Pitt recruit (?) Herb Pope has transferred to Arlington Country Day School in Jacksonville, FL. – again
No wait, he hasn’t.
I have no idea.
You may remember last spring when all the Herb-Pope-J.O.-Straight-Drunky-Bear-Huggins stuff started popping up in newspapers, trustworthy blogs and not-so-trustworthy blogs.
Former Aliquippa High School star forward HERB POPE is now enrolled at Arlington Country Day School in Jacksonville, FL. The powerful prep school welcomed Pope with open arms, though they may be the only place to do so for awhile.
End of story right? Not so fast.
While the author of the story, Chris Dokish, is a friend of Pitt Blather and seems to have an in with Straight that newspaper writers don’t, there seems to be some holes in the report.
He gives us the news of Pope leaving, but never gives us a source or a quote. He moves onto other things, such as Pope being a royal prick; i.e. never making up his mind and starting fights in tournaments.
All the rumors began with a harmless quote in a Kentucky newspaper story that ran on Sunday. On Tuesday Jim Equels Jr. of the Beaver County Times didn’t see it as that harmless.
According to a story in Sunday’s Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader, Pope has transferred to Arlington Country Day, a prep school in Jacksonville, Fla. The source of the information is Country Day coach Rex Morgan.
Morgan was discussing one of his players, A.J. Stewart, a potential Kentucky recruit, with Herald-Leader writer Jerry Tipton. Included in the story was the following:
Morgan’s team also has another, more highly regarded prospect in forward Herb Pope. Louisville, Pittsburgh, UConn and Kansas State are on his list.
Pope’s potential caused Morgan to make a telling slip of the tongue. “No question he has the tools to be on the next level,” the coach said before adding with a chuckle, “I mean the next next level.”
Pope was unable to be reached for comment Monday, nor was Morgan.
That’s it? How on earth does that imply Pope has transferred? All the coach is saying is that Pope has the ability to play in the NBA, which he does – the NBA tends to ignore personality.
Yesterday the BC Times ran a story with the following headline “Pope is officially out of Aliquippa.â€
It appears likely that Herb Pope, one of the top basketball prospects in the nation, has left Aliquippa for Arlington Country Day, a prep school in Florida.
Pope, a 6-foot-9 forward, was not in school on Tuesday, the first day of classes at Aliquippa. Quips’ coach Marvin Emerson said it is his understanding that Pope would not be attending for his senior year.
“Supposedly, he’s gone,” Emerson said.
That’s a rather wishy-washy story to run after such a definitive headline.
Today we have another wrench thrown into the mix in the form of an Aunt.
On Wednesday, a woman called The Times, saying she was the biological aunt of Pope.
According to the woman, the basketball standout “will be in Aliquippa.”
“I have custody of him,” said the woman, who identified herself as Amy Smith. “He will be in Aliquippa. He is at a tournament in New York now. That’s all you need to know.”
Asked whether Pope was enrolled at Aliquippa, the caller said, “That’s all you need to know.”
Perhaps the angry aunt should have been a source in the earlier stories.
Of course, this whole mess has the larger more credible newspapers jumping on the bandwagon.
Classes started at Aliquippa yesterday, and Pope did not attend. Aliquippa basketball coach Marvin Emerson said he was told by one of Pope’s close friends that Pope is attending Arlington Country Day School in Jacksonville, Fla.
My conclusion: No one has a clue. Regardless, I don’t want Pope at Pitt and I doubt Pitt does either. I’ll trust Dokish for now and assume Pope is gone. Stright probably knows more than he is letting on and may have told Dokish some of it off the record.
That’s just my speculation — everyone else is going it, why can’t I?
Did you notice that I wrote the post? (the author is up top by the title)
