The more one hears about Elisha Justice, the more one admires this young man.
By now, it is common knowledge that he turned some kind of offer from John Calipari at the University of Kentucky to honor his commitment to be a walk on for the University of Louisville basketball team.
Justice had to be under pressure from some people in the Pikeville area to spurn U of L to go to Kentucky. But there was no way he would change direction, as reported by Jerry Tipton of the Lexington Herald-Leader:
“Everybody around here is a UK fan,” he said. “But everybody started to say we’ll support you no matter what.”
Justice dismissed the importance of fan pressure. “That didn’t bother me,” he said. “If they don’t want to cheer for me, so what? I have to go where I want to go.”
Obviously, a tough-minded and focused individual able to make decisions in challenging situations.
Justice could only speculate on why Calipari showed interest last week after the player heard nothing from Kentucky all season.
“There might be a lot of pressure to get in-state kids, especially a Mr. Basketball,” he said.
Justice did not call UK to inform the coaches of his decision to stick with Louisville.
He did speak to U of L assistant Walter McCarty, who called this week to ask whether the Cardinals should worry about losing Kentucky’s reigning Mr. Basketball.
“I said, no,” Justice said.