Cousins to…Memphis…Kentucky (Updated 6pm)

ESPN Radio just reported that Demarcus Cousins has de-committed from Memphis and will follow John Calipari to the University of Kentucky.

National Sports Review

It would actually surprise me if John Wall and eventually C. J. Leslie don’t follow.

Deadspin has more on John Calipari’s dismantling of Memphis.

DeMarcus Cousins, one of the coach’s prize commitments when he was still working for the Tigers, has changed that commitment and now says he will attend Kentucky. Well, ain’t that a kick a pants. Their other top recruit, Xavier Henry, has also “reopened” his recruiting even though—unlike Cousins—he had already signed a letter of intent to play at Memphis. Kids are so crafty these days. He may not follow Calipari to Lexington, but rumor has it that the only way Memphis holds on to him is if new coach Josh Pastner gives Henry’s dad a job in the basketball program, which believe it or not, is totally allowed under NCAA rules. I believe the word you’re looking for is “integrity.”

Calipari is making his presence felt in other ways as well. (Link)

Now that the 2008-09 season has come to an end, the focus turns to 2009-10. RJ Bell of Pregame.com has posted the odds on teams to win next season’s championship, and Kentucky has already zoomed to the top of the list after the hiring of John Calipari.

The Wildcats are listed at 14 to 1 (7%) to win the title, the same odds given to defending champion North Carolina. Then comes Duke and Louisville at 21-1 (5%), Alabama, Kansas and UCLA at 25-1 (4%) and Georgetown and Michigan State at 30-1 (3.5%)

Connecticut, Florida and Texas complete the posted odds at 37-1 (2.5%).

The odds, of course, are likely to be impacted players who leave early for a shot at NBA riches.

Related: The Calipari daughters

Basketball Recruiting

109 Responses to Cousins to…Memphis…Kentucky (Updated 6pm)

  1. RedTerror7483 04/08/2009 at 3:09 PM #

    Cousins to UAB then Memphis…Now Kentucky
    not surprised he followed him, I think it is safe to say we never had a real shot at him

  2. Gene 04/08/2009 at 3:33 PM #

    That having been said, Carolina or Duke getting Wall is about like Shav Randolph going all Dukie on us.

    K at least put time and effort into recruiting Shav, if I remember correctly, just like he did with Ryan Kelly. Roy just picks up the phone after winning a national title and says “hey kid, I want you” and he’s one of the kid’s top choices…no recruiting work involved…it’s sick when he can just pick and chose anyone he wants…

    The only other JUCO big man I’ve read us going for is Gary Flowers. I don’t know if we have a shot at him. We got in late and Seton Hall’s been after him for a long time.

  3. bb1983 04/08/2009 at 3:40 PM #

    I have question for those of you who know more about recruiting than I do, and this may be as good a time as any to bring it up.

    Of course there are dirty coaches/schools out there, and they have some shady recruitment/retainment practices, as well as some practices that are simply loopholes in the rules and might not be so unethical. Calipari is, of course, rumored to be one of the coaches who subscribes to the idea that rules are there to be bent/broken, as long as you don’t get caught.

    Memphis has been the victim of NCAA sanctions in the past (ironically involving Lee Fowler) negating a final four appearance, and Calipari’s old school U-mass was involved in a violation that ended up negating another final four appearance while Cali was head coach.

    So the question: What are the dirty recruiting practices that go on nowadays? And is this the reason that Cousins decided to follow Calipari? Also, how do people feel about the ethical ramifications of breaking NCAA rules? It has really screwed us over in the past (end of Dixie Classic, 1973 season, selling shoes, Valvano’s discrediting by Golenbock and the N&O), but how do you guys feel about the subject here at NCSU? Would you rather sacrifice competitiveness for a squeaky clean program, or bend some rules to keep up with the other rule-benders?

  4. JimValvano 04/08/2009 at 3:41 PM #

    Cousins can’t make up his mind about anything. I’ll bet he gets dressed in the morning and right before he walks out of the house…changes his mind, and his clothes.

