News-Record.com

Gilchrist, a 6-8/6-9 center and one of Virginia Tech's top basketball recruits from the Class of 2007, apparently wants out of his letter of intent now, according to a story by Mark "The Berminator" Berman in our sister paper, the Roanoke Times.

Gilchrist's reason for not wanting to come to Blacksburg? The shootings, apparently.

Or maybe I should say, "hopefully." Because if Gilchrist, who already has a history of school hopping at the high school level, is using the shootings as an excuse to try to get out of his LOI to VT, then that might be the most cynical move I've ever seen in basketball recruiting. And if you follow basketball recruiting at all, you know that's a pretty strong statement.

Check out the update here in Josh Barr's Washington Post blog. It is, as Barr puts it, a bit "bizarre."

First, note that Barr does a phone interview with Gilchrist's "personal trainer." Oh boy.

Then note that the trainer, Terrelle Woody, says that Gilchrist's high school coach, Van Whitfield of Progressive Christian (where Gilchrist played, although he was home-schooled), was not "authorized" to send out the release that stateed that Gilchrist wouldn't be going to VT because of the shooting. Oh boy, again.

Maybe the shootings really have rattled Gilchrist and made him question his college decision. You hope that other schools wouldn't use the tragedy as a tool to negatively recruit against the Hokies and convince Gilchrist to look elsewhere. You hope that Gilchrist's multiple "advisors" aren't using the tragedy as an excuse to perhaps land him at a more prominent basketball school, since Gilchrist has been described as a bit of sleeper that VT found early.

You hope, but you wonder.

We'll find out what Seth Greenberg and the VT basketball staff think of Gilchrist's reason when they decide whether to release him from his scholarship. Stay tuned.