USF Losing McKines as well?

Ouch... another major loss for USF, if true. USF has been hit by defections worse than us for next year...

McKines had signed a LOI to play this fall, but now apprears he has been released...?

It sounds like McKines is having trouble qualifying academically... but why would USF go after him in the first place? Is there something else going on here?

http://florida.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=694006

"Wendell McKines- Out of his letter of intent with San Francisco, McKines is expected to find out in the coming weeks from the NCAA Clearinghouse if he is academically eligible for the coming year. The undersized power forward dunked his way to 13 points and grabbed a game high 15 rebounds against Urban DFW Elite."

Yeah... saw that over on DonsCentral this morning. That means they have at least three scholarships spots open now. And there has been some concern over another of their recruits as well, so they could be down to 9 scholarship players at the start of the season.

I think the story on McKines is that he went to a really bad high school and didn't have the appropriate number of core credits. He cranked it up his last year and took all the classes he needed to but was still being scruitinized by the clearinghouse.

It would look VERY bad for USF if McKines is playing for another team this season. They already went through that with Omar Samhan, who signed an LOI and then wasn't admitted and went to SMC.

Gotta feel sorry for Evans... he seems like a good guy and has been working hard to improve that program. They've definitely had a lot of good talent coming in. But I wonder if he's in a similar situation to where Holton was at the end - lots of pressure to improve, not so great with details, taking risks on guys, etc. and eventually blowing up.

But it seems to me like there has been some poor communication between the athletic department and the administration... no way should they be signing kids to LOI's that are NCAA eligible that the school won't admit. They should know the ground rules before getting into this whole mess.

I could definitely see a school like Pepperdine jumping all over McKines if they've got a scholie (not sure if they do).

Tough situation all around... if McKines does end up at another school this year (especially a WCC school), that would be two big-time players that signed LOI's but then were not admitted. I can't imagine that any coach would want to stay in a situation like that. I think you can definitely put Evans on the top of the for WCC coaches on the hot seat... that is, if he doesn't quit before he's canned.

One possible explanation for all of this is USF's APR rating. They are already below the minimum threshold and are at risk of losing scholarships. So maybe that explains why they don't want to take a risk on a kid. Still, it's pretty much a slap in the face of the coach.

Definitely will be interesting to see what happens down there. I wish them the best... a strong WCC is good for all.