    Come to think of it…I wonder how he maintains his g.p.a. missing classes like that…

    On another note, next year is a make or break year for Sid…he’s gonna use all the scholarships he can. Even if its on a project…as long as its a big man…he’s going to and needs to take him. We’ve got to have one more big man that can take up some space in the event that there is an injury or foul trouble. Personally, I’d just play a 2-3 zone with one big man in the middle and spread the floor on offense. My line-up would look like this:

    PG…Javi
    SG…LoBrown
    SF…CJ
    PF…Howell
    C….Smith

    Then if there is foul trouble with a big man you could bring someone like a Johnny Thomas or that Josh Davis kid…they’ve got some height (6’5-6’6) plus they can jump…so you can keep Howell or Smith, playing a 2-3 zone, in the lane to deal with big men and Thomas or Davis can extend out to the perimeter or block a few shots from behind using their athleticism, but I’m no Lee Fowler…I’m no coach.

  5. Thinkpack17 04/08/2009 at 3:45 PM #

    ^^^Dennis Horner will start at PF…mark my words. I agree with the rest of the line up though.^^^

  6. wufpup76 04/08/2009 at 3:45 PM #

    Wasn’t one of the reasons Memphis hired …. uh, Poster/Poser/Pasture, ??? … was because of his [sleazy] AAU ties and the hope that he could hang on to this great Memphis class?

    ^Yes, Pastner is connected well in the recruiting world … and Memphis got little return interest from coaches they wanted / were interested in.

  7. JimValvano 04/08/2009 at 3:49 PM #

    Thinkpack…you’re probably right about Horner starting, at least early in the year, but I think Howell has a little bit of thickness that is lacking in Horner.

  8. Gene 04/08/2009 at 3:51 PM #

    Cousins can’t make up his mind about anything. I’ll bet he gets dressed in the morning and right before he walks out of the house…changes his mind, and his clothes.

    Cousin’s is like most other recruits. He wants to play for a coach and not a school. If UAB’s coach had more job security he’d be playing there. He doesn’t want to commit to a coach, who won’t be the one who’ll coach him in college.

    Calipari’s old school U-mass was involved in a violation that ended up negating another final four appearance while Cali was head coach.

    I don’t know how involved Cal was in that. I don’t think he had much involvement or knowledge about Camby contacting an agent, while in college.

  9. Thinkpack17 04/08/2009 at 3:55 PM #

    ^^Oh yeah, Howell is definately a monster, and he is quick as hell…but Horner has come along. I mean if you forget that he is Dennis Horner and just look at the numbers he outplayed Costner down the stretch this year. And shoot the 3 ball at 50% is a real weapon for a PF. But I do know that he is an absolute hatchet, so he’ll have to work on that. Howell will clog the lane a bit I think, and Tracy needs room to work. I think he will be a major player but Horner will be the guy at PF. ^^^

  10. Wolf Dog 04/08/2009 at 3:55 PM #

    Wherever Wall goes he will be a freshman and most likely will play like a freshman. He will make freshman mistakes and then if he not a lottery pick after his freshman year will turn against his coach. Wall has baggage and that is why UNX and Duke have not been involved with him until recently. Wall trying to convince Roy and K, he a team player and his attiude days are gone. I have never cared if we landed Wall. He is a one year of learning on the job player and then he gone.

  11. wufpup76 04/08/2009 at 4:13 PM #

    “So the question: What are the dirty recruiting practices that go on nowadays? And is this the reason that Cousins decided to follow Calipari? Also, how do people feel about the ethical ramifications of breaking NCAA rules? It has really screwed us over in the past (end of Dixie Classic, 1973 season, selling shoes, Valvano’s discrediting by Golenbock and the N&O), but how do you guys feel about the subject here at NCSU? Would you rather sacrifice competitiveness for a squeaky clean program, or bend some rules to keep up with the other rule-benders?” (apparently I can’t close out an html tag correctly so I’m going to stop trying for now)

    ^You should run through the archives here. Fowler’s role on Kirk’s staff has been brought up here before quite a few times, as have recruiting practices.

