The world is waiting for Lance Stephenson to make his college decision and sources say he and his family are still huddling about where he should go.
Here’s what we know today:
**Despite rumors to the contrary, Bill Self will not come to New York this weekend to meet with Lance. Why? The recruiting period is over.
**Self cannot say enough good things about Xavier Henry.
“It’s a huge get,” Self said. “Not only did we get one of the best prospects in the country, a player that certainly fills a need on the perimeter for us, but we also recruited his family for several years and to see everything come full circle and come back to KU, I think it’s a huge get for the University of Kansas.”
**Despite the Henry-to-Kansas news, Stephenson is still said to be considering Kansas and Kansas could still take him. The Jayhawks would have to move one of their scholarship players — Brady Morningstar? — off scholarship. Still, that would leave things awfully crowded on the wing with Sherron Collins, Henry and Stephenson.
**Word is that Stephenson does not want to stay local at St. John’s and thinks that Gary Williams‘ system at Maryland is too structured. Both of these things make sense, but both St. John’s and Maryland have put the fullcourt press on recently.
That, in turn, could open up the chances of him going to Kansas or even Memphis.
“My guess is that he’s waiting to see what shakes out,” New York recruiting expert Tom Konchalski said recently. “If Xavier Henry [goes to Kansas], then maybe [John] Calipari recruits [Stephenson to Kentucky]. Maybe with Josh Pastner [the new head coach] at Memphis, with Sean Miller at Arizona, maybe he’s waiting to hear if they’re looking for players like him.”
Still, sources at both Kentucky and Arizona said they were not actively recruiting Stephenson.
PARROM DOWN TO FOUR, WILL VISIT TWO
Kevin Parrom told Rivals.com he is down to four schools.
“It’s down to Pitt, Arizona, Virginia Tech, and Xavier,” Parrom told Rivals in a text message. “I take an official to Pitt on Sunday and an official to Arizona next weekend.”
St. John’s and South Carolina, which were on his initial list, did not make the cut.
Former Xavier coach Sean Miller and assistant Book Richardson are now at Arizona.
“He really likes Arizona and the coaching staff,” South Kent coach Kelvin Jefferson told the Arizona Daily Star.
Check the article out as it has quotes from yours truly as well as Dave Telep and Jeff Goodman.
These are just a few comments made by some of your fellow UK fans from CatPause
“It was tempting just because of [Calipari],” Xavier Henry said. “Me and my brother, I don’t think we ever really followed Kentucky. We knew about the tradition, but we never actually followed them. Kentucky wasn’t that much of a pull, but Coach Cal was a big pull for us.”
1.That quote tells you a lot about where the Kentucky “brand” has been for the last few years. We just aren’t thought of like we used to be.
2.We have fallen quite a bit over the years. We aren’t even the best team in the SEC much less the nation. But with Cal in the picture at least we are in the conversation again
3. Kentucky is an all-time top 3 program, but the school has not been relevent for the last decade. When you are 18 years old, you may have been following college hoops for 8-10 years? The Kentucky brand just hasn’t been there for kids this age
now here are some facts about the last 30 years
UK has 2 titles in the last 30 years (*since 1979)
KU has 2 titles in the last 30 years.
UK has 5 final 4′s in the last 30 years.
KU has 7 final 4′s in the last 30 years.
UK is 772-257 in that time span (.750 winning %)
KU is 787-223 in that time span (.779 winning %)
I guess if you’re 70 years old and remember watching any Rupp teams play, kudos to you. But the last 30 years of the modern era, since the tournament went to it’s modern format (not size, format) in 79, Kansas has been better than Kentucky.
.
Have fun watching Kansazz fall flat their face next season.
haha that made me laugh regardless
As a KU fan, I’ll be rooting for Memphis next year. Cal did them dirty. You don’t see any articles but it has been said by Xavier Henry and Cousins that Cal encouraged them to put in the clause to allow them to leave if he leaves. Pretty clear that he was planning on leaving and taking them with him. Plus it was all done on Memphis’ dime. Never seen a college program buy another’s like UK has done to Memphis. I hope Lance finds a good home, whether it is St. John’s Maryland or somewhere else. For those saying X didn’t want to come to KU… It is nothing further from the truth. He didn’t go to Memphis for Cal, he went to play with CJ and keep his family together. He has been saying all along that KU was his first choice. CJ went to Memphis first because Cal promised him PT since Rose went pro and X followed to be with CJ. Simple as that. UK will be pretty good next year, there will be a lot of talent but it will be messy with the holdovers and implementing a new system. Hopefully UK and IU can get back to the status that they once have, but they haven’t in the last decade.
