When LaMelo Ball left the JBA international tour to enroll at SPIRE Institute (Ohio), he expressed his desire to play in college next season. He listed bluebloods Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan State and North Carolina as his potential destinations.
Fast forward to February, and despite being ranked as the No. 13 player in his class and a five-star recruit, LaMelo’s college recruitment has been quiet. This is mainly because his hopes of gaining NCAA eligibility border on improbable.
Yet, LaMelo did say that schools were recruiting him. In the latest episode of Ball in the Family, LaMelo told Lonzo that he was hearing from both USC and Kansas. This was the exchange:
Lonzo: Are you still trying to go to college?
LaMelo: Oh, I’m going for sure now. I actually talked to USC two days ago, talking to KU.
That conversation took place in November ahead of the Lakers’ game in Cleveland.
When For The Win spoke to LaVar Ball in December, he looked at LaMelo’s recruitment as something that would develop in the future and didn’t mention Kansas or USC. He said, “There’s gonna be a lot of schools trying to reach out.”
Given Kansas’ current battle with the NCAA concerning Silvio De Sousa’s eligibility, it would be difficult to see Bill Self willingly undertaking another eligibility risk.
SPIRE, which has been known to make offer announcements on Twitter, has not done so for any school about LaMelo.
LaMelo told ESPN in December that he would be open to playing in the G League next year under the new select contract for top prospects. That’s a more likely scenario.
You can watch the full episode here.
