Darius Bazley, a former Ohio State commit who reopened his recruitment shortly before Thad Matta's firing, has announced he's going to skip college altogether.
Bazley, 17, told Yahoo Sports he has decommitted from Syracuse and will play in the G League after discussing several options with his mother, Lynnita Bazley, close family members and Princeton (Cincinnati) High School coach Steve Wright. Several players have set a trend of leaving collegiate commitments to play overseas, but Bazley’s decision to bypass the one-and-done format for the G League is unprecedented.
“This is a life-changing decision,” Bazley, one of the top players in the Class of 2018, told Yahoo Sports. “I put a lot of thinking into this with my mom and close circle, especially sitting down with her. It’s just like making the decision to which college you want to go to. Me and her did some talking, and I prayed on it. I talked to my high school coach, Steve, who played overseas, and then I talked to a couple of guys in the G League who have experience. Ultimately, playing professional basketball has always been my dream. It’s always going to be the dream goal, always going to be the goal until I achieve it. This is going to put me one step closer to doing so."
Bazley committed to Ohio State in August 2016 and said his goal was to become the next Evan Turner in Columbus. He backed off his pledge after the Buckeyes failed to reach the NIT last season.
a Thursday interview with Adam Jardy of The Columbus Dispatch, Bazley gave a candid answer as to why he pulled the plug on his future collegiate plans. He doesn't see the Buckeyes providing a supporting cast capable of getting back to the NCAA tournament.
“Ohio State, they didn’t make the NCAA Tournament this year,” Bazley told The Columbus Dispatch's Adam Jardy. “They didn’t even make the NIT, which is unfortunate, but I looked into the recruits they have coming into next year, they didn’t look too good for the future. So I felt like when my class came in, yeah, we would’ve been OK, but good enough to make the tournament? I don’t know. I just felt as if I was to de-commit, actually take my time, figure everything out it would just be a lot better.”
Bazley then committed to Syracuse in July, but obviously backed off that pledge on Thursday. It'll be interesting to see what kind of precedent his decision sets.
