PHILADELPHIA — Derrick Caracter wants to return to Louisville and still hopes it can happen.“If he had to make the decision and it was his decision to make, he would be playing on the team here with Louisville this year and we would be winning the championship,” said Stacy Brooks, a professor in the Pan-African Studies Department at Louisville who has become an adviser to the 6-foot-9, 270-pound Caracter, a native of Fanwood, N.J.
Considered one of the best young players in the country and a potential future NBA player during his time at Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School and St. Patrick of Elizabeth, Caracter averaged 8.3 points and 4.5 rebounds in 35 games for Louisville during his sophomore season. But he repeatedly had conflicts with head coach Rick Pitino over his weight and lack of discipline. Pitino has often said that Caracter would not be back for his junior season and refused to comment on him here at the Reebok All-American Camp. He previously told reporters that he has given Caracter’s scholarship to senior guard Will Scott.
