If Morris was looking for someone to talk him into staying, he certainly would have talked to freshman teammates Rajon Rondo, Joe Crawford and Ramel Bradley. They were part of the elite recruiting class that was supposed to bring UK a national title and when the season ended, they all openly talked about their optimism for next season.
But Morris did not call any of them. Instead, the players told Victoria Sun of The Kentucky Post that Leon Smith, UK's director of basketball operations, called them with the news of Morris' decision.
What about Tubby Smith? Isn't it a little surprising that he went two days without talking to Randolph Morris after this news broke and that it was an administrative assistant, not the head coach, that called.
The UK head coach talked to selected media members about Morris' decision, but has not been available to everyone to reveal his feelings and also has issued no statement about Morris' decision.
What is Morris thinking?
So what is Morris thinking? Obviously, he's getting vibes from somewhere that a 6-10 player who averaged 8.8 points and 4.2 rebounds per game will be wanted by at least one NBA team. He's likely heard from one or two players who went straight from high school to the NBA last year, a move Morris also debated before picking Kentucky over Georgia Tech.
He might have gotten some information he trusts from someone in his hometown of Atlanta, the same city where the NBA's Hawks play.
Morris is not ready to be a NBA star. No one disputes that. He was foul-prone and not overly physical last season. He had no signature inside move. He is not a dominant shot blocker.
But he can run the court well, he has soft hands and he did steadily improve last season. No one doubts his best basketball lies ahead and when it comes to the NBA draft, that's huge.
This is also the risk today in college basketball of recruiting the nation's top high school talent. No one could have expected Morris, Rondo, Crawford and Bradley to all stay four years at Kentucky like Gerald Fitch, Cliff Hawkins and Erik Daniels did when they came to Kentucky without the same high-profile expectations.
It's a risk-reward decision. The higher-ranked high school signee makes a team immediately better, but probably won't stay four years. The lesser-ranked player needs more time to make an impact and help a team, but likely will be around four years.
If Morris does decide to come back to UK next year, he certainly will be ready to make this move next year. But based on everything that's gone on earlier this week as well as the way NBA minds think, Morris sure looks "Gone" to me.
