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Wall tells WRAL he's headed to Kentucky

St. Raymonds v Word Of God on Dec. 29, 2008

Word Of God's John Wall puts up a shot against St. Raymonds during the third day of the GlaxoSmithKline Holiday Invitational Tournament at Broughton High School Monday, December 29, 2008. Photo by Jeffrey A. Camarati

By Nick Stevens, HighSchoolOT.com

May 20, 2009

John Wall, the highly sought point guard from Raleigh's Word of God Christian Academy, will announce he is going to Kentucky on Wednesday at 2 p.m. WRAL.com will carry the news conference live on the web.

Wall told WRAL Tuesday he had chosen the Wildcats.

Rivals.com reported Tuesday morning that Wall's recruiting process was over, as the 6-foot-4, 184-pound point guard picked Kentucky Monday night.

Scout.com's Dave Telep and WTVQ of Lexington, Ky., also confirmed the decision.

"We had an at-length conversation last night," Wall's AAU coach, Brian Clifton, told Rivals.com on Tuesday. "He felt that the risks that were at Kentucky were acceptable risks for him."

Wall was contemplating offers from Baylor, Duke, Kentucky, Memphis, Miami, N.C. State and Oregon. There was also at least some interest from Florida and North Carolina, although no official offers were ever extended.

But according to Scout.com, Wall picked Kentucky over Duke, Florida and Miami.

Wall told Scout.com that his relationship with new Kentucky coach John Calipari was a big factor.

“I think my relationship with Coach Cal pushed them over. The other coaches did a great job but that relationship got them over," Wall said.

Wall had named Memphis his slight leader earlier this year, but weeks later, Calipari announced he would be leaving the Tigers program to take the job at Kentucky.

Wall becomes Kentucky's fourth five-star prospect in the Class of 2009, joining DeMarcus Cousins, Daniel Orton and Eric Bledsoe. The Wildcats also have John Hood and Darnell Dodson, a pair of four-star prospects, entering the roster next year.

“It’s where John wanted to go,” Word of God coach Levi Beckwith told Scout.com. “John has been in love with Cal. He was supposed to sign with him in November. He likes the things that Cal said, he likes how Cal interacted with the players. He looked at the history of the coaches recruiting him and saw that those were some of the things he wanted to do for him.”

WRAL's Dane Huffman contributed to this report.

COMMENTS

63 Comments


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"This article confirms my belief that Raleigh is a pathetic sports town."

Blues Man Z, I suggest you buy season tickets to NC State football this year. I hear they opened up sales for some that still remain. You will see the error in your statement in Carter-Finley this year, my friend!
TruthBKnown Returns
May 20, 2009 1:57 p.m.
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This article confirms my belief that Raleigh is a pathetic sports town. At least we have the Hurricanes (and they are usually mentioned last on any sportscast).
Blues Man Z
May 20, 2009 1:16 p.m.
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Who cares they do not need to carry his news conference, let it go its over one year and done anyway.
iron fist
May 20, 2009 10:18 a.m.
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they are all going to qualify. i'm sure that is one of the deals the nba made with ncaa under the table. if they didn't let them qualify they probally would not have put the 1 year rule in.
onyourheels
May 20, 2009 10:15 a.m.
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Has anything changed about three or four of Kentucky's recruits including Wall not being qualified? They all may be headed to Europe.
claytontarheel
May 20, 2009 9:59 a.m.
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Who cares, he's only going for 1 year. Why does the media feed into this kids shenanigans. He basically said either he cant get into an acc school or he doesnt want to play in the acc. Let the crud that is SEC basketball post articles on him
pardity
May 20, 2009 12:56 a.m.
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first off... shoyart and ambitiousdevil need to get a room. Secondly, any school he goes to will reap huge benefits-at least for awhile, attendance and tv coverage should increase dramatically. If he can behave, and no one knows for sure what will happen in college, he might have a life changing experience, so I'll save my judgement for then. I will be the first to turn on Kentucky's first tv game and I don't give a hoot for the wildcats, but can't wait to see Wall ball...
shakennotstirred
May 19, 2009 8:56 p.m.
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Children, children, children. I'm from KY the so called dumb*ss state to the educated elite Carolinians but gee whiz. I love UK. I used to sit by a radio in the early seventies w' my dad and uncles and cousins and be excited with every Cawood Ledford call, as my uncle Gary kept stats for both teams in a noitebook. Me and my dad cried, yes cried, when Laetner hit the shot (smile Dukies), and I cried when Petino left. My dad had a heart attack moments after the 31 point comeback at LSU and died in front of my sister (true). My cousin's got three symbols added to his tombstone, a deer, a skoal can, and a UK symbol (no sh*t). I bleed blue. But, come on, everybody's got their team that they love. When Carolina won the championship last year I said yeah, they some bad boys. We may be a lot of things in KY but one thing is true, we love basketball at it's highest form. Besides, there's only five teams that matter and that will never change, IU, UNC, KU, UCLA (maybe Duke) and UK. So don't hate
kentuckykatman
May 19, 2009 6:01 p.m.
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"You are deluding yourself if you think you have a clue what Roy Williams is doing."

Yes, Hockey. But we all know Roy called him, don't we? Do you think he just wanted to chit-chat about who might win American Idol?
TruthBKnown Returns
May 19, 2009 5:50 p.m.
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Now that I have found out what Paulus and Wall are doing, I can sleep again.
tarheelbasketballfan
May 19, 2009 5:08 p.m.
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