Antonio Blakeney's commitment to Louisville proves short-lived
Antonio Blakeney's commitment to Louisville lasted only 11 days.
The five-star guard quickly got a case of cold feet, announcing Monday night that he is backing out of his commitment to Louisville and reopening his recruitment. It's unusual for a top prospect to renege on his initial commitment to a school and still end up signing there, but Blakeney insists the Cardinals remain a strong contender to land him.
"I am still really considering Louisville heavily," Blakeney tweeted. "I like everything about [the] program, coaches and fans!!"
Blakeney's explanation for his decommitment was that he made an impulse decision selecting Louisville before visiting other programs, and he wants to be sure it's the right school for him. Jerry Meyer of 247Sports reported that Blakeney was under pressure from folks at Nike to at least look into other schools because the 6-foot-4 shooting guard plays for the Nike-affiliated AAU team Each One Teach One, and Louisville is one of adidas' flagship schools.
"I don't play up shoe company angle in basketball recruiting but decommitment of Antonio Blakeney from Louisville is shoe company related," Meyer tweeted. "Nike infrastructure [and] those part of [and] affiliated helped Antonio Blakeney get where he is. Considered rash to commit after visiting one school."
It's unclear which schools Blakeney will now visit, but it's a safe bet many of the programs originally involved in his recruitment will resurface as contenders. LSU, Missouri, Kentucky and Oregon — all Nike programs — are expected to be among the schools Blakeney considers.
Whichever school lands Blakeney is getting an explosive scorer ranked 13th in the Rivals.com Class of 2015. He needs to add strength, but he is quick off the dribble, adept at sinking mid-range jumpers and nearly impossible to guard when his streaky 3-point shot is falling.
If Louisville can't successfully entice Blakeney to commit a second time, it's a blow for a Cardinals class that was shaping up to be perhaps Rick Pitino's best since trading Wildcats blue for Cardinals red. Pitino previously landed a trio of players ranked in Rivals.com's top 50 for the Class of 2015: shooting guard Donovan Mitchell, small forward Deng Adel and power forward Raymond Spalding.
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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
