Sophomore Austin Rivers Commits to Florida & DeAndre Liggins Update
Labels:
Austin Rivers,
Billy Donovan,
Billy Gillispie,
Deandre Liggins
I was under the impression that college coaches had agreed to stop recruiting and pursuing high school underclassmen? However, I believe that the Florida offer had been on the table before the June 19 NABC statement.
On Wednesday night Austin Rivers the son of Boston Celtics coach Doc. Committed to play for coach Donovan and the Gators. Florida had been among a handful of schools with offers on the table for Rivers according to an interview in this past Monday:
"Florida, [Central Florida], and . . . I’m going to try to go visit Memphis, Kansas, and Texas."
So now that the NABC has asked coaches to stop recruiting underclassmen, I am assuming that the players who were offered before the June 19 statement are still "fair game" to pursue? I would like to see their be some kind of concrete ruling by the NCAA or another governing body of athletics. My point is that if Coach Gillispie has agreed to stop offering underclassmen and (for example) coach Donovan ignores the June 19 request and pursues kids, then the playing field will become a truly slanted one very quickly.
Rivers was Donovan's fourth commitment by a player who has yet to play his sophomore season.
http://www.kentucky.com/276/story/452125.html
Alex Schwartz interviewed Findlay Prep's Coach Peck in July of 08:
The graduating player that I discussed with Coach Peck is 6'6 guard DeAndre Liggins '08, a Kentucky-signee. Liggins' eligibility for next year is up in the air, so I inquired of Coach Peck whether or not his star senior had qualified, to which he told me: "We're still waiting to hear." Findlay's head man does not know when he will find out about the outcome of DeAndre's situation. The top-notch guard did receive his test scores and all the information is in the hands of the NCAA.