Just like they did a year ago right? It is pretty damn easy to pick apart your spelling, grammar, and punctuation issues. It is like proofreading my 6 year old nephew’s homework. It only further illustrates what a complete and total moron you are, as if you foolish generalizations didn’t make you look stupid enough. Please just admit that Kansas and Bill Self are better than your team. It is okay man, they are better than a lot of teams. Once you come to grips with KU’s superiority, get a job, and move out of your mom’s basement you can live a happy life.
Just for clarification, my name Letemhang is from a quote by Darnell Jackson – “Let your nuts hang, just let em hang.” It is in no way a reference to the violent act of hanging people. Maybe I should change it to LetYourNutsHang… Adam, you think I can get away with having “nuts” in my name?
My all time favorite Jayhawk!! D Block was great. I’m so happy he getting some PT on a damn good Cleveland team. You see Gohard Self puts players in the league. Does your coach do that??
Also… about Cal not recruiting over someone… wasn’t it Nolan Dennis, former Memphis commitment who wanted to follow Cal to UK but Cal was waiting on X and just didn’t answer any of Nolan’s calls? Nolan’s mom was in the media lately talking about them getting blown off.
Yup, D Block was the freaking man and a great story. He was what, a 3-star kid coming out of high school? Now getting significant PT with a playoff team.
Right, I’m a moron cause I’m bashing KU fans. If I were giving praise you’d be singing a different tune or not singing at all. KU can be superior all they want in your neck of the woods; nobody’s checkin’ for them but Big 12 rivals and classless KU fans who’d rather see a poor lil’ guy from Kansas ride the bench all season long to have a shot @ Lance. How pathetic is that?
KU is top 3 program nationally. Everyone is “checkin” them as it has been since the inventor of the game started the program as its first coach. Hence, the national championship last year and number 1 preseason ranking next year BEFORE we landed Xavier Henry.
Here are some stats from a good story – ESPN did a statistical analysis of the “most prestigious programs” last year since the expansion of the Tourney in 84-85. It was 1 Duke, 2 KU, 3 UNC and 4 UK. KU is #3 in all time wins less than 20 behind UK and UNC out of close to 2,000 total wins for each
2. KANSAS JAYHAWKS, Big 12 – Since 1984-84
22 conference titles (14 regular-season, 8 tourney); 8 30-win seasons; 23 NCAA berths; 8 No. 1 seeds; 15 Sweet 16s; 7 Final Fours; 1988 and 2008 national titles; 58 NCAA tourney wins; 13 All-Americans; 5 NBA top-10 picks; 0 losing seasons. The Jayhawks had eight 30-win seasons in the time span, tied for the most with Duke.
Maryland was number 28 – a solid program. If you are going to talk trash. Do it in a logical manner with examples, or factual statements. If you are going to say a team is better than KU’s next year. Give a team, and why they will be better next year.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=3501739
Why you’re bringing Maryland into this debate is beyond me and all that research you just did is history. What does your present team have to do with any of that, hmmm? And if you wanna talk about ,don’t forget to mention before last year the last time you all won a championship was in ’88. That’s why nobody is checkin’ for ya.
P. Bring up some reasons about why you’re willing to ask a hometown kid to ride the bench for a year and pay his own tuition for a recruit. I’d love to hear it.
“we’re soo superior, our two recent championships are twenty years apart but I feel like we can win this thing every year.” – DelusionalJayhawkfan4
Are you not a Maryland fan?
“All that is history”… Ok, well what about the future – such as next year. KU is preseason #1. You have been asked multiple times to give a team that will be better and why. You haven’t answered.
You ask why KU is willing to ask a hometown kid to ride the bench for a year and pay his tuition. First off, no hometown KU player has been asked to pay his own way. There is an internet rumor that Brady Morningstar’s Dad (Roger Morningstar, former KU player) has offered to pay tuition if it benefits the team. It hasn’t happened and there has been no real info to substantiate the rumor.
Second, these hometown kids (such as Reed and Morningstar) know coming into a program like KU that Bill Self’s goal is to win championships. These kids, who are good players have a choice to make when they get out of high school: Play for a good program and get plenty of minutes, or play for KU and get limited minutes on a team that is going to win championships. Most of them choose KU because they have been fans their whole life and would rather be a part of something bigger than be a big fish in a small pond. They are in no way victims and are loving every minute of it. They get to tell their kids and grandkids what it was like to play at Allen wearing a KU jersey which gives them a huge sense of pride.
