News broke yesterday that 2013 5* recruit Chris Thomas will be going to his fourth school in four years as he has officially left South Kent in Connecticut and will be enrolling at Mack Academy in North Carolina. Thomas is originally from Denver, and has the prototypical NBA shooting guard’s size. Scout says that he’s probably the best pure scorer in the 2013 class and is always in attack mode. ESPN praises his first step and talks about how he excels in transition. EVERYONE raves about the kid’s on-court skills. Rivals has him as the #5 recruit in the nation for 2013. 247 has him at #7. Scout at #10. ESPN at #13. He’s a top tier recruit in every sense of the word.
And CU has a shot at him.
The problem? His maturity. Dave Telep took him to task today and even said that:
Along with not even being sure he’ll be eligible, what happens if he decides he’s unhappy and decides to leave in the middle of the season in college? We already saw what happened to Oregon when Jabari Brown decided to bail right before the season, and to a lesser extent Jahii Carson at Arizona State when he was academically ineligible. 2013-14 could be a HUGE season for the Buffs, do they really want to risk putting so many eggs in a basket that could be ineligible?
But can the Buffs afford not to? If Thomas wants to come here (and that’s up to debate as there are a lot of rumors that he wasn’t exactly running with the best crowd here in Colorado and that’s why he left in the first place), can the Buffs turn down a player who will probably be an NBA lottery pick and who could bring the team tons of positive publicity and attention from future recruits? Currently, Adam Zagoria is saying that Thomas' top 3 is Xavier, Mizzou and Iowa State. But just two months earlier, his top three were Xavier, Kentucky and Florida. There is no real clear leader, so he's ripe for the signing if CU really puts in the effort.
So what would you do? Would you offer him the scholarship or walk away?
And CU has a shot at him.
The problem? His maturity. Dave Telep took him to task today and even said that:
At this stage, it would be an upset if he were to become eligible to play as a freshman in 2013. His transcript must be riddled with so many questions one will need Albert Einstein to do the math regarding his core GPA.
Along with not even being sure he’ll be eligible, what happens if he decides he’s unhappy and decides to leave in the middle of the season in college? We already saw what happened to Oregon when Jabari Brown decided to bail right before the season, and to a lesser extent Jahii Carson at Arizona State when he was academically ineligible. 2013-14 could be a HUGE season for the Buffs, do they really want to risk putting so many eggs in a basket that could be ineligible?
But can the Buffs afford not to? If Thomas wants to come here (and that’s up to debate as there are a lot of rumors that he wasn’t exactly running with the best crowd here in Colorado and that’s why he left in the first place), can the Buffs turn down a player who will probably be an NBA lottery pick and who could bring the team tons of positive publicity and attention from future recruits? Currently, Adam Zagoria is saying that Thomas' top 3 is Xavier, Mizzou and Iowa State. But just two months earlier, his top three were Xavier, Kentucky and Florida. There is no real clear leader, so he's ripe for the signing if CU really puts in the effort.
So what would you do? Would you offer him the scholarship or walk away?