re: Namon Wright

quote:

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If Wright leaves, while a small disappointment on Anderson's inability to keep him, it obviously falls on the feet of Haith leaving more than who the new coach is. But I had heard zero rumblings before Haith left that he was going to ask out of his LOI. Can you point me anywhere where it was being speculated that he was leaving even before Haith left?

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Namon requested permission to ask out of LOI this past Friday or Saturday, before a Mizzou coach had been officially named, meaning he was indeed ready to jet b/c his recruiter Phelps and Haith were gone. Sometime prior to that, UCLA lost a shooting guard who declared for the draft (I would assume had to be finalized the same day we heard Jabari was officially not withdrawing since that was the deadline) and now UCLA is looking around for a new shooting guard. So based on the Jabari timeline that's been what, a couple weeks right? And Haith bolted pretty quickly after Jabari leaving became official, so its hard to nail down for sure if Namon/UCLA interest started before, after, or during Haith's departure.

In terms of it being tough to hold on if Phelps and Haith were here, my point is the UCLA interest in Namon has sprung up within the past few weeks. That UCLA interest would still be there even if Haith/Phelps were here and would still be difficult to fend off since UCLA is the glamour school in the city Wright lives in. He did not have a UCLA offer when he committed to and signed his LOI with Mizzou, so the Bruin interest is a new dynamic to his recruitment.