Point guard John Wall, the nation's top unsigned prospect in the Class of 2009, committed to Kentucky Tuesday after strongly considering both Duke and Miami. Wall's recruitment lasted several months, but Wall ultimately chose to play for the Wildcats under head coach John Calipari.
Had Wall decided to play for the Blue Devils and head coach Mike Krzyzewski, Duke would have been projected as one of the top teams in the country going into the 2009-10 season. Instead, the Blue Devils' immediate future looks less certain after not signing Wall and having All-American Gerald Henderson formally sign with an agent Tuesday. Doing so made Henderson ineligible to return to Duke.
Calipari coached Memphis for the last nine seasons, and turned the Tiger program into a national powerhouse based largely on aggressive point guard play. Current Chicago Bulls point guard and NBA Rookie of the Year Derrick Rose played under Calipari for one season, and Wall is expected to do the same before jumping to the NBA. Wall had not seriously considered Kentucky before Calipari took over last month.
"It's an exciting offense-I like the way Coach Calipari has the point guard doing a lot of work," Wall told ESPN Tuesday.
In the last four years, Duke has missed out on four of its top recruiting targets-Wall, current Georgetown forward Greg Monroe, Kentucky forward Patrick Patterson, and former North Carolina forward Brandan Wright.
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