Quentin Snider de-committed from his hometown Louisville Cardinals and had chosen the Illinois Fighting Illini over UCLA. So Steve Alford lost a big name recruit. COULDN’T HAVE HAPPENED TO A NICER GUY *sarcasm
This was once another big commitment for Illinois and coach John Groce as Louisville Ballard product Quentin Snider is headed to Champaign. The 6-1 point guard would give the Illini a true point to complement Tracy Abrams, possibly moving Abrams off the ball.
Instead Quentin Snider pulled an Eric Gordon on the Fighting Illini. Doing his best impersonation of Gunner Kiel when it comes to college choice decision making.
Quentin Snider is ranked #31 overall in the 2014 class by Rivals.
Snider returned to his hometown Louisville Cardinals simply because of playing time. Jaquan Lyle de-committed to Rick Pitino, so that opened up a point guard spot. The decent, quick start for Jaylon Tate, and the presence of Tracy Abrams probably contributed to Quentin Snider leaving. He’ll still ride the pine at UL. But at least he’ll do it at home.
Today, is the biggest day in college basketball recruiting history: Cliff Alexander, Jahlil Okafor and Tyus Jones all announce today.
So remember, when you report/write on recruiting you’re literally trying to predict what 17 year old kids will do. Good luck with that! It’s how you end up with so many Quentin Snider, Gunner Kiel, Eric Gordon. More flip-flopping than John Kerry and Mitt Romney combined.
John Groce is still really doing what Bruce Weber could not, and that’s recruit. Leron Black bagged, D.J. Williams, maybe Cliff Alexander is next….we’ll see?
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. He’s also an analyst for multiple news talk radio stations across the country; with regular weekly segments on NBC and Fox Sports Radio. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks) and RSS Catch him Tuesdays talking Illini and Northwestern for KOZN 1620 The Zone, Fridays talking Chicago Bears for WAOR 95.7 The Fan
What a winning hand that would be!