The meaning of commitment apparently depends on what day it is for some, suggesting that a major generational gap exists between college athletes of today and yesterday.

Negus Webster-Chan, the player many fans keep forgetting is in the University of Louisville’s 2012 basketball recruiting class, has backed off his verbal. He apparently wants to visit five other schools.

Maybe not getting enough buzz on the fan message boards or the fawning that many highly-touted recruits receive. Possibly, there’s a shoe company connection he wants to cement, or a talent agency contact to cultivate. Conceivably a combination of all the above. Or maybe he’s genuinely wanting to look around. All we know for sure is that he has backed out of his commitment.

One is reminded of the Marquis Teague courtship, a player all but committed to U of L until a couple of weeks before the signing date. Wound up going to Kentucky which has made a fine art out of embellishing the recruiting process.

Meanwhile, Rodney Purvis, often mentioned in the same breath as all-time greats Rodney McCray and Pervis Ellison, is remaining firm on his verbal, declaring on his Twitter account, “My word is my bond.”

If he remains committed, with his talent level, with his contact Tim Fuller having left for Missouri,  and with all the inducements in college basketball recruiting today, Purvis is an extraordinary individual.

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By Charlie Springer

Charlie Springer is a former Louisville editor and sportswriter, a public affairs consultant, a UofL grad and longtime fan.

8 thoughts on “Louisville basketball commits come and go”
  1. LOL

    It didn’t work.

    Fiasco chirico fiadxo rococo,

    The dirty little prima donna.

  2. The whole recruiting process is disgusting. Maybe it is just me but I think a recruit should feel honored to be offered a chance to play a game they love in front of thousands of fans, plus get a free education while doing so. Instead we have these 18 year old prima donnas asking for fans to show them love on twitter, expecting everyone to worship the ground they walk on. Its just gross.

  3. Denny C : ‘fisico’? Damn, that’s not even close. Fiasco chirico fiadxo rococo, I can’t even get my phone to write that. Stay on KSR.

  4. Keep blowing smoke up Purvis’s butt and maybe he will still play for Pitino.

    In truth he past his prime and he’ll never recover from his fisico with the media in his Sypher tryst.

    Why wouldn’t they reconsider. It ‘s an obvious mistake.

  5. It’s just as well. I don’t think I could come up with a cool cheer that rhymes with webster-chan anyway.

  6. I have begun to hate recruiting. Players now have the same lack of loyalty as coaches.

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