Turk Nowitzki wrote:I guess this is another item on the list of things you pay for when running a clean program at an academic institution with actual standards.
It's not as if Stone chose to sign with say LSU. Maryland isn't some complete win at all costs school who will admit pretty much any high talent kid who can at least spell his own name.
High caliber talents in all sports leave their own state to play elsewhere all of the time and for a variety of reasons. Hell, for as much as i love both of the Marquette and Wisconsin programs, if i was a premium recruit, there is a chance that an out of state program could sway me also.
Maybe something about a certain campus a recruit falls in love with. Really hitting it off with a certain coach. Simply wanting to experience living in a different part of the country. A combination of those factors. It doesn't automatically have to mean something nefarious because the big recruit surprises everyone by spurning the home school.
When the shoe is on the other foot and a quality recruit leaves his home state to sign at Marquette or Wisconsin in basketball or football, while stating reasons i mentioned above, fans here don't automatically jump to conclusions thinking the kid/kids are making that up to cover for something questionable instead.