BURBANK – Slowly, as if teasing the three schools still in the mix, Derrick Rose leaned over and reached under the podium.
From a plastic Foot Locker bag, the Chicago Simeon senior revealed a black hat: "University of Memphis." He tugged it onto his head and buried the hopes of Illinois and Indiana fans who believed their schools might land the top-rated point guard in the Class of 2007.
"It wasn't that hard for me," Rose said of choosing Memphis. Recently, he clarified, the decision wasn't that hard for him. He said, "I knew where I was going two weeks ago," but that was before a surprise visit to Illinois last weekend.
"When I went on my last visit that's when things got iffy," he said. "But I stuck through it."
Rose announced his college plans Saturday night at the Martinique Boutique, a banquet hall just south of Chicago normally reserved for wedding receptions and the like. About 100 people, mostly friends and family, attended the announcement and later stayed for a dinner and party.
Outside, a flashing marquee declared, "Derrick Rose." It also displayed the names of Rose's senior teammates, Tim Flowers and Kevin Johnson. Flowers and Johnson both declared for Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Rose's announcement came about one month after Indianapolis senior Eric Gordon switched his allegiances from Illinois to Indiana. The Illini had recruited both players since they were high school underclassmen, Rose at Simeon and Gordon at North Central High School.
Illinois began recruiting Rose when he was a freshman on the junior varsity team at Simeon. Since JV games were played after varsity games, Illinois coaches would stay late to watch and recruit Rose. Throughout the bizarre situation with Gordon, Illinois kept in touch with Rose, with periodic text messages and phone calls. It is believed Illinois recruited Rose as hard as it recruited Gordon.
Regardless, the Illini came up shy despite a strong push for Rose, a 6-foot-2, 180-pound point guard with NBA written all over him. Rose said he prayed about the decision before ultimately deciding on Memphis and coach John Calipari.
"Illinois, it's a great school and everything," Rose said. "Memphis, to me, was better. That's why I chose Memphis."
Gordon and Rose played together on the AAU circuit last summer. Gordon is expected to sign with Indiana during the national signing period Nov. 8-15. Rose said, "Before I got here, Eric Gordon called me like five times. But I was so nervous I didn't even answer the phone."
"Well, basically Memphis wasn't recruiting him. It's just that rumor had it that Memphis was in the mix," Reggie Rose said, when asked how long Memphis had recruited Derrick. "So it just started up on all kinds of college message boards that Memphis was in the mix. Coach Cal (John Calipari) had no intent of even recruiting the kid. He just thought that Derrick was going to go to a North Carolina, Duke, a big-time school. He thought he didn't have no way of getting the kid, period.
"They kept saying Memphis and then Memphis made that great run (in the NCAA tournament), so Derrick was like, 'Man.' I was like, 'How do you feel about Memphis?' He said, 'Well, I don't know too much about them.' So then Cal flew in, presented himself, talked to us as a family and stuff like that. We had a relationship ever since then."
Reggie Rose also was asked if Illinois could have done anything differently.
"I don't want to bad-mouth no program or nobody," Reggie Rose said. "I just feel like there's two types of recruits. There's a recruit that can come in and contribute. Then there's a recruit that can come in and change a program. I just feel like the recruit that can change a program, you've got to recruit them totally different than a regular recruit."
Reggie said Derrick took three visits to the UI, the latest being a last-second trip to the Orange and Blue Scrimmage at the Assembly Hall eight days before the announcement.
"When he went down there (last weekend) he loved it. The recruiting changed. It went from, 'Derrick you're a regular recruit' to 'You're a program-changing recruit,' " Reggie Rose said. "I'm just thinking if you would have just had that set up from the get-go, things could have been different. Because he did say, 'When I took my last visit, I had to pray, I had to think, because they had me wondering.' He had a great time down at Illinois."
What was different?
"It was the atmosphere. It was like he was a rock star. Every other recruiting visit we went to, Derrick was a rock star," Reggie Rose said. "But the last visit we went to, Illinois, it was just, 'Hey, Derrick, how you doing?' When we went down there this time, it was more like he was a rock star on campus. After the game, the players come over (and say), 'C'mon, Derrick, you're going to hang out with me.' It was more like that. His first visit he just didn't see it."
Illinois has oral commitments from three prep seniors: Riverton's Mike Tisdale, Peoria Richwoods' Bill Cole and Westchester St. Joseph's Demetri McCamey. There's a good chance the UI will solidify a fourth commitment before the national signing period concludes.
Derrick Rose clearly was relieved to complete the arduous recruiting process. He shook hands and smiled with friends, a Memphis ballcap pulled down on his head.
"It was taking a toll on me and Derrick personally. It's just a big relief," Reggie Rose said. "To go through this for three years and basically just to stay on top of it. That was a big thing. It was hard, it wasn't easy. It's tough doing things when you're in the spotlight."
Paul Klee covers college basketball for The News-Gazette. He can be reached at 217-373-7422 or via e-mail at pklee@news-gazette.com.
It was a bad effort to get Rose...you got to do better!
Posted by dallen on November 5, 2006 at 4:25 PM | Suggest Removal
Thanks for the skinny, Paul. A player this emotionally needy has the potential to destroy team unity, which is Coach Weber's coaching strength. It will be interesting to see how DR impacts Memphis. Reggie's lack of shame in this admission shows his boorishness; DR could be difficult to suffer. 4 years of service from good players will have greater impact on our program than 1 year of service from a superbly talently neurotic.
Posted by mbeesley on November 5, 2006 at 8:33 PM | Suggest Removal
As I said when Rose announced he was coming to the O-B scrimmage, this was a charade from the beginning. The visit was nothing more than a self-serving attempt on the part of the Roses to deflect criticism they justifiably took for becoming Addidas prostitutes. Derrick was not coming here and he and his "advisor"/brother both knew it. They should be, but certainly won't be, ashamed. Also, I loved it when Derrick said his family told him, "The basketball will always be there. This is about my education." Hilarious.
Posted by dthonn on November 5, 2006 at 9:00 PM | Suggest Removal
bull. rr is a liar.
Posted by swatlas on November 5, 2006 at 11:09 PM | Suggest Removal
The Rose's pointed out EXACTLY what the staff is doing wrong with recruiting. They cannot refuse to make promises to the recruits and give them the "work hard and you'll play" line. You have to tell these kids what they want to hear, or at least the program changing recruits. Reggie is absolutely right about that.
Posted by ralexander on November 6, 2006 at 12:23 AM | Suggest Removal
What a bunch of B.S. Everybody knows that the visit to UI was just a smoke screen to give the appearance that dilutes the arrangement of any shoe deal. It's a complete joke. Who needs that ego and vanity.
Posted by Frcook on November 6, 2006 at 5:52 AM | Suggest Removal
IlliniHQ.com: Your Illini Sports Headquarters
Contents of this site are © Copyright 2010 The News-Gazette, Inc. All rights reserved.