    I have a high amount of disdain for Calimari and his methods, but it’s important to note that he may actually *not* be doing anything technically wrong.

    Here are a few of the popular practices today:

    Hiring a recruit’s family member/AAU coach/strength coach/spirtual advisor for your staff

    Helping to provide regular full time jobs for a recruit’s immediate family members

    Helping to enroll a recruit’s “entourage” at the school

    Using “runners” … agents who are not technically agents. Google “Worldwide Wes”. The guy’s name is William Wesley … he is very close to Calimari and is a big reason for some of Calimari’s recruiting hauls. Google the Pump brothers. Google the Cliftons.

    These are just a few … the stories are out there. About the AAU – it has some good people in it. It also has some very self-serving and unethical people looking to garner fortunes from a kid’s skills.

    As to the other part of your question, I want a clean program. That said, you can pretty much do all of the things listed above and have a clean program provided that you aren’t stupid about it. A better question may be “Do you want an *ethical* program that sacrifices competitiveness?”

    The Holes and Duke are held up as the gold standard of “winning the right way”. They play the recruiting game and waiver wire just like everybody else … yet they are “clean” (just ask Vitale and Mike Patrick).

    We can have a clean program that competes at a national level at N.C. State. Whether it would all be ethical or not I guess depends on who’s asking and what their perspective is. I would like for our noses to be out of the gutter and everything on the up-and-up, but that’s just not how this stuff works. It is big business and it can be ugly and unseemly. I want us to be absolutely clean to the letter of the law, but if other schools can be clean and win championships then there’s no reason why we can’t either – unless we restrict ourselves.

  12. CStanley 04/08/2009 at 4:26 PM #

    When your basketball program is in the toilet, these things happen. It’s going to be a strange, hodgepodge roster that the next coach inherits.

    Hopefully we won’t f*** around much longer so that it gets any worse. But I have a feeling it will only get worse. And unless our next coach is named Rick Barnes, the hodgepodge won’t get any better for the next guy either.

  13. redfred2 04/08/2009 at 4:45 PM #

    X

  14. Astral Rain 04/08/2009 at 5:03 PM #

    I think the formula for us to get competitive and compete was shown by Villanova and Pitt. Bully the boys in the blue, and have a lot of depth for the foul trouble from the Hijo de Tirantes refs.. They’ll start whimpering evenutally.

  15. wufpup76 04/08/2009 at 5:10 PM #

    “Also, people seem to forget, but it was actually Memphis who PAID FOR, and footed all of the bills while Calipari was recruiting Cousins in the first place.”

    ^Fair point … though I think restricting a recruit from following a coach once he has changed jobs opens up a slippery slope.

  16. john of sparta 04/08/2009 at 5:13 PM #

    this portends the future of college basketball:
    see college baseball. players who are good
    enough to get paid, will. players who are
    not, go to college “for the love of the game”.

  17. 61Packer 04/08/2009 at 5:48 PM #

    “Would you rather sacrifice competitiveness for a squeaky clean program, or bend some rules to keep up with the other rulebenders?”

    With the current gaggle of morons running Wolfpack athletics, NCSU (Non Competitive State University) doesn’t have the desire to be competitive anymore, and we sure aren’t going to be squeaky clean when we’re at the bottom of the league being shit all over in just about every sport by 11 other league teams above us.

    And as for bending, the only bending Wolfpack athletics is good at is bending over.

  18. Afterglow 04/08/2009 at 6:14 PM #

    With all of this de-committing going on, I’ve decided to mis-remember that any of these recruits had anything to do with us in the first place. So there! Humph!

  19. Afterglow 04/08/2009 at 6:38 PM #

    “The only other JUCO big man I’ve read us going for is Gary Flowers. I don’t know if we have a shot at him. We got in late and Seton Hall’s been after him for a long time.”

