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High School Basketball: NOV 07 Pangos All-American Festival

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Arizona high school basketball prospect TyTy Washington says that he de-committed from Creighton University because of Coach McDermott’s racially insensitive remarks in February. In an article for The Athletic, Washington went in-depth about how his feelings on the coach’s “plantation” comment and the brouhaha surrounding the whole incident moved him to cross the Bluejays from his list.

“It was definitely the controversy. I really wanted to attend Creighton,” he said. “It felt like the situation, and the plan Coach McDermott had for me was really good. So it was kind of heartbreaking once I found out what he said. I just felt like the day and age we’re living in—a police officer just killed another young black man for no reason—him saying something like that, it’s just not right.”

Although Creighton’s basketball team forgave McDermott for his poor choice of words and accepted his apology, Washington summarily removed the Nebraska university from consideration. However, the high school standout’s dynamic play continues to garner interest from plenty of suitors, so this will not derail his plans one bit.

“[The] number [of schools that have reached out to my son] has been crazy,” Tyrone Sr. told Cats Illustrated‘s David Sisk. “He actually sits there and takes the phone calls and really hears coaches out. That’s from the mid-majors to the high D1’s. He takes time and hears coaches out.”

Some of the programs looking intently at the 4-star guard include Baylor University, Texas A&M, and UCLA. But there is one school in particular that contacted Washington and had him excited to talk about: perennial powerhouse, the University of Kentucky.

Washington shared with The Athletic‘s Kyle Tucker that he spoke with legendary Kentucky Wildcats’ coach John Calipari and his friends thought Washington was riding his own hype train too hard – so Washington had to shut them down. “Man, it’s super cool,” he said. “I’m not going to lie, the first few times he called, I screen-shot his name because I couldn’t believe it. I’d be like, ‘Bro, you’re never going to guess who is calling me.’ My friends think I’m lying. So I had to show them.”

TyTy is expected to cut down his number of considered schools to five contenders by this weekend, and his potential addition to the Wildcats would be a great pickup for Calipari. The 2020-21 season was not kind to the U of K men’s basketball team, which suffered a 9-16 record and had its worst season ever in the college’s history.

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