Trey Lyles, a top-10 recruit in the class of 2014, decommitted from Indiana on Tuesday. Tom Crean took to Twitter to voice his displeasure. And a writer out of Indiana suggested that UK might have been involved.
Lyles, an Indianapolis native, is ranked in the top 10 by Rivals (9th), Scout (8th) and ESPN (7th). He committed to the Hoosiers in September 2010, before he had played a single game as a high schooler. Arsenal Tech High School coach Jason Delaney tweeted Tuesday that Lyles felt he committed to early. “Trey Lyles has decided to open his recruitment. He loves IU & it is still #1 but he would like to have something to compare it to,” the coach said.
Crean wasn’t happy with the news, and what he clearly sees as meddling by outside forces.
“I told my staff today that my football coaching friends think (football) recruiting is like (men’s basketball) recruiting because you have to deal with so many people that get involved,” Crean tweeted. “We think that more and more people never stop recruiting other school’s pledges. We are both right. Way of life.”
Jeff Rabjohns, who covers Indiana for Rivals.com, indicated that UK might have been one of the schools Crean was referring to.
“Trey Lyles news not all that surprising,” he tweeted. “Several schools have been pushing hard on him. Nike schools Kentucky, Syracuse among them. … Sources say he just wants to be 100 percent sure of his choice.”
As Delaney indicated, Lyles never really took the time to go through the recruiting process and consider other schools. As a result, there’s no previous list to fall back on and get an indication of what other programs he might consider. But don’t expect the Cats to shy away from a top-10 recruit.
In another interesting note, Lyles’ defection leaves James Blackmon Jr. as Indiana’s only commitment from the class of 2014. Blackmon’s father was a McDonald’s All-American and played for Kentucky from 1983-87.
Seems that b-ball recruiting should be added to the old saying:all’s fair in love and war. Crean knows it’s a hard-ball game, I don’t understand his whining. Man, I still hurt at Cal’s lopping IU off the UK schedule–yeah, c’mon, it was 95% UK’s doing and UK’s doing is whatever Cal wants.
Love our coach but he blew it on this one. Some things (such as the UK vs IU rivalry) are bigger than Cal and shouldn’t have been killed. Some of our past ADs wouldn’t have permitted it.
Ahhh! That’s too bad! I really hate that for IU.
What else can IU blame UK for? get a life!
What’s IU gonna blame UK for next, knocking them out of the tournament? Wait…
Suck it, IU.
It’s been reported that Kyle Wiltjer is already looking to transfer to Gonzaga. Wiltjer’s shooting has evaporated and he doesn’t rebound or play defense. He’s not tough enough. There is now some question whether or not Marcus Lee will decommit. Wiggins and Gordon are both still in the picture.