Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports
After not receiving an offer from the Kentucky Wildcats, Jaquan Lyle committed to Rick Pitino and the Louisville Cardinals. Lyle really liked head coach John Calipari and Kentucky, but the offer never came. After seeing Quentin Snider decommit from the program a few weeks ago, now Rick Pitino has lost another guard. Lyle has decommitted from Louisville and there was a rumor he had reached out to Kentucky after the Wildcats missed out on Emmanuel Mudiay.
For one reason or another, John Calipari had his reasons for not extending an offer to Lyle during the recruiting process. I really cannot confirm nor deny that Lyle actually reached out to Calipari, but he’s probably wasting his time. I’m not sure where Lyle goes from here, but it shouldn’t be to Lexington. The Wildcats just picked up a point guard commitment from Chicago area prospect Tyler Ulis. Kentucky also has offers to Tyus Jones and Dante Exum at the point guard position if they wanted to pick up another guard.
Before committing to Louisville, Lyle had a slew of high major offers. He should have plenty of schools awaiting word that he is still interested in playing for them. As for Louisville, the Cardinals are no longer able to boast about being the team with the deepest amount of talent at the guard position. Sure, the Cardinals still have Terry Rozier, Chris Jones and shooting guard Anton Gill. However, with the loss of Lyle and Snider, the Cardinals depth at guard is no more.
Lyle has turned down the rumors that he has actually contacted Kentucky, but I’m not sure I believe him. Maybe I’m wrong and maybe he’ll get another chance from John Calipari. In the past, Calipari thought he may have had Mudiay coming for sure and he didn’t need Lyle. Since Mudiay is not coming to Lexington, he offered Tyler Ulis and now has a point guard for 2014. Even with that being said, I firmly believe Kentucky does not need Lyle as much as Lyle might think he needs Kentucky.
Brian Lewis is an SEC Basketball Writer for www.RantSports.com. You can add him to your network on Google for more of his work.
