On Monday, Myck Kabongo (its pronounced “Mike”, not “Mick”), a top ten point guard recruit that hails from Canada and attends Findlay Prep in Nevada, decommitted from Texas.
The breakup didn’t last for long. Late Wednesday night, Kabongo texted recruiting guru Dave Telep to let him know that he had, in fact, recommitted to the Longhorns.
“I took a quick step and I evaluated everything and quickly realized that Texas is best for me,” Kabongo said in a text message to ESPN.com. “For all the reasons I’ve stated before in the past, there’s no way I can build a relationship with [another] coach in a year like I have with Coach [Rick] Barnes and the staff at Texas and I don’t want to waste the other coaches or individuals associated with the schools time knowing this.”
“I was just looking to make sure I was making the right decision. Unfortunately, I chose the wrong method,” he said in a text message. “Looking back I didn’t deal with it properly but it’s something I can learn from as a person,” he said in the text. “So, there’s no point for me to go through the process again just to do it. ... There’s no need to waste their time and energy and that would be unfair to them. Yet again, I don’t want people to think I did this as something to get attention. I jumped the gun on how I was feeling and I’m truly sorry to everyone involved from fans to coaches and programs.”
But was there more at play here?
Kabongo wasn’t the only class of 2011 point guard to make his collegiate decision today. Quinn Cook, a top 25 recruit and the best point guard left in the class with Kabongo off the board, announced his intentions to head to Duke. This wasn’t a surprise. In fact, Cook’s face time on ESPN U to announce his decision was nothing more than a formality. Many believe that this was a done deal weeks ago.
Many also believe that Kabongo’s decision to decommit was, in large part, because he had an interest in Duke. The other three schools on his list -- Kentucky, Syracuse, and North Carolina -- weren’t exactly great fits. Did Kabongo decide to head back to Texas because Duke went elsewhere for a point guard?
I doubt we’ll ever truly know.
But the bottom line is this -- Texas got their man. Again. And Duke added another quality piece to a back court that ... well ... has a terrifying future. You’re telling me that next season, the Blue Devils legitimately could have Kyrie Irving and Austin Rivers starting in their back court, with Seth Curry, Andre Dawkins, Quinn Cook, and Tyler Thornton coming off the bench?
Yuh. Ikes.
Rob Dauster is the editor of the college basketball website Ballin’ is a Habit. You can find him on twitter @ballinisahabit.
