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When five star center Mitchell Robinson committed to Rick Stansbury and WKU, eyebrows were raised. What is the third best center of the 2017 recruiting class doing going to somewhere other than a Power Five team?
Well according to this Robinson is no longer a Hilltopper:
Five-star recruit Mitchell Robinson is no longer on #WKU's campus. He left as soon as yesterday, a source told the Herald.
— WKU Herald Sports (@wkuheraldsports) July 28, 2017
This started early Friday morning with this tweet:
There are reports that Mitchell Robinson has left WKU with no plans to return. Nothing confirmed at this time, however.
— Dalton Godbey (@Dalton_Godbey) July 28, 2017
This should come as less of a surprise than the fact that Robinson committed in the first place. In early July, WKU assistant coach Shammond Williams left the staff. This is significant in regards to Robinson because Williams is his godfather. People have been on Robinson watch ever since Williams left the program.
Maybe he left because he wants to visit home before school begins. Maybe he will ultimately return. As for now, it’s looking as if Robinson is gone and he’s not coming back.
Mitchell Robinson is a McDonald’s All American and is ranked as is the 10th ranked player in the 2017 class and as the third best center behind Mohamad Bamba and DeAndre Ayton according to ESPN.
With Bamba heading to Texas, Calipari missed out on his top big man target in 2017. Mitchell Robinson is an extremely talented player and UK needs a more depth in the frontcourt. Nick Richards is ranked as the fifth best center in the class and of course Sacha Killeya-Jones is returning for his second year at Kentucky.
But Cal is not one to shy away from loading up every position with 5 star talent and if there is an opportunity to recruit Robinson to come to UK, I believe he would.
The question is can Robinson play for another college or is his only option to head overseas and play for a season? After some trepidation, Robinson did sign a Letter of Intent with WKU. Will they release him from his obligation so he can pursue other opportunities in college? In a situation such as this, the college holds the most power.
No matter what happens this is a situation that is another example as to why big time college basketball prospects would be best served heading to top tier programs like Kentucky, Duke, UNC, Kansas, etc... We have seen recently what happens to recruits like Ben Simmons and Malik Newman when they go to places like LSU and Mississippi State. It will be interesting to see if Michael Porter, Jr. can succeed at Missouri which was one of the worst teams in college basketball last season.
This story will be one to follow in the coming days.