The Lessons You Should Take from the Aquille Carr Assault Case

Here at College Prospect Network, we exist for one reason and one reason only: to help high school prospects on all levels to maximize their exposure and match them with the right college program. Unfortunately, sometimes that means we need to discuss the mistakes of one or two guys to make a point that will resonate with a larger group of players and help them avoid making the same mistake.

According to USA Today:

“Carr, a 5-7 senior guard from Patterson (Baltimore), was arrested last week and faces second-degree assault and reckless endangerment in an incident involving the mother of his child. Out on $50,000 bail, his next court appearance is scheduled for Sept. 19.”

Let us start off by explaining that we are not passing judgment in the Aquille Carr assault case in any manner. Our position is simply that he placed himself in a situation which could have been avoided and that it will have lasting repercussions. We do not pretend to be judge, jury or executioner, so to speak; but we do feel that more recruits need to understand how fragile their scholarship offer is until the day they play their first game in a college uniform.

Aquille Carr poised to take off. Hopefully his mistakes won’t keep him grounded.

 

The first time we saw Carr play was the 2012 Dan Finn Classic Invitational in New Jersey. College Prospect Network was a brand new company at the time – our website had not even launched yet – and the invitational was the first event that we ever sponsored. The field was loaded with outstanding teams and top-level recruits like Kyle Anderson (UCLA) and  Melvin Johnson (VCU) but the lightening-quick PG was by far the most exciting player.

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Patterson High School was beaten badly by St. Benedict’s of New Jersey but Carr dropped a game-high 38 points on 13/23 from the field and 5/7 from the three point line.

The 5’7″ junior had a huge smile on his smile through the entire game, stopping only to remind the St. Benedict’s defenders how helpless they were to stop him. In fact, the only people who were happier than Carr were sitting directly behind us and wearing Seton Hall hats and hoodies. And why wouldn’t they be? He was considered a Top 25 recruit by most scouting experts and a Top 50 recruit by everyone else. And, as far as they knew, he was guaranteed to go to Seton Hall.

What nobody in that gym realized, however, was that Coach Kevin Willard and his staff were also pursuing other recruits just in case Carr didn’t end up on campus.

 

Sterling Gibbs (former Pittsburgh Panther Ashton Gibbs’ brother) is transferring in from the University of Texas and Class of 2012 prospect Tommy Maayan will begin his career as a Pirate this year. Gibbs is applying for a hardship waiver from the NCAA so that he can play this year but, even if he does not get it for the 2012-2013 season, he will be on campus next year and is bigger and better-suited for physical Big East play than the 140-pound Baltimore product.

In addition to Gibbs and Maayan, Assistant Coach Shaheen Holloway makes it clear that “a lot of point guards are really interested” in attending a school with a coaching staff that can develop PGs and get them ready for the NBA as well as Willard and Holloway do. Fellow Class of 2013 recruit, Nigel Johnson, is among the PGs capable of stepping in for Carr.

Carr, like most prospects, usually conducts himself pretty well and does a decent job of keeping everything in perspective, but the Aquille Carr assault case may change all that for him.

Coach Willard has worked hard to improve the reputation of the Pirates basketball program and he may be reluctant to risk undoing all that hard work when the program has two very capable point guards on the way and several more interested in attending. Seton Hall is on an exhibition tour in Spain as we write this so we will see what the Head Coach decides when he returns to the states. But the chances are at least as likely as not that Carr will never end up wearing a Pirate uniform.

Regardless of what happens in the Aquille Carr assault case, another highly-touted basketball prospect will not be accepting any scholarships this season and will probably never play another meaningful basketball game again.

Tony Farmer, the former Top 100 recruit from Garfield Heights in Ohio, assaulted his girlfriend and has been sentenced to three years in prison. He was obviously not thinking about his future as a basketball player on the night he chose to commit the crime and that is the main thing we want you to take from reading this post.

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1. You future is never set in stone.
2. You can be a YouTube sensation, Top-25 prospect and have a signed scholarship but there is always someone waiting right behind to take your spot when you make a mistake.
3. No matter how angry or frustrated you are in a situation, think about your future and how much you love playing your sport.
4. When you don’t feel like going to class or studying for a test think about what it is going to feel like if you have to miss a game or you lose a scholarship offer because of grades.
5. Keep your eyes on the prize. – Even if you don’t go pro, college graduates make over $1 million more than people without a college degree in their lifetimes.

If the jury and judge hand down a verdict in the Aquille Carr assault case that exonerates the basketball star and finds him innocent, we wish him the best and hope that he realizes his dream of playing in the NBA and becoming a star with millions of dollars in endorsements. If he is proven to be guilty, we hope that he serves an example of what not do so that none of you make the same mistake he made.