Rivers on his decommitment, final five schools

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.