BTI's Rants and Ramblings: Michael Avery, Maybe the Worst of Gillispie Decisions
You know, god bless Michael Avery, I bet he is a nice kid. Why? Because that is what you are supposed to say about teenagers you don't know. He very well could love killing cats and has a nasty crack habit. But, for the time being, we will just call him a good kid. But, of all the things that Billy Gillispie did at Kentucky, the stupidest decision of might have been giving an 8th grade Avery a scholarship offer. What was truly amazing were the amount of fans who called the move of taking Avery's commitment "a smart decision" and marked "the changing face of recruiting".
Bet those fans feel just a little goofy now. Avery did sprout to 6'5'', but he has yet to average double figures in any high school season. But, the icing on the cake is Avery DIDN'T even play high school basketball this season, due to transferring twice in the last 2 years, breaking a California rule and forcing him to sit out this season. Now Avery is not positive where he will play his senior season and he has ZERO college offers at this point. You can read his entire tale of world traveling in this yahoo article.
When you add in the GJ Villarino, Dakotah Euton, and KC Ross-Miller commits, UK fans had to learn a hard lesson. It is not possible AT ALL to predict how a kid in the 9th or 10th (or 8th for crying out loud) grades will turn out by the time he graduates. Taking those commitments are just ridiculous and luckily Cal has not even sniffed at looking or offering a kid before his junior season. In fact, the NCAA has proposed eliminating offers to kids younger than the 11th grade.
And if, by some crazy happenstance, Calipari does offer a kid who is 14 or 15, we as fans should cry foul, not blindly support. We should tell Cal the tale of Michael Avery and KC Ross-Miller. We should tell Cal that most top level high freshman will gladly wait until their there they're seniors for a chance to commit to Kentucky. And most of all, we should tell Cal that you are above the Billy Gillispie's of the world and 2 years was enough. 
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