Tuesday, November 18th, 2008 at 11:01 am  |  27 responses

Hold That Tiger

Xavier Henry makes his decision, and Coach Cal smiles.

When you see the new issue of SLAM in the next week or two, you might notice our Basketball Diary writer, Xavier Henry, saying he’d decided to put off his college decision until the spring.

Today, we are reminded that A) magazines take too long to go to print, and B) 18-year-old kids are allowed to change their minds.

This morning, on the second-to-last day of the early signing period, Xavier announced that he’ll be spending next season at Memphis. I just got off the phone with Xavier (who had just gotten off the phone with John Calipari) to confirm the news, and his motivation: The chance to spend a year with his older brother CJ, a Tigers freshman-to-be, was too good to pass up. Needless to say, Xavier — who, you may remember, has had a hell of a month — is feeling good about having this off his chest, and seems to be recovering pretty well from his car crash. You can read more about THAT in the next issue.

Anyway, we’re happy for the kid… but probably not as happy as Memphis fans are.

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  • Ken Posted: Nov.18 at 11:02 am
    Very cool. He’s no D-Rose, but he’ll help out a lot.

  • mike Posted: Nov.18 at 11:40 am
    Actually Ken, people tend to think he is as good a shooting guard prospect as derrick rose was a point guard prospect.

  • B. Long Posted: Nov.18 at 12:35 pm
    Hell yea, this will be fun to watch.

  • Justin Walsh Posted: Nov.18 at 12:42 pm
    annnnd KU’s recruiting class just took a hit. Snaer chooses FSU over KU, henry chooses Memphis… But back to Xavier, I am so happy for this guy, he will fit well in the memphis offense (more so than tyreke evans!)

  • Breeze Posted: Nov.18 at 12:42 pm
    yeah he will fiyt right in that position..

  • James the balla Posted: Nov.18 at 1:36 pm
    Anyone know what happened with that contest about who was the best high schooler you ever seen play?

  • the baconator Posted: Nov.18 at 2:51 pm
    @James: Yeah, the contest’s over. They already announced winners; check under contests for it

  • the baconator Posted: Nov.18 at 2:52 pm
    I haven’t had a chance to look up tape on Henry; is he any good?

  • Ryan Jones Posted: Nov.18 at 2:58 pm
    baconator: He had his college choice of the two teams that made the NCAA championship game last year. Does that answer your question?

  • Josh D Posted: Nov.18 at 3:10 pm
    This is the second year in a row the diary kepper has gone to the Tigers

  • B. Long Posted: Nov.18 at 3:23 pm
    Texas vs. Memphis for the national championship in 2010. Bet on it.

  • Moose Posted: Nov.18 at 3:30 pm
    B., you also told us that we should “bet on” the Nets making the playoffs this year. Yeah, I think I’ll go with my own ideas. :)

  • Moose Posted: Nov.18 at 3:30 pm
    Za-vee-ay! Za-vee-ay! Za-vee-ay! Za-vee-ay!

  • Ryan Jones Posted: Nov.18 at 3:44 pm
    Good point, Josh. Now, test your Slam knowledge for real and see if you can name any other colleges that have pulled more than one Diary writer.

  • Ryan Jones Posted: Nov.18 at 3:44 pm
    Hint: There’s at least one…

  • Moose Posted: Nov.18 at 3:55 pm
    Ryan: Georgia Tech!

  • Moose Posted: Nov.18 at 3:57 pm
    For Starbury and Thaddeus.

  • H to the Izzo Posted: Nov.18 at 4:12 pm
    Memphis:Tyreke Evans and now,Henry.

  • B. Long Posted: Nov.18 at 5:03 pm
    The Nets will still make the playoffs as long as Devin stays healthy. They’ve had a pretty tough early schedule. Stay tuned.

  • B. Long Posted: Nov.18 at 5:05 pm
    Did Melo keep the diary? If so, then add Cuse to the list with him and Eric Devedorf.

  • the baconator Posted: Nov.18 at 5:09 pm
    Well… I suppose you might have a point there, Ryan… haha

  • Moose Posted: Nov.18 at 6:01 pm
    B., he didn’t.

  • B. Long Posted: Nov.18 at 6:37 pm
    He did the Rookie Diary, my bad. UCLA was one with Ray Young and Kevin Love.

  • B. Long Posted: Nov.18 at 6:40 pm
    Lincoln H.S. also had two diary keepers. Does that count?

  • Ryan Jones Posted: Nov.19 at 8:48 am
    Nice work boys — except for Izzo, of course.

  • B. Long Posted: Nov.19 at 12:15 pm
    What do I win?

  • darko Posted: Dec.2 at 1:04 am
    He is way better than d-rose1

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