Rivers on his decommitment, final five schools

By Adam Silverstein
May 13, 2010

In a special blog he wrote for FOXSports.com, five-star 2011 guard Austin Rivers (Winter Park, FL) goes in-depth on the reasons he first committed to the Florida Gators, why he recently decommitted and what teams are still in the running for the services of perhaps the best player in the country.

“I committed to Florida way back when I was a freshman in high school,” Rivers wrote. “I felt it was somewhere I could play, develop my game and my style fit – they get up and down, play aggressive defense and shoot a lot of 3s. They let their guards play and it’s beautiful weather.”

That was how Rivers felt until he competed in front of “more than 40 coaches” including Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski at a summer event; it made him realize that he had never expanded his college basketball horizons outside of the state.

“It was tough for a while because I was committed to Florida, but I wasn’t completely committed – and I knew that,” he wrote. “I wanted to look at other schools, but I have so much respect for coach [Billy] Donovan and the program that I felt it was wrong to do that. But then I realized that this is my life and I only get one chance to make this decision – and I need to make the right one.”

Now the full court press is on for Rivers, with North Carolina, Kansas and – of course – Kentucky all vying for his services. He plans to take visits to all four schools (he’s seen Florida enough) but has not ruled out re-committing to the Gators.

“I still like Florida and am definitely still considering them among the five schools I’m thinking about right now,” he added.

Rivers plans to make a decision before the 2011 high school season begins.

6 Comments

  1. Bob says:

    Does anyone else get tired of following this story? I’m sure Rivers is going to be great and all but his wavering is just annoying to me…

  2. I would assume that, like you Bob, most are tired of this story.

  3. Gatorgrad79 says:

    I think that we ( avid fans, the press, the incessant ranking pollsters who start to scout kids in AAU 12 yr old divisions) have created this GenMe of kids/players who crave attention and will constantly churn things to get their next “fix” of self-centered adrenaline by seeing their name in print/online. The dilemma is that the college coaching staff must stay in constant contact, or it is “out of sight, out of mind ” with these kids.
    After 4 to 6 years of this constant attention, is it any wonder that we have these prima dona players who think their behinds never stink, and that the world ‘owes’ them, or at least they should get to play whatever position they think will showcase them the best for the NBA, NFL, MLB, regardless of their fit with a team.
    All I can say to this child about Calipari is , “be afraid, be very afraid”. You may think you can be one and done and make a fortune, but if the NBA doesn’t want you, and if he doesn’t need you, you are done anyway …

  4. gatorzone says:

    Kentucky should not be an option for Rivers.
    Duke, UNC, and Kansas are good basketball schools with solid coaches.
    We are still in the picture but it appears Austin is headed to Duke.
    Coach K>=Coach Roy>>>>>>>>>>>Coach Cal

  5. Drew 4 Orange & Blue says:

    We still have location on our side & we should be a vastly improved team next year….it would be interesting to get Beal and Rivers but we will be fine with just Beal

  6. Wingtee says:

    Let’s hope Beal is still in the stable. Iam hearing some stuff from abuddy in the St Louis area watch out for KU

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