Ledo picks Providence over Kentucky, Louisville, UConn
Words. Austin Burton
On the basketball court and in the recruiting wars, it hasn’t been often lately that Providence beats UConn and Louisville in the Big East. Over the Christmas weekend, Friars coach Keno Davis not only scored a surprising win over the Huskies and Cardinals for one prize recruit, he also got the better of recruiting powerhouse Kentucky.
Ricardo Ledo, a 6-5 junior guard at South Kent Prep (CT), committed to Providence on Christmas Eve. He is regarded one of the top players at his position and a Top-20 player in the 2012 national class. He is a native of Providence, Rhode Island.
“I talked to my family and I just wanted to get this over with,” Ledo told the Providence Journal-Bulletin. “It’s home and Providence gives me the best shot as a player to play a lot right away. I also like Coach Keno’s style: fast-paced, run-and-gun.”
One of the more interesting twists involving Ledo’s recruitment happened when Rick Pitino agreed to become head coach of the Puerto Rico national basketball team last week. A commonly-held belief is that Pitino took the job to improve his recruiting profile among Puerto Rican players — specifically Ledo, who is of Puerto Rican descent. Pitino’s Louisville program also seemed to have a good shot at landing Ledo since they’d secured a commitment from junior guard Rodney Purvis (Raleigh, NC), a friend of Ledo’s from the summer circuit.
Ledo averaged 15.6 points and 6.2 rebounds per game as a sophomore at St. Andrew’s (R.I.) last season.
interesting… Big East just got tougher with Ledo to Providence!
[...] Ledo has had a sudden change of heart. The 44th-ranked player in the HSH National Top 50 had verbally committed to Providence on Christmas Eve 2010, but he announced Monday that he has de-committed from the Friars and [...]