Lance Stephenson Rumors

Lots of rumors flying around now regarding the recruitment of Lance Stephenson. He's confirmed UCLA as out of it, which means that Kansas, Wake, Maryland, and SJU are the final four. One rumor (the most believable to me) is that SJU is almost surely out of it. It makes sense for a multitude of reasons, the biggest being that the Johnnies are absolutely horrible. I truly believe the only reason they were ever in it to begin with is location, which never is the deciding factor. That would mean it's between Wake, Kansas, and Maryland.

The next rumor is that the Kansas visit went much better than the first rumor had indicated. Kansas fans said he really enjoyed it, and his comments are pretty positive. It seems he likes being at a big time school, though if he wants to be the star, I don't see how this meshes. Regardless, it seems that Kansas may be the new leader.

Note that I don't think they'll stay the leader for very long. He just visited - of course he's high on them now. But according to the next rumor (rumor #3), he's officially declared April 15 as his commitment date. This was believed as fact for a pretty long time, actually, but he never actually announced it. Calling this one a rumor really is a stretch. This bodes well for the Terps - he's not going to visit anyone that late. By that point, all of his visits will seem equally old to him, so there'll be very little disadvantage to being the first visit. Also, it'll give enough time for someone to announce a transfer to open up that scholarship.

The last rumor is that it's currently a race between Kansas and Maryland. I wouldn't count out Wake yet, personally, but I see some truth in this. Wake came into it late, even later than Maryland, and almost everyone good will leave (Teague is rumored to be headed to the draft, as is Aminu). The supporting cast will be too young to make an impact. I could very well see this being the case, and I still like Marlyand's chances. Closer to home, big media market, urban area (not as big of a jump to go from Coney Island to CP as it is to go from CI to Lawrence, KS), supporting cast good enough but not great, etc.

I don't know who the leader is, or if any of these are true. But it's just what's been floating around.