Well, good luck to whatever team you root for. You can’t blame any fan for being excited about an upcoming season if thier team is the majority pick to win it all.
Gohard= D-Bag
Enough said.
Self’s nuts will be under your chin for years to come. Get used to it Gohard.
Gohard= K-state or Mizzou fan. He can’t even come up with who might be better next year. Never brings up his own team- just flames on ours.
Brady Morningstar has volunteered to pay his own way. Did you hear that Gohard.
The guy’s family is loaded and his father is a former player. You see Bill Self recruits guys that buy in to a team concept and want to win. That is what happens when guys play for a program such as Kansas
I love the 20 years apart blast. Please consider how many programs have 0 championships in their history. Your douchery amazes me!
KUfanNmemphis …. for a self proclaimed “know it all”, YOU ACTUALLY PRETTY STUPID.
Your handle suggest you live in Memphis but to make some of the statements you are making, if your are in Memphis, YOU MUST BE LIVING UNDER A ROCK.
“Memphis will not be very good, ok but not good.” – Memphis should have The best front courts they have had in the last ten years with the additional of LW (i.e. he recently got his list down to two Memphis & Georgetown) and should easily complete with any of the top programs. With the addition of couple of quality guards you have yourself a Recipe for a Final Four run.
You have mentioned playing for a 1st year coach – IF YOU HAD ANY KNOWLEDGE OF CAL you would know he is a so-so game coach at best as evidenced by “Giving Away Natl Champioship” to you this past year. Pastner is known as an excellent XO’s coach and is quickly developing a seasoned staff that has to be considered brilliant (i.e. not to mention the little time he has spent to do it).
As far as Stephenson goes, again YOU DISPLAY A CONSIDERABLE LACK OF KNOWLEDGE about the player himself. Stephenson abosolutely does not want to be stuck in a crowd.
It is more likely YOU MUST RESIDE IN ORLANDO AND PAL AROUND WITH THE MOUSE if you think Stephenson is going to Kansas.
At KU he becomes one of many. At Memphis he could “star” and continue the recent tradition of great guards coming out and going in the first round.
What do you think makes better press or will draw more attention?? Being one of many on a great team. Or being the catalyst that takes a team that was supposedly dead and makes a Final Four run?
I’ll go with the later. At this point I suppose in Lance’s world his choices are down to Maryland, St. John’s, & maybe a few others.
You are AN IDIOT IF YOU THINK KANSAS IS STILL ON HIS LIST.
Nothing wrong with Kansas, just something wrong with YOU!
WHAT AN IDIOT – “Lance is not going to Memphis they don’t have much of recruiting class left”.
How many players go to a school because the recruiting class is not all put together. Whith what Memphis has already Coleman, probably LW, you add LS and/or Bledsoe and its a top 20 class.
HOW STUPID DOES THIS ONE COME? “they will still be pretty good only because they play in a horrible conference.”
Memphis has been in the sweet sixteen for the last four years. Kansas didn’t do that did they? Ask Texas, Michigan State, Texas A&M, UCLA when we were thrashing them in the tourneys if it really mattered if Memphis played in a Non-BCS confrence.
THIS GUY HAS TO BE A REINCARNATED DAFFY DUCK –
“Also with this signing Lance is not going to go to Kentucky, they don’t have enough scholarships if Meeks and Patterson come back, plus they are the favorites to get Wall. If Lance wants the spotlight Kentucky is not an option they already have Cousins and if they get Wall those 2 are both rated higher thus more spotlight.”
What the difference in going to KY or KU? They are both loaded with great players. There is very little room for the kind of attention that “Stephenson” wants.
KUfanNmemphis <—- WHY WOULD ANYONE EVER CONSIDER ANYTHING THIS FAIRY WOULD HAVE TO SAY. I KNOW WHO IS HIS NOW. HE MUST BE THE SECOND COUSIN OF TINKER BELL!!!!!
hellothom…
I do live in Memphis, you don’t know me and I do not live under a rock, I am just giving an opinion. But there in reason to make this personal DICK. But lets talke about some of you points.
Just because LW dropped his list too 2 and that it includes Memphis is a little presumptious that he willl choose Memphis. They do not have the depth or talent to make a deep run in the Tournament. Again I am not saying Memphis won’t be good they just won’t be as good as they have ben in the past, and if you think so then you are just blinded you allegiance to you team. Which there is nothing wrong with that, but there is no need to make it personal.
