Michael Gilchrist will not play in Monday’s nationally televised game against Austin Rivers‘ team on ESPNU.
“Absolutely not,” his mother, Cindy Richardson, said Sunday.
Gilchrist played his last AAU event this summer at the Peach Jam.
“Given the fact that he won’t have a summer next year, we thought it would be good if he just vacations for five weeks,” Richardson said.
Gilchrist’s Team Final is slated to go head-to-head with Rivers’ Each 1 Teach 1 team Monday at 7 p.m. in the Super Showcase in Orlando.
Rivals ranks the 6-6 Gilchrist out of Elizabeth (N.J.) St. Patrick as the No. 1 prospect in 2011, with the No. 3 Rivers of Winter Park (Fla.) is No. 3.
Gilchrist is committed to Kentucky, while Rivers is considering Duke, Florida and North Carolina.
“I know Gilchrist is a great player and his team is stacked,” Rivers told the Orlando Sentinel, unaware that Gilchrist won’t play in the game. “Honestly, I just see it as a great game to play against a great team. I don’t let the rankings go to my head.
“At the end of the day it’s still about winning games.”
Rivers and Each 1 Teach 1 beat Gilchrist and Team Final at the Boo Williams event in April, 76-66.
Both players won gold medals this summer.
Rivers helped the USA U18 team win gold in San Antonio, Texas, while Gilchrist won gold with the U17 team in Hamburg, Germany and then presented the medal to his mother, Cindy Richardson.
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TheFinger / July 25, 2010
ahhhh, his mommie won’t let him play.
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