Jennings ditches Arizons, off to play pro ball in Europe

[OTK]

<table class="buttonCnt" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr valign="top"><td>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] TUCSON, Ariz. -- Arizona signee Brandon Jennings will pursue a professional basketball career in Europe, backing out on his commitment to the Wildcats. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica] "Over the course of the last two months I have consulted a number of people in basketball before coming to this decision," Jennings said in a statement released Tuesday night through his attorney, Jeff Valle. "I would like to thank the University of Arizona for their interest and support through this process." [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica] Jennings, who played his final two high school seasons for Oak Hill Academy in Virginia, had not yet become academically eligible to play at Arizona. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica] He had been awaiting the results of a third college entrance exam, but decided instead to give up his scholarship, Valle said in a phone interview Tuesday night from his Los Angeles office. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica] "We don't know the results of the test," Valle said. "He's been trying to make this decision as he waited through the eligibility process." [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica] Jennings was rated one of the top point guard recruits in the country and was expected to start for the Wildcats this season. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica] Jennings could not jump to the NBA, which requires players to be at least one year removed from their high school class' graduation before being eligible to play in the league. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica] Valle said several European teams have expressed interest in Jennings, but would not reveal where his client might be headed. Still, a source told CBSSports.com Senior Writer Gary Parrish that one of the Italian teams appears to be Jennings' likely destination at this point. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica] "We're disappointed in terms of Brandon's decision, but we want to wish him the best of luck," Arizona coach Lute Olson said in a statement. "We hope that things turn out well for him in the future." [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica][/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica] AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service

Copyright 2007-2008, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved


Wow. What a loss for the Wildcats. They will struggle now without this kid. Losing Bayless wasn't a big deal because Jennings was a top 5 prospect coming in to replace him, but no he's off to Europe. Hopefully this doesn't start a trend where top prospects just head to Europe for a year, make money playing pro ball, and then go into the NBA Draft so they can skip all the school work (actually smart choice by them when you think about it).
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[Illini]

I don't think it will become a trend. Europe doesn't have the NCAA tournament, and all the money in the world can't buy you a game in the tourney. It's something every kid would want to play in, provided they can be academically eligible. Europe doesn't have sorority girls, either.

This sounds like a simple case of him not being able to qualify.

 

[gtc08]

I don't think it will become a trend. Europe doesn't have the NCAA tournament, and all the money in the world can't buy you a game in the tourney. It's something every kid would want to play in, provided they can be academically eligible. Europe doesn't have sorority girls, either.

This sounds like a simple case of him not being able to qualify.

you could be a complete moron and get into arizona, especially someone like jennings who is a big name. he went to europe because he can get paid 250k. play 1 year, go to the nba draft. he wanted to start his career now, instead of taking pointless classes that will do nothing to improve his career.

 

[OTK]

I partly agree with both of you. A lot of kids do grow up and dream about playing in the NCAA tourney, but there's also a lot of kids that couldn't care less and it makes sense for them to go to europe to play for one season. Why not make 6 digits for playing basketball instead of playing for free here and also have to do bullshit school work. I could see why it makes sense to leave, but I can also understand why kids would want to stay and play NCAA.

 

[whormoan]

Why is that the NBA will take a 19 yrd old from Italy to make $$$ over here, but a 19 yr old from here has to go overseas to play for dough? Seems kinda twisted

 

[GreenDoberman]

I had read previously Jennings did not qualify academically to the NCAA's standards and therefore had two options, JuCo or Europe.

 

[GreenDoberman]

JENNINGS DECISION DOESN'T SHOCK OLSON
Jul 08, 2008 | 9:58PM | report this
Lute Olson saw this one coming.

I spoke to the Arizona coach on Monday afternoon at the LeBron James Skills Academy and he was prepared for the fact that his top recruit and also arguably the nation’s top recruit, Brandon Jennings, was going to head overseas instead of playing college basketball.

Jennings took the test for the first time while back at Compton Dominguez (Calif.) and made a significant jump in his second attempt, which caused the NCAA to red-flag him and take the test a third time recently.

Jennings and his camp continued to maintain that the results of the most recent test were delayed, when in fact, it may have just been a way to protect any bargaining power to negotiate an overseas deal.

Jennings move to Europe will be an interesting test case for future kids who could explore the overseas market instead of going to prep school.

I don’t expect an influx of players to go this route, because frankly, there’s only a couple of kids each year at the highest level who would even explore this avenue.

As for Olson, this is a huge hit for a program that returned Chase Budinger and could have paired Budinger with Jennings and Jordan Hill. Now the Wildcats go from a legitimate Top 25 club to a team that is in danger of extending their active NCAA tournament streak.

Don’t be surprised to see Jennings sign with agent Bill Duffy, the same guy under scrutiny for his alleged involvement in the O.J. Mayo saga.

 

[GreenDoberman]

Reports: Jennings signs deal with team in Rome

FOXSports.com



Updated: July 16, 2008, 4:51 PM EST

Instead of Arizona, Brandon Jennings is heading to Rome.

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The 18-year-old point guard, the consensus top-ranked player in the country, signed a multi-year, multi-million contract with Pallacanestro Virtus Roma, an Italian club in Serie A of Euroleague, according to multiple reports.
Jennings is set to become the first American high school player to go directly to Europe since the NBA instituted a rule three years ago requiring that players be at least one year removed from high school before they can enter the league's draft.
Last week he declared his intentions to play abroad this upcoming season, giving up his scholarship at the University of Arizona. Still not eligible by NCAA standards, he decided not to wait for the results of his latest SAT.
Jennings spent three days in Las Vegas participating in unorganized workouts in front of team representatives from seven different countries. According to the Los Angeles Times and Washington Post, Jennings signed with the prominent Italian club. In a statement, Jennings's advisor Sonny Vaccaro described the terms as a "three-year, multimillion-dollar" contract with buyout considerations that will allow Jennings to leave the team and enter the NBA draft when eligible next year, according to the Los Angeles Times.

 

[Romanowski]

Please cite your sources for Arizona's admission standards and where Jennings said he didn't want to take college classes. Want to read that stuff as well, thanks.

He cant...U of A isnt Harvard but it isnt UNLV either