    Gary Flowers? You mean, the freshman that is gone indefinitely until the investigation is completed. Uh… I think a better fit may be Memphis…Kentucky.

  20. noblepack 04/08/2009 at 7:45 PM #

    Clean or dirty, what’s the difference at this point? Our program can’t fall much further. I’d take a year or two of sanctions for an NCAA championship but I”m probably in the minority on that. I just don’t think NCAA violations make as much news long-term these days. Think about the FSU football thing recently, it made news for a few days now everyones off to the next story.

    I have absolutely no problem with a coach working the gray areas, even the dark gray areas, of NCAA compliance. I have a feeling we’ve been erring on the side of conservatism when it comes to this and it’s cost us. In essence I think we overpolice ourselves, although that is just a hunch. Everyone is doing it, except us. And if we are doing it, we’re doing a piss-poor job because we still suck. There really is no reward these days for doing the moral thing in basketball recruiting and it is one of the reasons I really don’t care for the sport anymore – neither college nor pro.

  21. chris92heel 04/08/2009 at 8:10 PM #

    I don’t know what unc chat dude claims he attended, but it wont on IC or CB. Neither of the PTB’s at those places is confident at all of anything other than that UNC is involved.

    Roy meets with Wall later this week – tomorrow I think – if things go well we could become a real player. There are people in the ‘know’ who insist that unc has always been wall’s ‘dream school’ and we’d become instant leaders if we offer. We’ll see. Lots of kids claim that unc is their dream school but dont mean it like i’d mean it or y’all would mean it talkin about state.

  22. hoop 04/08/2009 at 8:19 PM #

    @noblepack

    There was an article on Gary Williams not working the AAU circuit not too long ago, maybe a month? It was talking about how he tries to do the right thing but it’s hurting his recruiting. FYI…

  23. Bubba 04/08/2009 at 8:53 PM #

    We will have an opening in a day or two. Its time to hire Brian Clifton for a year

  24. turnoffthetv 04/08/2009 at 8:53 PM #

    “ESPN Radio just reported that Demarcus Cousins has de-committed from Memphis and will follow John Calipari to the University of Kentucky”.

    “It would actually surprise me if John Wall and eventually C. J. Leslie don’t follow.”

    Sorry but I dont know if this makes for top-notch discussion antics but I am about tired of hearing about Cousins and Wall. They aint coming here. Its been hinted around by the Powers that Be on this BLOG for so Long so WTF? Are you all trying to confirm and validate what you have known for a while now and justify a reason to make it relevant to WolfPack Sports and spark up more discussion on what is already going to Happen anyway. Sorry so negative but just tired of the same ol same sh** every time I come here. We SUCK! Let it SINK IN!

    I don’t need another RE-confirmation that we Failed on a recruiting Assignment when those damn HOLES just Hung another Banner.

    My frustration with Mens Basketball has reached an ALL-TIME-HIGH. I’m sick of sucking and commenting on the documentation of SUCKING. But you guys still give me HOPE that maybe LEE FOWLER is going to be OUT OF HERE really soon maybe so I still hang on to a few of the CRUMBS of Sanity that remain as a Frustrated Fan of NC STATE SPORTS.

    THANX SFN!

  25. Sweet jumper 04/08/2009 at 8:53 PM #

    I do not see Roy and K making promises to Wall. He will have to earn a starting spot at those places. At Duke, you do not play if you cannot or do not play defense. At UNX, you do not play if you refuse to play team ball. At both of these schools, you do not play if you have attitude issues, and you do not play if you do not listen to and do what the coach says. If Wall cannot do these things, he is in for a miserable one year and may become a two and done. He may also be a distraction at these schools if this happens. He should go to UK where Calamari will let him start and play major minutes and showcase his talents for the NBA. Of course, he could come to State and have the same deal, but I don’t think he is realistically considering us at this point.

Leave a Reply