Rodney Purvis, one of the top high school basketball players in the Class of 2012, said Monday afternoon he is now most interested in Duke, Kentucky, Louisville and N.C.State.
The 6-foot-4 Raleigh Upper Room Christian Academy junior point guard made a verbal commitment to Louisville in December, but announced Monday that he was opening his recruitment. Verbal commitments are not binding on schools or players.
"There a few schools that I am most interested in," Purvis said before naming the four schools.
He averaged 25.4 points last season and is ranked among the top 10 junior prospects in the country by most many recruiting analysts.
Comments
Agree with Max on this one.
Thu, 05/05/2011 - 22:59 — unc098Agree with Max on this one. I think he is just showing some hometown love.,,,,,....:). It would be a real coup if Gottfried pulled this off. An eyebrow raiser for sure.
Gottfried's time to shine
Mon, 05/02/2011 - 23:15 — Heels20If he can convince Purvis and Anton Gill to be hometown boys, then State most certainly has the talent needed to compete. Yeah, it's a long way down the road, but an interesting thing to think about. Pitino is likely to retire soon and we've seen how tough it is for programs to find the ideal coach. I really do think Louisville is out of it on this one.
Let me guess... This guy
Tue, 05/03/2011 - 06:57 — mad_maxLet me guess...
This guy will gain more and more interest in coming to State, only to back out at the last minute when he realizes that State has the worst fans in the history of sports. Sheesh, this is a tough burden to carry! =)
In all seriousness, I don't expect him to committ to State. Probably just giving some hometown love, but hey, I'm glad we are at least being mentioned. To me, Gottfried's coaching style/ability will be way more important than his recruiting. A good coach will be able to win a decent amount of games with the talent we already have. Hopefully Gottfried falls into that category. Of course, talent does help, but as we have seen in recent years, it really comes down to coaching.
Possibilities
Tue, 05/03/2011 - 11:37 — Heels20This is looking way ahead and is just pure speculation of something that will not unfold for awhile. That said, here are a few things that could give State the upperhand:
-Duke has Austin Rivers and Quinn Cook right now. Both are very good talents, and although Rivers may be a one-and-done, Cook will not be. Curry and Dawkins will be filling the 2 spots. I don't see Purvis as the kind of guy who wants to sit during his freshman year.
-Kentucky seems to get the #1 PG prospect every year (Wall, Knight, Teague). Yes, Purvis is the top PG prospect in his class, but what if LJ Rose commits before him and Marquise Teague opts to stay?
-Pitino is retiring soon. In my mind, that leaves way too many question marks unless they pull in a Brad Stevens or Mark Few-type hire.
-At State, Purvis would start from day one. Lorenzo Brown will be more polished by that point with two years of experience and one year of Gottfried under his belt. If State can lure in Anton Gill (2013 prospect, but would make a great SG compliment to Purvis), who Gottfried is actively pursuing, then that makes the opportunity to play at State much more attractive.
But that would also mean that Lorenzo Brown would be starting over Gill and Purvis would have to stay for a second year. So again, this is just speculation of the possibility. Gottfried needs to go hard for this one.
Agreed
Tue, 05/03/2011 - 12:43 — JPDOhioGottfried should go hard at Purvis. Just watched some highlights. Pretty impressive.
With CJ Williams gone after this season and only one recruit at the 2, I don't see playing time as an issue. Having a rotation of Brown, Purvis and Gill at guard would make any coach salivate.
We are getting way ahead of ourselves here, but it is fun to speculate and I wouldn't rule these guys out to early. I'll leave that to gatr.
let the proving begin
Tue, 05/03/2011 - 00:45 — JPDOhioGonna be real interesting to see if Gottfried can reel them in. Of course, as we saw last year, it's one thing to get them, another thing to get them to play well.
Wondering if the interest in State is simply the location near home or something else. Looking forward to seeing this all play out.