The fact that Pastner is a first year coach who has no head coaching experience will make a difference no matter how he hires as assistants. Will he be a good one, maybe but they will struggle in his first year all first year coaches do. Also he is going to be installing a brand new offense and when that happens at any school there is a learning curve.
When it comes to Lance I did not realize that you had talked to him and he told you that he was no longer considering KU. Afterall that would be news to everyone since there are reports from people around him that say he is still considering Kansas even with the X coming. When it comes to exposure he will get more at Kansas, preseason number one, National Title favorites, and you can get noticed even if you are not the superstar (i.e. Marivn Williams, UNC).
I am not a Memphis hater, I want to live in a town that has a good bball team, but Memphis will take a step back and they will have a harder time get top recruits they have become accustomed too over the last couple years. Memphis will not make a Final Four Run unless you consider just making the tournament a run.
I’m not trying to be bias with this post, but this is how I feel about Lance’s recruitment based on what I have heard…
1) Lance has stated that he is down to Kansas, St. John’s, and Maryland’s, so I’m not going to include any outside possibilities (i.e. Kentucky, Memphis, etc.)
So this is how I feel is the order of the schools with the best chance:
1) Maryland
2) St. John’s
3) Kansas
Before anyone takes a stab at me, I am trying to make this with as much as I have heard of his recruitment from reliable and factual sources.
So let me state the following…
Kansas has to be at the bottom of this list (IMO). I have no doubt that he was going to go there before he delayed his decision. However, people keep stating that “now that Henry is there, he won’t get the stardom that he needs”. But you also have to consider that Collins and Aldrich are NBA-caliber players too, so it would give him a lot less opportunities to showcase himself. Second of all, as far as their scholarship availability, I think they’d have to take one from someone to free one up.
The reason I put St. John’s behind Maryland is because I have heard from an interview with Lance Stephenson that he was basically out-ruling playing there. A reporter asked him if he was ever going to play in MSG again, and he said something along the lines of “…if I get drafted by the Knicks…” (It’s somewhere on this site). Also, the fact that he didn’t want to announce his college decision at MSG also gave people the notion that he wasn’t choosing St. John’s.
Maryland made the top of my list, because I haven’t heard any factual or logical basis from ANY source eliminating Maryland from contention. Zag’s blog has stated that Maryland was out of the picture numerous times, but then Gary goes up to visit with Lance and his family, which seems to contradict that. Another thing is, Zagoria never stated why Maryland was out of the race, which made me question why he would bring it up to begin with.
I’m just speculating and could be completely wrong. In all fairness, St. John’s would be the best program for him to be the star of the team and the NY media and playing in MSG are very appealing aspects. Kansas is undoubtedly the pre-season #1 now, so if he wants a championship, there would be no better place to pick. As for Maryland, they have a great fanbase and the Comcast Center is one of the nicest and most exciting environments in college sports. He would also be considered the star, but might have to share some with Greivis. And Gary Williams is a great coach.
general greiv, i liked your post as a lot of the points you made are valid. However, I must disagree with the order for one reason. I think SJU is the favorite over Maryland (not considering any outside schools, if any). He made that statement (about playing for the knicks) when it was a lock that he was going ot Kansas. Lance was supposed to announce March 21st after the city championship at MSG. Once it got closer to that date, Kansas really became the heavy favorite. At that point, he did not want say “i will be back here at MSG” if SJU was not the favorite. Therefore, he made the point about the Knicks. Maryland is a good pick, but does have some issues. First, the under armour thing. that issue isnt resolved and the ncaa is looking to further investigate. That makes Lance and his farther nervous. Second, even though i think, and a lot of others think he is a 1 and done, if he isnt, the signing of a solid 2010 wing, as Maryland did, may have some impact. Thirdly, Lance will be a bigger star in New York. He will play at MSG, will score 25 plus points a game, be in every NY newspaper, will have his face all over the city, and will be the most talked about man in NY basketball while at St. John’s. In addition, SJU has a team returning of juniors, along with mason jr., 2 other solid recruits, and a weaker big east. This is ticket for Lance to take St. John’s on his back and potentially back in the tourny, even if a lower seed. If he does, all the publicity will be “Lance Stephenson led this storied program out of its ruins and back into respect.” That will have an impact on his draft status. Maryland made the tourny last year. They will be expected to do it again and as a higher seed along with a longer tourny run. He has more to gain from SJU and more publicity and/or endorsements to make. Therefore, if it is down to those three schools, and those only, I think SJU is the favorite. If he wants one and down power numbers and publicity, there is no better place for him then SJU. We shall see.