After a long three-day weekend in NYC (Manhattan) with my five best friends from high school, I am back.
And first things first, the big elephant in the room is wow, Kenny Williams committing to North Carolina.
I got two texts on my phone as I was running from one subway to another in the underground chaos of New York City. Both were from guys involved in the KW recruitment.
The first text read "That visit must have been a disaster." -- Saturday at 5:20 pm
The second read " I no longer believe in done deals." - Saturday at 5:35
My response to both (as I was off the grid) was shock. But as we promise every year on this particular weekend (we call it Old School Playas weekend by the way) and it's an annual thing every spring -- we aren't working. So I didn't.
And just like that, Kenny Williams committed to UNC. Thanks to Andrew Jones and John Gwaltney who picked up the slack for me on this particular weekend. They were all over the story. So those two guys were great in my absence.
So, now that I am back, just what in the world happened? We are starting to put the pieces together. And we are still working on completing the puzzle.
Here's what we knew, PRIOR to the weekend. Kenny Williams was going to commit to UVA.
That was the word, verbatim, at the end of last week. We didn't have it from KW, but we had three ridiculously good sources on this one. One very close to the Boo Williams AAU squad, one near the UVA basketball office and one, who is a strong personal friend of the Williams family.
Once I had all three sources (two of whom I have a long history with) we put out the word on the message boards, saying all signs were pointing to UVA.
"Yeah, he's committing to UVA. Most likely next week," said our source close to the Williams family.
He elaborated with ease on why.
"Unless he has a change of heart in the last 24 hours and he really, really likes UNC. But he is thinking it could be a gamble because of the investigation and what happened to Syracuse. He feels UVA is a solid situation."
The other source, close to the Boo Williams program, added "I've never heard anything from them to suggest he'd pick UNC."
So, on behalf of THI, I apologize that our intel was wrong. But from a journalistic standpoint, what we posted on the message boards at the end of last week, was our best and most vetted feel for the situation and to be quite honest, it's information that I felt amazingly secure putting out there before leaving for my trip.
But hey, I'm willing to bet you all were quite pleased with the outcome this time, right? UNC locked up a pretty darn good addition for next year in a 6-3 wing guard who's best skill is shooting the basketball.
So the big questions that remain are what happened between last Friday and the time of Kenny's commitment? We are still digging to get some additional intel. But from what one of my sources thinks, it was simply a change of heart. And it was a big surprise.
"That visit must have been a disaster. Because that kid told us going in that he was a heavy lean that way. Now he's committed to UNC," he said, offering his explanation.
We have probed further that source and have no new information.
When we probed the other source, he simply explained it as indeed, a change of mind with Williams.
"More of mom's liking. I knew he always liked them (UNC) but like I told you yesterday, unless a change of heart in 24 hours, it was UVA," he continued.
And first things first, the big elephant in the room is wow, Kenny Williams committing to North Carolina.
I got two texts on my phone as I was running from one subway to another in the underground chaos of New York City. Both were from guys involved in the KW recruitment.
The first text read "That visit must have been a disaster." -- Saturday at 5:20 pm
The second read " I no longer believe in done deals." - Saturday at 5:35
My response to both (as I was off the grid) was shock. But as we promise every year on this particular weekend (we call it Old School Playas weekend by the way) and it's an annual thing every spring -- we aren't working. So I didn't.
And just like that, Kenny Williams committed to UNC. Thanks to Andrew Jones and John Gwaltney who picked up the slack for me on this particular weekend. They were all over the story. So those two guys were great in my absence.
So, now that I am back, just what in the world happened? We are starting to put the pieces together. And we are still working on completing the puzzle.
Here's what we knew, PRIOR to the weekend. Kenny Williams was going to commit to UVA.
That was the word, verbatim, at the end of last week. We didn't have it from KW, but we had three ridiculously good sources on this one. One very close to the Boo Williams AAU squad, one near the UVA basketball office and one, who is a strong personal friend of the Williams family.
Once I had all three sources (two of whom I have a long history with) we put out the word on the message boards, saying all signs were pointing to UVA.
"Yeah, he's committing to UVA. Most likely next week," said our source close to the Williams family.
He elaborated with ease on why.
"Unless he has a change of heart in the last 24 hours and he really, really likes UNC. But he is thinking it could be a gamble because of the investigation and what happened to Syracuse. He feels UVA is a solid situation."
The other source, close to the Boo Williams program, added "I've never heard anything from them to suggest he'd pick UNC."
So, on behalf of THI, I apologize that our intel was wrong. But from a journalistic standpoint, what we posted on the message boards at the end of last week, was our best and most vetted feel for the situation and to be quite honest, it's information that I felt amazingly secure putting out there before leaving for my trip.
But hey, I'm willing to bet you all were quite pleased with the outcome this time, right? UNC locked up a pretty darn good addition for next year in a 6-3 wing guard who's best skill is shooting the basketball.
So the big questions that remain are what happened between last Friday and the time of Kenny's commitment? We are still digging to get some additional intel. But from what one of my sources thinks, it was simply a change of heart. And it was a big surprise.
"That visit must have been a disaster. Because that kid told us going in that he was a heavy lean that way. Now he's committed to UNC," he said, offering his explanation.
We have probed further that source and have no new information.
When we probed the other source, he simply explained it as indeed, a change of mind with Williams.
"More of mom's liking. I knew he always liked them (UNC) but like I told you yesterday, unless a change of heart in 24 hours, it was UVA," he continued.
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