For a rather wild day, it looked like things were going to get even weirder than they usually do in the college basketball offseason. Even before the summer recruiting began. In the end, it was a lot of noise but no change. Xavier and C.J. Henry are still going to Kansas for the 2009-10 season, not reversing field to go to Kentucky to be with John Calipari.Xavier Henry is one of the top-5 high school players in the country. He had already switched his commitment from Memphis to Kansas, but since he could not sign a new National Letter of Intent (NLI) he is not actually bound to Kansas until he shows up on the campus and signs the scholarship papers. His older brother, C.J. Henry, is a walk-on with the New York Yankees paying his way following a failed baseball career.
Then there is dad. Carl Henry played basketball for Kansas, and holds strong views about his sons, their talent, future plans and comparing them both rather favorably versus the other talent on the Kansas basketball team. He let many of them fly during a feature article in the Kansas City Star.
Among the gems: Xavier is not that interested in going to college, this is definitely a one-and-done thing for him (duh), they considered Europe for a year, C.J. is probably better than both Sherron Collins and Tyshawn Taylor, and that coach Bill Self needs to be on-board with the Henry plan,
Shockingly, with opinions that suggested that the Henrys were bigger than Kansas, it was not embraced by the Jayhawk faithful. This led to an angry Carl Henry to go on a local sports radio station to complain that the article made him and his sons look like prima donnas and that all Carl does is talk. Plus, the negative reaction on the internet and elsewhere by Kansas fans has the Henrys so upset that they were leaning very strongly towards going to Kentucky instead. Interestingly, in the radio interview, Carl Henry admitted that there was nothing factually inaccurate in the story.
Recapping that last bit. A reporter hangs out with the Henrys. Gets the facts right. Carl Henry and his sons do not like the way it made them look, because it made them look spoiled. Carl in particular disliked that it portrayed him as someone always talking. So in response, Carl Henry goes on the radio to talk some more and announces that while they are not prima donnas, they had their feelings so hurt by the negative reaction to the story that they might very well go to Kentucky instead.
Well played, sir.
So for several glorious hours yesterday there was chaos on the Kentucky and Kansas message boards over all of this. Especially since a decision could come that night. It did, in a text message to the same Kansas radio show.
The thing is, that while most of this was about Carl Henry's mouth and the tantalizing talent of Xavier Henry, it was probably C.J. Henry's situation that kept things as the status quo.But late Tuesday, Xavier Henry sent a text message to Cory Anderson of the Chris and Cowboy Show on 610 Sports Radio confirming he would not change his mind.
"I'm goin to Kansas and that's final," the text read.
The Sporting News' Mike DeCourcy Tweeted this point.
The Henry's hadn't much leverage. If X took off on KU, what about CJ? Think the NCAA would have given him immediate eligibility everywhere?C.J. was already a freshman on the Memphis roster this past year (PDF). He sat out while recovering from surgery. He has already had to apply to get immediate eligibility at Kansas. What are the odds the NCAA would let him switch to Kentucky as well? Probably not that good. Which means that Carl Henry was -- once more -- just doing a lot of talking.
