With Calipari moving from Memphis to Kentucky late this week, top recruit Xavier Henry is reportedly seeking to now play at Kansas instead of Memphis because of this coaching change as reported on ESPN today. Henry origially had committed to Memphis, along with 2 of the other top-6 recruits in the country. Lance Stephenson, a top-10 recruit and #1 on the Terps radar, was supposed to announce his school decision in Miami this week at the McDonalds All-American Game festivities, but postponed his decision until this coming week. We know that his choices were down to Kansas, Maryland, and St. Johns and that he was probably about to decide on Kansas; a recent National Champion and a historic place to play the game of basketball. With Xavier Henry, the #1 recruit in the nation, now probably going to Kansas instead of Memphis, does this mean that the Terps could potentially be Stephenson's top and most sensible option right now? At Kansas Stephenson would most likely spend his first year or two playing behind Xavier Henry until Henry left for the NBA. At Maryland, Stephenson would be an instant starter, and make an instant impact on the program, even if he would seek to go to the NBA after one or two years.
It will be interesting to see what his decision is in the coming days, but how great would it to see Stephenson and Vasquez running the show, with some newfound size in new recruits Williams and Padgett inside, combined with the rest of the the talent that this team already has ready to step up (Hayes, Bowie, Tucker, Gregory, Burney, Kim, etc). I think with that mix of new and veteran talent, this team could be comparable to the Florida State team of this year, finishing the season solid in the ACC, in the top-20, and be a favortie to make at least the Sweet 16 in the 2010 NCAA Tournament. The ball is in Stephenson's court right now, but hopefully that ball will be in Maryland's court come November. We will see what he decides this week.
J.F
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