Arizona Basketball: Jahvon Quinerly de-commits from the Wildcats
Jahvon Quinerly is one of the top recruits in the country. After de-committing from Arizona basketball, his recruitment has been reopened.
What do you if you are a recruit tied to the FBI investigation of college basketball? Do you try to accept the things that are happening or do you separate yourself from the program that engaged in bribery to get you? Will you even be eligible for college athletics after all the dust settles? This is the world of basketball recruit Jahvon Quinerly.
Quinerly decided to de-commit from the Arizona Wildcats last Thursday. Why does a five-star recruit decide against going to a modern basketball power with championship ambitions? He did so because his connection to the school was likely through disgraced former Arizona assistant Book Richardson. The New Jersey area Quinerly was recruited by the New York area Richardson well enough that Quinerly committed to the Wildcats back on Aug. 8.
Richardson is one of the coaches being charged with bribery and corruption by the FBI in the same investigation that has felled Rick Pitino at Louisville and Chuck Person at Auburn among others. In Richardson’s case, the FBI claims that he made a fifteen thousand dollar payment to a recruit on or about Aug. 9, 2015. It doesn’t take multiple sources (of which there are, according to reports by Gary Parrish of CBS Sports) to see how it would appear to be Quinerly on the receiving end.
No one has said that it was Quinerly directly (yet), so the point guard has de-committed from Arizona to see what options are left for him in next year’s recruiting class. He is now entering a type of limbo. He has talent, but the NCAA could disqualify him altogether if the information is confirmed that he took money. Only he knows the truth at the moment. It is hard to say how many coaches will take a chance on him given his current situation.
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Alternatively, the NBA could change its entry rules before the 2018 season to allow eighteen-year-olds back in. Adam Silver is currently contemplating a rule change since he has concerns about what the investigation means for college basketball.