think he is corrupt, but without evidence, its unfair to chastise him as such
    Go Pack

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