For anyone refreshing web browsers on the hour every hour for any signs of life from DeAndre Daniels, perhaps you need someone to tell you that you can stop now. The highest ranked unsigned basketball recruit will, indeed, play basketball once again at some unknown place at an equally unknown time. But for those holdout for new of Daniels signing with the Kansas Jayhawks or Texas Longhorns, you’’ll be waiting for a long time.
The reality is that the window for Daniels to sign an official Letter of Intent (the spring signing period closed last week), and the only thing “official” left for Daniels to sign is a financial aid agreement. But neither of these exist for his benefit. Instead, it allows the school to feel marginally comfortable that the player will be there when basketball season hits, and even then it doesn’t stop Daniels from backing out once again.
At this point, the only way a team could feel good about having Daniels on their team is the moment he registers for classes and starts attending this fall. It’s possible Daniels is waiting for the NBA to come calling once a new labor agreement can be agreed upon. But let’s be honest, there’s nothing happening there before this year’s draft and no legal proceeding is going to squeeze him in before late June anyway. Daniels would be stuck working out on his own and hoping to stay in the spotlight of scouts and general managers away from school. That is not going to happen.
Thus, the best guess is that a confused kid will continue to take his time to make the decison and, come fall, he will decide on a school from a list that could also include San Diego State, Duke or Oregon. For now, Daniels fans (or future fans of Daniels if he signs with your school) might as well cool the buzz because it could be some time before you have any resolution to your questions. After all, Daniels has to know the answer first.