UPDATE: In an interview with WNST’s Bob Haynie on Tuesday morning, Gary Williams said the Terps are done with the 2009 recruiting class, essentially confirming The Baltimore Sun’s story that the Terps’ pursuit of Lance Stephenson is over.
The Baltimore Sun’s Jeff Barker reports that according to two anonymous sources with knowledge of the program’s efforts, the Terps have stopped recruiting Lance Stephenson.
There are well-known issues surrounding the highly-hyped Brooklyn small forward: He has a court date scheduled for a misdemeanor sexual assault charge, there are concerns the NCAA might investigate Stephenson’s “internet-reality” show for eligibility purposes and a number of prep school basketball observers talk of Stephenson’s hard to manage on-court temperament.
The sources in Barker’s story said the Terps haven’t been pursuing Stephenson for several weeks. Yet in the past couple of weeks Stephenson’s father, Lance Stephenson Sr., has said twice, to USA Today and Adam Zagoria, that the Terps were still in the picture.
“I talk with Coach [Gary] Williams, Coach [Keith] Booth and Coach [Chuck] Driesell, they’ve just been there,” Lance Stephenson Sr. said last week. “Maryland is going through their process where they want to pick a player and they’re not putting any rush on us. They want Lance to be sure if he does want to go to Maryland, that he really wants to be there. Maryland has been really patient in working with the family.”
Apparently not.
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