Tyreke Evans Is Now Slightly Less Attractive To Recruiters... Well, Except Calipari

Most college basketball fans don't know Tyreke Evans. Not yet. And that's probably because he is not yet a college basketball player. But he is probably the top unsigned high school senior and there's a chance he might be regretting not committing somewhere sooner. In a police affidavit released last week, it was revealed that Evans was driving a car when a passenger, his 16-year-old cousin, shot and killed someone on Nov. 25 in Evans' hometown of Chester, PA. The cous was charged with first degree murder (obviously) but Evans won't be charged.

Evans is a 6-6 guard who plays at American Christian in Aston, PA. He is filthy and a national star already. He's more of a point guard in the Lebron James and OJ Mayo mold. Rivals has him as the No. 6 player in the class, Scout has got him at No. 7.

He is also a bit of a shady character, in the, well, Lebron James and OJ Mayo mold. His brother Reggie, also his legal guardian, handles all of his recruiting and media contact and was also given an AAU team to run by Nike. He has been linked to ubiquitous basketball diplomat William Wesley, who has allegedly been responsible for John Calipari landing a number of recent recruits, including DaJuan Wagner, Derrick Rose and Chris Douglas-Roberts. It's tough to describe Wesley succinctly so I recommend reading those links, but he is essentially an agent, a shoe rep, a scout and a recruiter all rolled into one. What he does isn't illegal per se, but a lot of people could perceive it as unethical.

Around the middle of his junior year, it seemed like a lock that Evans would go to UNC, where his family is from. But he eventually backed out of that, most likely because people told him to wait it out so the interest would grow. He had long said that a decision would be made by this year's signing period, which came and went in November without Evans making a commitment. The supposed frontrunner changes every week, from UNC (who has now been ruled out) to Villanova to Memphis to Louisville, who is said to be the momentary leader, with Texas and UCONN rounding out his top five.

I'm mostly speculating (because that's what bloggers do), but I've got to think Nova might lay off Evans after the latest red flag given his growing notoriety in the area (although Jay Wright has said otherwise). Obviously Rick Pitino and John Calipari have had no problem choosing talent over public image so I don't see any reason for them to show trepidation. But the issue here isn't how it will affect recruiting, but the reasons it won't affect recruiting. Evans, by all accounts, seems to be a good enough kid himself but with all of the precedent following athletes who keep criminals as company, will there ever be a point where talent can be trumped? I don't need to run down all the past offenders but it's clear that in a number of cases where a kid showed red flags, he was still recruited and he ended up falling into the same trap when he got to college (Derrick Caracter, Sean Banks, Billy Edelin, Herb Pope, the list goes on).

Clearly, there is very little concern for rehabilitating kids off the court -- which should be one of the main benefits for inner city players to go to college -- as long as they perform on it. And it's not enough to just suspend a kid or kick him off the team, it should be a coach's responsibility to simply not let a situation get to that point. If the NCAA doesn't want college players to just appear as cash cows, then it has to make sure coaches turn them into good people as well as good players. It's an issue that has been argued about forever and certainly there will be kids who cannot be helped, but is it too much to ask for progress over all these years?

Evans has a lot of things to worry about outside basketball now; he is a cooperating witness in a homicide case in one of the worst neighborhoods on the East Coast and will not be charged because of his cooperation. By all accounts he is a one and done player so, as a player, prepping for the NBA may be more important than prepping for college. But it would be nice if whichever high-paid, high-profile, supposed "leader of men" coach lands him, puts an end to the trend of big-time recruits controlling their own lives and everyone around them and teach him something besides a jump shot and preps Evans for life, not just basketball.