Austin Rivers won’t visit UCLA on Monday as originally planned. But he plans to visit UCLA at some point and says he’ll take his five officials to Duke, UCLA, Kansas, Florida and North Carolina and then decide in August.
Rivers is a rising senior at Winter Park (Fla.) High and ranks as the No. 2 shooting guard in the Class of 2011.
He verbally committed to Florida but his AAU coach Therion Joseph recently said Duke “would be the leader” now.
Here’s an excerpt from Rivers’ diary entry in Dime Magazine:
“As far as my recruiting, I had originally planned to visit UCLA while I was in L.A., but I have to get back because I have exams. If the Celtics get to the next round and play the Lakers, I’ll probably take a visit while I’m out there watching the game. Either way, I’ll definitely visit UCLA at some point this summer. Same for North Carolina. I know a lot of people want to know when I’m headed there, but I haven’t set a date yet. I’ve just been real busy lately, but I’m definitely gonna get there. They’re one of those schools that you have to visit if you’re a player, like Duke and Kansas and all those schools. You’ve got to see what it’s like there.
“I only get five official visits so I want to definitely go back to Duke. I’ve got to go to UCLA, Kansas, North Carolina and Florida, too. It doesn’t really matter to me what school I visit last or the order I visit schools. That stuff doesn’t matter to me at all. Whatever is best for me is what I’ll go with. That’s it. I do want to get my visits out of the way before August because I’m still planning on having a decision at some point in August. That’s my plan.”
TAYLOR TO TRANSFER FROM MONMOUTH
Monmouth coach Dave Calloway said center Travis Taylor will transfer.
“Travis’ mother contacted me by phone and declared that they have decided that her son needed to move on to further enhance his chances of playing in the NBA,” said Calloway.
Taylor appeared in 55 career games for the Hawks, including starting 34. This past season he played and started in 24 contests, missing seven contests while serving a suspension for violation of team rules.
“We are truly disappointed in Travis’ decision to leave Monmouth,” said Calloway. “His teammates stood by him this past season and were counting on him this upcoming year. We wish Travis the best and truly hope he finds what he is looking for.”
(Photo courtesy Rivals.com)
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