You remember Lance Stephenson, right? Y'know, the guy that has been tagged here more than Gary Williams? The very lifeblood of this blog for about two months?
You probably remember.
Maryland recruited the New York City standout (and, uh, eccentric personality) hard for a solid couple of months before retracting his scholarship offer. The decision was debated and discussed endlessly, and was even talked about after the end of this season, as fans wondered what Born Ready could've done for Maryland. He ultimatley ended up at Cincinnati, helping lead the Bearcats to an overall average season.
Well, I think everyone can finally sleep at night: after one average freshman season, Stephenson is NBA-bound.
For me, at least, this is closure. Stephenson wasn't keeping me up at night, but if he was doing that for you, sleep now. No one knows for sure if he would've made this year's Maryland team better or worse, and I would find it tough to take that chance if you told me about this year in advance. The main reason for still worrying about it was the possibility that he'd be in College Park next year to provide a steady scoring presence in the absence of Greivis Vasquez.
Guess that didn't happen, huh?
We're done here. Mr. Ready, it was nice knowin' ya, but I'm moving on. I'll eat crow: good decision on Lance. Still a little sad and wishing it could've worked out differently, but it didn't, and it was okay in the end. Well, not for him, but for Maryland fans.