Hoya Paranoia | The Hoya's Sports Blog

In April, Georgetown fans were dismayed to see a “UK” logo, standing for the University of Kentucky, in the back of coveted recruit Nerlens Noel’s flattop haircut.

Devonta Pollard’s announcement on Friday was more traditional, but the Crimson Tide hat he donned marked the second time in three months that the Hoyas have been spurned by one of the nation’s top prospects.

Amid the doom and gloom of Noel’s decision, the Hoya faithful had pinned their hopes on Pollard — a 6-foot-7 McDonald’s All-American who played small forward in high school — especially after he visited Georgetown on April 14.

But Robert Kirby, the former Georgetown assistant who was leading his recruitment, left John Thompson III’s staff to take the same position at LSU under new head coach Johnny Jones soon after the visit.

In what had to be an inauspicious sign, Pollard added LSU to the list of schools he was considering after Kirby headed to Baton Rouge.

In the end, though, it wasn’t Kirby’s but Anthony Grant’s — who is entering his fourth year as Alabama head coach and secured a top commitment last year in Trevor Lacey — recruiting prowess which swayed Pollard.

“To me, I felt more comfortable at Alabama, and I have made a stronger bond with the coaches at Alabama,” the high school senior told The Birmingham News.

Pollard’s decision leaves Georgetown with three recruits in the class of 2012. The best of the additions appears to be D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera, a prized 6-foot-3 shooting guard out of the acclaimed Oak Hill Academy.

Joining Smith-Rivera will be 6-foot-11 center Bradley Hayes and 6-foot-8 power forward Brandon Bolden.

When Nerlens tweeted he was “gon shock the world,” it gave us hope. Up to— and including that moment, really— Noel coming to Georgetown was little more than a pipe dream for most who bleed the Blue and Gray. In the moments leading up to Noel’s “decision” (seriously, whoever told him to start his announcement with “I’m taking my talents to…” is one of the worst PR people ever) it seemed like the momentum was firmly in Georgetown’s favor, as basketball insiders everywhere seemed confident that JTIII had the Hoyas in a great position to make the flattop coming to the hilltop more of a reality and less of a hashtag. It wasn’t to be, though. Coach Cal won again (I’ll leave all the Calipari/recruiting/couch burning jokes to you guys. And twitter.), and he has the best recruiting class in the country for what seems like the 10th year in a row. Continue reading →

I don’t know if you’ve heard by now, but prized recruit Nerlens Noel is going to make ONLY THE MOST IMPORTANT DECISION IN WORLD HISTORY at 8:45 tonight. And by that I mean he’s going to decide where he’s going to be playing next year. Georgetown is competing with Kentucky and some random school in upstate New York for Noel’s commitment, although Scott Boras has apparently infiltrated the college basketball recruiting process as well as there are rumors of a “mystery team” making a late push for Noel floating around.

Originally, this post was going to be about any recent news on Nerlens’ decision. But I changed my mind for a couple reasons. A. You’re probably googling “Nerlens Noel” at least as often as I am B. Nobody really knows anything and C. You’re probably searching Twitter for Nerlens Noel news at least as often as I am.

With that in mind, read on after the jump for a breakdown of Nerlens’ three possible/likely decisions and the appropriate reactions to each one. Remember, the longer it takes you to read this the closer to 8:45 it will be when you finish. Continue reading →