ZagsBlog: John Wall down to 2 schools

ZAGSBLOG – John Wall is down to two schools — Kentucky and Miami — according to multiple sources close to the situation.

“It’s down to the two of them, no question about it,” one source said. “It is Kentucky and Miami. The kid is leaning toward Kentucky. There is a little bit of a concern with the people closest to him that if he goes to Kentucky that they’re going to lose control.”

Said a second source at one of the schools: “That’s what we’re hearing.”

Wall has not publicly cut his list. Asked by text on Sunday when he might cut it, he said, “I don’t know.”

The 6-foot-4 Wall is the No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2009 and has long considered Baylor, Duke, Florida, Kentucky, Memphis, Miami and N.C. State.

Kentucky coach John Calipari pursued both Wall and Alabama point guard Eric Bledsoe, with the idea that Wall would start at the point and Bledsoe would play 10-15 minutes as a backup. If Wall followed former Calipari guards Derrick Rose and Tyreke Evans by jumping to the NBA after one season, Bledsoe would take over in 2010.

Even though there were earlier reports that this was the case, it still will be a surprise to some to hear that Duke and Florida, two schools widely believed to be ahead of Miami, have been eliminated in favor of UK and The U.

Assuming this is true (and I believe it coming from Zagoria), I’m sure Kentucky fans will be happy to see those two schools out of the equation and now feel better about UK’s chances, but John Wall had a great visit to Miami and the lure of South Beach is very strong. In the end, though, John Wall wants to play for John Calipari, and he always has. For that reason I think he will end up at UK.

It is interesting, though, to see Duke and Florida out of the picture. Wall’s mother wanted him to stay close to home (Duke or NC State) and his coach/father figure Brian Clifton is speculated to have preferred both Coach K and Billy Donovan over UK and John Calipari.

This proves who really is making the decision and that John Wall has no problem making the best choice for him, even if it offends. We will have more on this as it happens.

**UPDATE-Evan Daniels of Scout.com is refuting this report in his Twitter:

“The latest report on John Wall being down to two is inaccurate, according to his AAU coach Brian Clifton.”

In response to these refutations, Zagoria responded “I stand by my sources. Thanks.” In his post, Zagoria draws a very clear line between Wall privately narrowing his list and publically doing so, and just because he does so privately DOES NOT mean he will do the same publically. Zagoria is merely saying his sources are telling him a decision will be made between UK and Miami and he stands by that. I would not expect Brian Clifton to do anything but deny that the list has been cut unless Wall formally announced he had cut it, so his denial does not mean much to me.**