Emmanuel Negadu

CBS's Gary Parrish is reporting that coaches from other programs are contacting Emmanuel Negadu's high school coach to gauge his interest in transferring. When a player hasn't asked for his release, it amazes me that this could take place. It smacks of tampering. I hope that Emmanuel will recognize that Arizona remains his best opportunity to play right now and pursue a championship.

Here's the link: http://www.sportsline.com/collegebasketball/story/1082613
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Recruiting's a dirty business.  This isn't much different than all of the negative recruiting that coaches have been doing against Arizona for years, telling recruits that Lute wouldn't be around to coach them all four years, if at all.  It's part of the game and Parrish is just shining some light on it, although he does seem to love stirring the pot with UA.  There's no doubt in my mind that Jennings and Withey have been getting calls as well.

He also says in his article that it's becoming increasingly common for schools to release recruits from their LOI when coaches change.  The difference is that in almost all of those cases, it's the head coach that changed.  Lute hasn't left, and there's no way in hell they'd let any of the recruits out of their commitment given their potential lack of depth next year.  And, in Emmanuel's case, he has specifically stated that Lute's one of the biggest reasons he committed to UA.  He's not going anywhere.

By the way, you'd think that Parrish would spell Negedu's name correctly if he was going to lead off his story with him...

Hosh,

Thanks for the spell check. I continued his spelling error in this post.

I also think it would be unlikely for that request to come or for Lute to release Emmanuel from his LOI, but it is still a little surprising that other coaches seem to be encouraging Emmanuel to ask for it.

We all know there's skulduggery in recruiting. Olson was called "Midnight Lute" by Jerry Tarkanian for years because Lute was sealing the deal after Tark thought he had a guy locked up. But I figured that kind of thing stopped once you got a guy to sign an LOI, let alone start school and be on campus for a year.

Exactly!  People still refer to him as "Midnight Lute", and who's to say that UA's not doing the same thing as other schools.  I'm not insinuating anything, but Jeff Withey DID decommit from Louisville (granted, it was just a verbal commitment) to attend UA.  And remember Bayless decommitting from UA before recommitting.  He was very close to signing with Texas, and I'd be shocked if UT wasn't staying on him after he'd pledged UA.

People want to believe that UA is a sinking ship right now.  That's what they're telling recruits - committed or not - and they all want a piece of it.  Just one of the many reasons that this upcoming season is the most critical in the program's history.

Um....  Apparently this story has legs.  Negedu IS apparently asking out of his LOI, or has already asked out.  From what I understand, he told Lute he wanted out and Lute told him something to the effect of "you'd have a better shot at playing in Europe next year than getting released from your LOI".  I don't know how much of it's true, but apparently Lute even tried to involve Josh Pastner in convincing him to stay.  Lute's supposedly on his way to the east coast to meet with Negedu now.

It's a train wreck.

nope he definately wont be a wildcat next year....unless olson refuses to grant his request to be released... and i think Olson is classy enough that he will grant the kid his release....  i read an article that he is stating that the reason he wants a transfer is because all of the coaches that he talked to and was recruited by are all gone....  pastner...simon..o'neil...etc....

is this the first example of how KO has screwed up the program???  or is this on Lute's shoulders for all the changes going on in the program???   i dont know, but i dont like it

Olson is in a "no-win" situation here. If he lets him go, he takes a huge shot to an already shallow bench and killing a lot of Arizona's chances. If he refuses, he looks bad, and it hurts future recruiting.

Arizona needs to look into snatching up some of these transfers from UNC, Tennesse, etc.  because AZ has no bench next year, and if stuff like this happens, we'll get thinner by the minute.

For the sake of the program, it seems like Lute's time is going to come to a close soon if he can't manage to salvage this terrible situation quickly.

Negedu's saying that (1) it doesn't look like Olson is going to release him from his LOI, and (2) even if Olson doesn't, he's not going to be on campus next year.  He says he'd likely play another year at Brewster (if the NCAA doesn't grant him a release).  As much as this will hurt, Olson needs to let him out of his commitment.  He's not coming anyway, so refusing to let him out of his LOI isn't going to do UA any good.  In fact, it will probably do some harm as it won't be looked upon favorably by other recruits, and  you know it just gives a little more ammo to opposing teams we're recruiting against.  Let Emmanuel go and move on.

KDEEZY, your understanding is the same as mine as far as the reason for ERex not coming to UA.  He'd only really developed relationships with Pastner and Simon, so when they were let go, it really affected him.  Apparently, his last unofficial visit was a bad one, too, so that contributed.

On another note, we are trying to pick up another player for 2008.  Kyle Fogg is visiting this week and is, according to some experts, one of the top unsigned seniors (although his list of offers is still relatively small).  He had good numbers his senior year and won the head-to-head battle with UCLA commit Jerime Anderson earlier this year.  A good defender, a good slasher and a pretty decent shooter (and good size - 6'3" now, but still growing), so he would provide much needed depth at SG.  Figured  I'd throw in some positive recruiting news, since it's all been negative lately...