John Wall postpones trimming list…again

On the subject of the John Wall saga, I have chalked up Wall’s inability to really make any noticeable progress to the fact that he wants to build as much hype around himself as possible. He has certainly accomplished that goal. I can’t even begin to count how many posts I’ve written about him or how many times I have linked a Charlotte News and Observer article about him.

The latest news is that Wall has told Jerry Meyer of Rivals.com that he will not narrow his list today as he had planned after postponing narrowing his list on Friday. In fact, Wall is not even planning to name his favorites this week at all. Also, the planned visit to North Carolina Central never happened after all. Wall had SAT class.

To me, it’s pretty clear now that something else besides building hype is the impetus behind these delays and I think it’s been shortsighted of me to try to boil it down to Wall trying to market himself.  Here are a few possibilities for what Wall is considering:

1) He’s waiting to see who stays in the NBA Draft and who comes back to school. UK with Patrick Patterson and Jodie Meeks is a much more attractive destination. He could be waiting to see how those decisions, as well as the decisions of Gerald Henderson and Nick Calathes play out.

2) He’s waiting for roster situations resolve themselves. At UK, there are currently no roster spots available officially. Wall could be waiting until after a spot is actually there for him to take it.

3) Academic question marks are a bigger issue than he’s let on. We know right now that Wall is not yet in the clear academically, but we don’t know how much danger he is really in of not qualifying.

4) He’s waiting on UNC. Wall has been a UNC his whole life, but it’s well documented that Roy Williams has not been directly recruiting him. Could Wall be waiting to narrow his list because he thinks that may change? He doesn’t want to narrow his list and exclude UNC, then have UNC jump in the fray.

5) He really is this torn about his decision. Wall is just a teenager and he is making a big decision that has to take into account a lot of different factors. He has a sick mother than he wants to stay close to. He has a father figure of an AAU coach who has big opinions and a big effect on Wall. He has countless relationships with coaches who have all promised the world to him. Wall has to reconcile all of those things with his goals of playing for a national title and being a star at the next level.

I know it’s frustrating for me to deal with this situation and I’m sure there are tons of fans in the same boat. However, we have to keep in mind that this is a big decision and John Wall has every right to make it on his own time. There’s probably not any one reason why it has been dragged out so long, rather an array of factors for a high school kid to consider.

I’ve spent most of this morning trying to decide where I’m going to eat lunch today, so I think I can wait a little while for the best prospect in the country to decide where he’s going to spend next year…as long as he ends up at UK.