Illinois recruit Eric Gordon reportedly de-commits

[Da Coach]

Just posted on ChicagoHoops.com- Eric Gordon is reported to have decided to revoke his verbal committment to Bruce Weber and the University of Illinois and reopen his recruitment. This has been rumored for a while, but Gordon has repeatedly said he is firm in his decision to go to Illinois. Here is the link to the ChicagoHoops.com article--

http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/egordon.html

[Eddie]

Wow. Amazing.

The Illinois board is in meltdown mode--

http://mb30.scout.com/fillinoisinsiderfrm1.showMessage?topicID=77931.topic

[MacabreMob]

I can't help but laugh out loud!

(my wife is hollering from the other room wondering what in the world is wrong with me)

[MacabreMob]

The Illinois board is in meltdown mode

Better put a few on 'Suicide Watch' as well.

[MacabreMob]

I seriously do NOT read other school's message boards. (especially Illiniboard)

But I had to peek.

OTFLMAO!!!

And I only read page 1 of 13 - and I am sure it is growing.

Saw the suicide word.

Saw Sampson's a stooge.

OMG - I think I need to earmark this thread for a good laugh and pick me up.

[PeoriaLou]

Rivals, Scout and other premium boards had nothing on this. An Illiniboard poster at the Nike camp asked camp reps and they had no knowledge of it. Apparently, Eric also got wind of it and refuted it. This may be where this crap is growing from:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/highschool/07/07/adidas.friday/index.html?section=si_latest

[tornado]

Eric Gordon has supposedly come onto the illiniboard.com and posted himself, and it has
been confirmed by the moderators that this is him.
He says nothing has changed and that the story is not true.
See pg 13-14 of the thread.

http://mb30.scout.com/fillinoisinsiderfrm1.showMessageRange?topicID=77931.topic&start=221&stop=240

[Da Coach]

More reports that it is a false rumor- Here is an article that will appear in Saturday's Peoria Journal Star by John Supine--

http://www.pjstar.com/stories/070806/SPO_BAAPMLMF.W02.shtml

However, ChicagoHoops.com has not removed or changed their story, yet.

http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/egordon.html

Note that the PJS article also has a brief report on the ICC men's basketball team playing in a summer JuCo cam in Indianapolis. They have won 3 of 4 games with a split squad. DeAaron Williams and Chang Ping were top scorers, and Williams (a Bradley commit) impressed people with his athletic skills.

Here's quote--
"That Williams kid is a phenom," said Challenge organizer Eric Harmon, a former Missouri Valley Conference referee. "Bradley's going to get a good player."

Also, it notes that Jim Les was in Indianapolis to watch Williams, Ping, and other junior college players. The teams pursuing Ping are listed as Penn State, Wisconsin, Purdue and Bradley.

And one more item- Marcellus Sommerville has been added to the Dallas Mavericks roster in the Vegas Summer League. The team played last night, but Cellus did not play.

One more article-- Scout.com has posted a premium article with an interview with Eric Gordon.--

http://story.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=2&c=545242

In this interview he says a couple things that probably gave rise to this report of him reopening his recruiting--
"Yeah, I am still solid with Illinois, but I am thinking about Indiana too. I am giving them a look. At this point, nothing has changed"
When asked if he plans to sign in November or wait until the spring signing period--
"I am not sure. I have to talk to my parents about what I am going to do when that time comes."

He has also backed out of the prestigious Peach Jam summer basketball festival and instead plans to attend the Notre Dame team camp. Though he may now be backing away from these statements, I think there is still reason for Illinois fans to worry.

[Biff]

I read what Gordon said on the Illini bulletin board, and what he has said in recent media interviews. And Illini fans should still be worried. All he has said is "nothing has changed", but what he did not say is "I am definitely committed to Illinois". I would think if he wanted to put these stories to rest, he would state it clearly that they are false and that he is coming to Illinois. Period.
But he has never said that, and seems to be carefully wording his responses to keep the options open.

[flipper]

i still think he will go to illinois.

[BradleyBrave]

Eric Gordon will be a Hoosier IMO. Kelvin Sampson isn't wasting any time in drawing the ire of the Big 10 coaches, and more or less ostracizing himself from the rest of the Big 10 coaching fraternity. He's breaking a BIG unwritten rule among coaches in a conference. NCAA sanctions, now this. Kelvin Sampson is quite the class act.

[flipper]

Eric Gordon will be a Hoosier IMO. Kelvin Sampson is quite the class act.

are you serious or just kidding? losing gordon to indiana would be a huge blow to illini basketball.

[BradleyBrave]

Eric Gordon will be a Hoosier IMO. Kelvin Sampson is quite the class act.

are you serious or just kidding? losing gordon to indiana would be a huge blow to illini basketball.

I am serious that I think Gordon will be a Hoosier, and I was being sarcastic in saying that Sampson was a class act.

[C-Rock]

Gordon was quoted last week saying that he is playing with Derrick Rose's AAU team in a tourney to try to get Rose to come to Illinois with him.

Complete 180 in a week? I doubt it. Plus, Gordon has already debunked the article that came out yesterday.

[Da Coach]

ChicagoHoops.com, the source that reported the story Friday that Eric Gordon had "reopened his recruitment", has posted an update. Since this has caused such an uproar and even Eric Gordon and his father have publically said nothing has changed, Brian Stinette, the recruiting expert behind ChicagoHoops.com has posted another update. It sounds like he is sticking to his guns that Gordon's commitment to Illinois is not solid, and that Indiana and Notre Dame are still in the mix. However, the original report has been removed from his board, though the link is still working ( http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/egordon.html ).

Stinnett has broken the stories of many top players' committments, and he is usually on target. So we will see how this plays out.--

http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/brianstinnette41.html