Wall still on the fence

John Wall

There is a new test to find out if someone is truly a college basketball fan or not. It’s one question, nothing fancy, nothing complicated, and it’s not tricky. All you have to do is ask “do you know who John Wall is?” If they look at you with a puzzled face show them to one of the many great NBA blogs there is in hyperspace, because they aren’t real college hardwood fans. Ok, I may be exagerating a bit here, but I am trying to prove a point here, and that is: how much John Wall is going to (add school here) has taken over the off season less than a week from the Tar Heels cutting down the nets at Ford Field.

Let’s be clear on all of this, if not for the “one and done” rule the point guard from Word of God Christian from Raleigh (N.C.) would be lacing up his shoes for an NBA team next year, that is a given and there is no denying this. The best of the best teams are after this young man, who is a 6’3″ point guard fifth year senior and that is why he was not able to play in the McDonald’s All American game. From North Carolina (only team who has not offered a scholarship) to Duke, Miami and N.C. State from the ACC. Kansas and Kentucky are also in the hunt for Wall’s services, if only for one year. Same with Florida and Memphis (who has lost a lot of ground since Calipari headed to the bluegrass state).

All the sites that do recruiting their business have Wall as a five star and top of his position as well as top of his class. If you read/listen to the people that make a living out of analyzing recruits, John Wall is as good as it gets, and for many of the above stated teams he could be the missing link from going to one of the top to being the team to beat. Kansas is loaded and with a player like Wall they will shore up their top spot in the pre season. Kentucky is revitalized with the hiring of Calipari and players coming in. If (and it’s a big if) Patterson and Meeks return, having Wall would put them as a top notch team. North Carolina has plenty of players returning from a championship team, along with the best class in 2009. Adding a scoring point guard like the young man from Raleigh would probably put them on track to be the first team to repeat in quite a while.

Most people believe that Wall is going to be a one year player in college, and so it’s going to take a head coach who is going to make sure that he plays for the name on the front of the jersey and not the one in the back. I have to say that in the six years at Chapel Hill head coach Roy Williams has shown that he can make players do just that. From McCants, who was part of the 2005 national championship team, to the trio that came back last year and won it all in 2009, coach Williams has told them all to be sure that they are there for the team. And while I would be drooling about having a player such as Wall coming to Chapel Hill, even for a year (ala Marvin Williams and Brandan Wright), I do not want to see the baggage, or better said, Brian Clifton. Clifton is Wall’s ex AAU coach and now he has become his handler.

Clifton doesn’t like North Carolina nor does he like head coach Roy Williams, having said this about the Hall of Famer:

“[Williams] is well within his right to do that,” Clifton said. “And John can go to whatever school he decides to. But I honestly feel that to make that decision he’s going to have to turn to his mother and turn to me and have both of us say, we support it. And I absolutely would not support him going to UNC.”

From what I know coach Williams won’t offer a scholarship to Wall if he is going to stick with Clifton, and I don’t blame him. The affects on the field will be gone in a year as far as John Wall is concerned, but the baggage he carries with him (aka Clifton) will linger a lot longer than that, and a school such as North Carolina doesn’t need it! I understand the fan bases of every school wanting this kid, if he is half as much as good as proclaimed, he is going to be very, very good. But as one that follows the team as a blogger, I just don’t like to see someone like him walk into the UNC program unless 100% sure that Clifton is out of the picture and 100% sure that he will not come back into it once the season starts.

I am going to say this, and make it clear, John Wall (and Clifton) are a hay fire, glowing right now because of the recruiting, but will burn just one year and then he is gone. Carolina is a fire that has stood through thick and thin, that is not going to poof anytime soon. So for the handlers of the world, and there are plenty, you should remember that while you are now riding that high wave, it will soon end, and the way Clifton is using his words might just crash off this ride. I mean, saying he would not support Wall going to Carolina is something that makes you look foolish in so many ways. A great team, who just won a title, a great program, full of tradition, a great school, to get a fine education. And even if the last might not matter, it’s the fact that you are going to be able to get that in case that the transition from high school to college isn’t as quick as everyone believed.

In the end I believe that the best thing for this young man would have been that Calipari had stayed at Memphis. Now, it’s a toss up, one that could still include Carolina if someone would bow out, and if not, the young man will either end up at Duke or Kentucky, with Florida trying to catch up in the last stretch.

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