Adam Zagoria covers basketball at all levels. He is the author of two books and an award-winning journalist whose articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Sports Illustrated, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide.
Eric Bledsoe knows where he wants to go to college, and he’ll tell the world on Wednesday.
“Yeah, he’ll announce it Wednesday,” Parker (AL) coach Maurice Ford said Monday by phone.
The 6-foot-1 Bledsoe visited both Memphis and Kentucky this past weekend and has made his decision between the two.
“He had a good time at both schools,” Ford said. “He enjoyed both of them.”
Bledsoe is ranked No. 3 among point guards by Rivals.
Current Memphis head coach Josh Pastner recruited Bledsoe when he was an assistant to John Calipari at Memphis and Bledsoe said the two still have a close relationship. Bledsoe said Pastner told him the Tigers would run even more than they did under Calipari.
“[He said] they was going to run even more, more than Calipari did,” Bledsoe said in an interview with the Memphis press last week. “He was going to work hard.”
Point guard John Wall of Raleigh (N.C.) Word of God is the No. 1 recruit in the class and is widely viewed as Kentucky’s first choice to play point guard. Wall has a long list of suitors including Kentucky, Duke, Baylor, Kansas, N.C. State, Florida, Memphis and Miami.
Wall has yet to cut his list.
Asked if it bothered him that Wall was considered Kentucky’s first choice, Bledsoe said: “No, sir. No it don’t. I’m going to play my position either if he do go or he don’t.”
Asked if they could play together, Bledsoe said, “Yes, sir.”
The 6-foot, 160-pound Bledsoe averaged 20.4 points, 11.2 rebounds and 10.3 assists in leading Parker to the Class 5A state championship game. The Thundering Herd beat Kentucky-bound big man DeMarcus Cousins and Mobile (AL) LeFlore 52-39 in the semifinals.
“I’m a pass-first point guard,” he said. “I can help everybody get to where they need to be.”
Memphis has produced back-to-back one-and-done point guards in Derrick Rose and Tyreke Evans, and Bledsoe said he liked the fact that he could step in and follow in their path.
“It’s a point guard school. They make point guards go to the NBA,” he said. “That’s how I like it. I could step right in and be the guy, that’s why I like it.”
Adam Zagoria is a Basketball Insider who covers basketball at all levels. A contributor to The New York Times and SportsNet New York (SNY), he is also the author of two books and is an award-winning journalist and filmmaker. His articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide. He also won an Emmy award for his work on the SNY mini-documentary on Syracuse guard Tyus Battle.
A veteran Ultimate Frisbee player, he has competed in numerous National and World Championships and, perhaps more importantly, his teams won the Westchester Summer League (WSL) championships in 2011 and 2013.
He lives in Manhattan with his wife and children.
Eric Bledsoe knows where he wants to go to college, and he’ll tell the world on Wednesday.
“Yeah, he’ll announce it Wednesday,” Parker (AL) coach Maurice Ford said Monday by phone.
The 6-foot-1 Bledsoe visited both Memphis and Kentucky this past weekend and has made his decision between the two.
“He had a good time at both schools,” Ford said. “He enjoyed both of them.”
Bledsoe is ranked No. 3 among point guards by Rivals.
Current Memphis head coach Josh Pastner recruited Bledsoe when he was an assistant to John Calipari at Memphis and Bledsoe said the two still have a close relationship. Bledsoe said Pastner told him the Tigers would run even more than they did under Calipari.
“[He said] they was going to run even more, more than Calipari did,” Bledsoe said in an interview with the Memphis press last week. “He was going to work hard.”
Point guard John Wall of Raleigh (N.C.) Word of God is the No. 1 recruit in the class and is widely viewed as Kentucky’s first choice to play point guard. Wall has a long list of suitors including Kentucky, Duke, Baylor, Kansas, N.C. State, Florida, Memphis and Miami.
Wall has yet to cut his list.
Asked if it bothered him that Wall was considered Kentucky’s first choice, Bledsoe said: “No, sir. No it don’t. I’m going to play my position either if he do go or he don’t.”
Asked if they could play together, Bledsoe said, “Yes, sir.”
The 6-foot, 160-pound Bledsoe averaged 20.4 points, 11.2 rebounds and 10.3 assists in leading Parker to the Class 5A state championship game. The Thundering Herd beat Kentucky-bound big man DeMarcus Cousins and Mobile (AL) LeFlore 52-39 in the semifinals.
“I’m a pass-first point guard,” he said. “I can help everybody get to where they need to be.”
Memphis has produced back-to-back one-and-done point guards in Derrick Rose and Tyreke Evans, and Bledsoe said he liked the fact that he could step in and follow in their path.
“It’s a point guard school. They make point guards go to the NBA,” he said. “That’s how I like it. I could step right in and be the guy, that’s why I like it.”
