John Wall to Kentucky

from the CNN SI here on our site:
John Wall, the No. 1 point guard in the class of 2009, has committed to play for Kentucky next season, SI.com has confirmed. Wall, a 6-foot-4 product of Raleigh, N.C.’s Word of God Christian Academy, ended a lengthy recruiting process on Monday night by choosing the Wildcats over Miami, Duke and Florida, which were unofficially his final four options. Despite speculation that Wall’s recruitment would drag out into June, Wall’s mother, Frances Pulley, told SI.com last week that her son’s plan had been to commit before the NCAA’s spring signing deadline, which is Wednesday.

With Wall in the fold, new Kentucky coach John Calipari has assembled what’s considered to be the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class for 2009-10. It includes a second five-star point guard in 6-1 Eric Bledsoe of Birmingham, Ala.; two five-star big men in 6-9 DeMarcus Cousins of Mobile, Ala., and 6-10 Daniel Orton of Oklahoma City; a four-star shooting guard in 6-6 John Hood of Madisonville, Ky.; and a four-star junior college small forward in 6-7 Darnell Dodson of Miami-Dade Community College.”We’ll have a lot of pressure on us,” Wall told Scout.com on Tuesday. “Everyone says we’ll be the best class in a while, but it’ll be bumpy because a couple of us will be freshmen. We’ll get on the right page and make a good run at it.”

Wall’s advisor and former AAU coach, Brian Clifton(from Greensboro, N.C.), expressed some hesitancy to SI.com last week over the fact that Kentucky had accepted a spring commitment from Bledsoe, who plays Wall’s position. “We have to revisit that situation and make sure it’s going to be great to have two of the top four point guards on the roster at once,” Clifton said then. But Tuesday morning, Clifton told Rivals.com, “[Wall] felt that the risks that were at Kentucky were acceptable risks for him.”

5 thoughts on “John Wall to Kentucky

  1. Wall is reported to be ahead of Bledsoe. Wall will play his one year and move to the NBA and Bledsoe will get some experience and play a bunch the next 3. Wall will take his handler Clifton with him.

    Wall actually had some interst in unc but Clifton wanted everything to go through him and Roy wasn’t going to deal with a street agent.

  2. Joe, are you serious? Roy has dealt w/ “Street Agents” and will continue to if he wants to win. Wake up man, the top players in the country will always have “agents” that the college coaches will have to deal with. Don’t think for a second that UNC and Kansas have not recruited players that aren’t involved in one way or another w/ these “agents”. Clifton is not doing anything new. Clifton has no love for Good ‘Ol Roy and that is one reason Wall did not go there. There is more to this than what you said!

  3. I agree, there is more to it. I just chose not to air it out. But I’m in agreement that the relationship between Clifton and Roy was part of the problem. Clifton wanted everything through him. Roy was not up to that. Obviously they would have had some relationship but not what Clifton wanted. This comes directly from 2 of the asst. coaches that were involved in recruiting him.

  4. As a side note, in the announcement there were comments from Clifton and not Wall. Wall also has to get his SAT score otherwise he will be at Shaw or NC Central for a year.

  5. I was wrong about Wall. I thought it would come down to either Dudley or Northern.

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