College Recruits Choosing AID over LOI

Second blog of the day...and its still hot and humid in the VILLE.  Hope everyone has enjoyed their weekend..as Sunday is winding down.  My second blog is of the college sports scene.  Here we go..

Two UK basketball recruits, Brandon Knight and Terrence Jones, opted to sign financial aid papers rather than the normal Letter of Intent doc.  Lots of people wondered why Aid instead of LOI?  Its basically comes down to the student athlete doing a CYA.

Prepare for more and more top prospects to go the route of only signing a financial aid agreement and not signing a letter of intent.

Why would a prospect want to restrict himself by signing a letter of intent if he has the option to just sign scholarship papers? If a school values a recruit enough..it will be more than happy to just have that prospect sign scholarship papers.

It is all about leverage..and the high-level prospects have all the leverage. And this will be known now more than ever.

The primary reason a prospect would not want to be bound by a letter of intent is the possibility of the head coach leaving for another job. With so much talk about coach John Calipari potentially leaving UK for the NBA, it only makes sense for Knight and Jones to steer clear of a letter of intent.

I sincerely believe Coach Cal is not leaving UK any time soon.  I think the whole NBA experience humbled him and he's content being on top of the college mountain.  He's rubbing shoulders with LeBron, Ashley and most of the top high school talent in America.  However, if Cal was to get an NBA deal like Rick Pitino did from the Celtics..I'd could not blame him for leaving.  I didn't blame Rick then..and wouldn't blame Cal now. 

I'm like life..I'm day-to-day..and glad we have Coach Cal..and the talent that he is bringing to UK.  But you have to take the good with the bad.  The bad could, for UK fans, Cal getting the right NBA deal.  For that...I have no problem with the kid looking out for himself.  Truth is..top talent goes to a school because of the coach..not the other way around.


Peace out my HALEYUNNS!