In Case There Wasn't Enough of Lance Stephenson News

There's more. But I guess you guys should be glad for some not bad news (god knows I am). The awesome Zagsblog has an update on Born Ready, and it's confusing as all hell. It's clear the rumor I posted earlier had little validity - Memphis is already dropped from his list. His list now consists of St. John's, Maryland, Kansas, and USC. Here's his quotes, via Zagsblog of course:

On why he dropped Memphis: They’re not really recruiting me no more. I think they got the shooting guard that they want [Xavier Henry], so I don’t want to name them no more.

On his visit to Maryland: Maryland, I had fun. We talked about Padge, how we’re going to get him ready for Maryland. That’s a good look for me and him to go to. I’m just looking at different schools and trying to see where the best fit is.

They’re kind of high on my list. I didn’t go and  visit all the other schools. I just visited that school. It’s the first official visit. I’m just going to see what the other schools look like and pick by that.

I watched the game. They played against Miami. They beat Miami. That was a tough win. They played hard that game and after that I just chilled with the coaches. We talked about how I could make a big change in the program.

On how Maryland started recruiting him: They come to see Padgett, so they just figured that it would be a good look if they talked to me too and tried to get me and Padgett to play together again.

Padgett, on how Lance said his visit was: He said it was pretty cool. He liked it up there, but it’s up to him. Nobody knows what he’s going to do. He has a lot of options.

Padgett, on playing with Lance: It would be pretty good. He could help the team out on the perimeter.

Lance, on playing with Padgett: He loves playing with me and he said I always motivate him to play harder in all the games and at practice, so he said that would be a good look.

If I wasn't confused before, I am now. Lance doesn't exactly show a lot of emotion, from what I've seen of him - see the Born Ready webisode series - so it could indeed just BR being BR. On the other hand, he didn't seem enthralled by the visit, at least on the transcript.

The loss of Memphis helps, I suppose. Kansas isn't recruiting him too actively, from what I've heard. USC is still a possibility, though they've been quiet. My money is that it comes down to St. John's and Maryland. SJU is still the leader right now, it seems, but you never know. Padgett's quote seemed to imply that Lance is unpredictable, and the Maryland visit proves it. Hopefully, he's sees the pluses of Maryland, but I could see him going anywhere right now.

Also, I can't tell if him visiting Maryland first is good or bad. I honestly have never looked at what order recruits make their visits before. Does it indicate more interest (ie, he wanted to get to know about our school first!), less interest (I'm not really interested, so I'll just go, have a look, and get one out of the way - almost like a trial to see what the others will be like), or is it just logistics?

BTW, a recap will be posted tomorrow afternoon. The overriding theme is that Maryland played well, but UNC was so much better it didn't matter.