They had to release him.
That's not the official word, of course. Nobody at Arizona is going to put it quite that way. But not releasing Emmanuel Negedu from his national letter of intent after he angrily requested it last weekend would've been a huge mistake in terms of future recruiting and public relations, which is why Arizona made a wise move Tuesday when it granted Negedu an "immediate and full release" that will allow him to start considering other schools.
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| Negedu asked angrily for -- and received -- his release from his letter of intent from Arizona. (Getty Images) |
But man, this sure is bad for Arizona.
The Negedu development is the latest in a long list of developments that has one of the more traditionally stable programs completely unstable. It started with Lute Olson's leave of absence that was supposed to last a week before it turned into the whole season and was supposed to be unrelated to health before Olson finally acknowledged it was. Whatever. I can't begin to make sense of it. But now Olson is back and that should be a positive, although you'd be hard-pressed to find a single good thing that's happened since he returned in March.
His three full-time assistants (Kevin O'Neill, Josh Pastner and Miles Simon) are gone.
His two best players (Jerryd Bayless and Chase Budinger) are in the NBA Draft.
His top signee (Brandon Jennings) has yet to qualify academically.
And now a separate impact recruit (Negedu) is out, as requested.
So I have to ask: Who's having a worse stretch than Olson?
I mean, besides bazillionaire pitcher Barry Zito.
"I now cringe every time I see our name in headlines," wrote one Arizona fan on a popular message board Tuesday. "Call me when midnight madness begins."
Oh, the madness began many midnights ago, my friend.
