Gordon, Rose and Soft Commitments
Late last week, there was a bit of a furor brewing regarding Eric Gordon’s rumored de-commitment from Illinois. While I enjoy a good Illinois decommitment and the pandemonium that ensues all over the unpaved roads and grassy sidewalks of your average Illinois fan’s simple brain, it all sounded a bit too clean, especially since the writer that was floating the comments was about a thousand miles away from Mr. Gordon.
Well we’ve got a bit more clarity here from the Indy Star. And rather regale you with yet another boring plot summary, I’ll clip a great quote from EG’s dad:
“It’s like saying I’m committed to my girlfriend,'’ Gordon Sr. said. “But I can still look. I’m not dead.'’
I like how he ads “I’m not dead” to the end of the statement. Like a vestigial tail it’s just hanging there and we the listeners are stuck trying to understand what troubled history led to its inclusion. Because really, the whole point of the girlfriend metaphor is to suggest a soft commitment. But then he seems afraid of this girlfriend, because the whole dead thing implies…never mind.
Here’s a juicy bit of the article.
On Friday, a Web site called chicagohoops.com reported Gordon had walked away from his verbal commitment to Illinois. Later that night, the younger Gordon got on an Illinois basketball message board, said the story was untrue and assured fans he was still heading to Champaign. But in quotes published on peegs.com Saturday morning, Gordon again left the door open.
“Yeah, I’m still solid with Illinois, but I am thinking about IU, too,'’ he was quoted as saying. “At this point, nothing has changed. I have looked at them (IU) for a long time because they’re an in-state school. They have a good tradition and Coach (Kelvin) Sampson is a good guy, so I think because he is the new coach there that I should give them a look.'’
Why is this important to you, fair Jayhawk? Because Derrick Rose and Eric Gordon have discussed playing together at Illinois. And because if Eric Gordon backs away from Illinois, we might have a better shot at Rose.
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4 Responses to “Gordon, Rose and Soft Commitments”
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July 14th, 2006 at 7:08 am
low-class flaming will not be tolerated, yet you do it yourself. “all over the unpaved roads and grassy sidewalks of your average Illinois fan’s simple brain”. Ouch…
Rose will never end up in a Kansas uniform even if Gordon does back our of his soft commitment. Which by the way, all verbal’s are soft commitments. It doesn’t mean anything until the letter is signed. At least that’s how it works today. My guess is that he ends up in Memphis. Where they too lack coaching, but he will only play one year, so what’s the difference.
Until Kansas gets a coach that knows how to coach, they will never be as good as they can be. There is so much YOUNG talent there, you have to know how to utilize it and how to pick up the younger players when they are down. Until then, Kansas is now Arizona, choking in the first round of the NCAA tourney year in and year out because of the lack of coaching.
July 14th, 2006 at 7:23 am
I wouldn’t consider my admittedly poisonous description of Illinois fans to be flaming for a couple of reasons.
1. It’s a KU blog, meant to regale and entertain fans of Jayhawk basketball.
2. It’s not a serious comment.
3. It’s not meant to inspire vitriolic commenting, and thankfully it hasn’t thus far.
Regarding the coaching comments, Illinois fans now have an awful lot invested in the notion that Bill Self can’t coach and that Bruce Weber can do much more with less talent.
I’m confident that the future will show this to be a very bad investment.
July 14th, 2006 at 9:51 am
Also, if Bill Self can’t coach, why were so many Illinois fans mad at him for coming to KU? Wouldn’t they be rejoicing?
And, KU as Arizona? Yes, they have had their troubles in the tournament (mostly back in the early ’90s), but since ‘97, they have a title, have been runner up, been to 3 elite 8s and 1 sweet 16. That’s pretty good.
July 14th, 2006 at 10:46 am
An Illinois fan sighting? A Phog Blog first perhaps?
For all your implications that Self can’t coach, the guy has 6 conference titles the last 8 years, and coached a team of underclassmen to top 10 finishes in the Pomeroy and Pythag ratings. But let me guess, you’re hanging your hat on the fact that your team didn’t lose in the first round. (Like the second round is so much better)