Reviewing the Blakeney decommitment

So any hopes of returning from vacation with a nice, quiet week of recruiting didn't work out so well for me. It's my first day back, and you have probably heard by now that five-star guard Antonio Blakeney withdrew his 11-day-old commitment from the University of Louisville late Monday night.

It's a tough loss for U of L, which had one of the nation's best two classes with him. Blakeney is one of the elite scorers in the Class of 2015 and maybe the best guard recruit that coach Rick Pitino had landed with the Cardinals.

Early reports, including one by 247Sports analyst Jerry Meyer, are that Blakeney will now officially visit Kentucky, LSU, Oregon and Missouri.

The decommitment is quite stunning because it comes so soon after he pledged to U of L in the first place, and he seemed so sure of himself when he did it. Blakeney said in an interview with The Courier-Journal on Sept. 5 - the day after his commitment - that "I knew I wanted to commit to Louisville two or three months ago, but I've just been kind of holding it off to see what other schools had to offer just comparing it, and nothing was better." He seemed satisfied with his choice and confident in how Pitino could help him improve, and he expected to play right away as a freshman in 2015-16.

Meyer also tweeted that he believes Blakeney's decision is "shoe company-related." Blakeney played for the Each1Teach1 club - one of the best Nike-sponsored AAU teams in the country - and the four schools he'll reportedly visit are outfitted by Nike as well. U of L is sponsored by adidas.

Blakeney's high school coach, Alex Jackson of Oak Ridge High School in Orlando, Fla., denied that shoe companies had anything to do with Blakeney's decision in a Tuesday morning interview with The Courier-Journal, and said the player told him on Monday afternoon that on second thought he wanted to take more visits and felt that he'd rushed his choice of picking U of L.

Jackson also said that Blakeney had not determined any new official visits so far. He said no coaches from any schools other than U of L recruited him the past two weeks while he was committed to U of L, although Jackson expected to receive calls on Tuesday.

Decommitments are still relatively rare in basketball recruiting, but it's they've bitten U of L multiple times. Just last year, top guards JaQuan Lyle and Quentin Snider withdrew pledges to the Cards. Lyle eventually ended up at Oregon, and Snider circled back and recommitted to U of L on signing day last November.

In the Class of 2012, U of L lost commitments from Rodney Purvis and Negus Webster-Chan not long after the departure of assistant coach Tim Fuller.

It's not clear at this point if U of L will continue to recruit Blakeney, but it's not been Pitino's style to do so. He didn't pursue any of the four players mentioned above after they decommitted. (Snider went on to commit to Illinois, then reached out to Pitino to see if his scholarship offer was still there at the last minute. But Pitino didn't actively recruit him before then.)

Jody Demling of Cardinal Authority tweeted that Pitino would not travel to Orlando to see Blakeney on Wednesday as had been planned.

Jackson said he hopes U of L will continue to recruit Blakeney, but the coach himself had not had spoken with any members of the Cards' staff and didn't know if they'd have anyone visit Blakeney this week.

Blakeney indicated to Rivals.com on Monday night (pay link) that U of L still was interested in him and he's still interested in the Cardinals.

"Louisville is definitely still in it," Blakeney told Rivals. "They respected it, and they said that they wish me the best of luck and hope that they still have a chance with me."

Blakeney also tweeted that he's still "heavily considering" Louisville.

Without Blakeney, U of L could try to regain traction with four-star guard Perry "P.J." Dozier, who before the Blakeney commitment was expected to visit U of L in October. Dozier's dad, Perry Sr., said Tuesday morning that the family would be open to hearing from the Cardinals again. The Cards hadn't communicated with Dozier since receiving Blakeney's commitment, so the family had moved on and canceled the Oct. 3 visit to U of L and scheduled a trip to North Carolina on that date instead.

But Perry Dozier Sr. said that if U of L re-engages and if P.J. remains interested in the Cards, they'll definitely consider a new visit. The elder Dozier said there are no hard feelings that U of L took a commitment from another guard before his son and understands why the Cards would have.

Georgetown, Michigan, UNC, South Carolina and Maryland have had in-home visits with the Doziers recently.

Check back on the site today for more from Blakeney's coach and Dozier's dad.