The Nebraska basketball team suffered its second big blow this week.
We knew there was going to be some fallout from the departure of assistant coach Kenya Hunter, but the speed of the fallout’s arrival is a bit hard to swallow. On Friday afternoon, touted guard Xavier Johnson announced he would be looking elsewhere to play basketball.
The Cornhuskers released the point guard from his official letter of intent, though both parties say they will be staying in touch. Robin Washut from Huskersonline was the first to announce the newest piece of bad news for Tim Miles.
Hunter was the lead recruiter for Johnson and it doesn’t seem to be anything close to a coincidence that the point guard is a free agent just three days after the coach left Nebraska for UCONN.
BREAKING: 2018 point guard Xavier Johnson has requested and received his release from his LOI to #Nebrasketball https://t.co/us8bQnWup0 pic.twitter.com/2bjHMtMUzo
— Robin Washut (@RobinWashut) April 13, 2018
Johnson had been touted as a show of just how good recruiting was going for the Huskers’ basketball team. Now it appears that recruiting is in a state of flux.
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The Cornhuskers did just have another highly touted recruits sign their letter of intent. Karrington Davis is a forward who had also been recruited by Hunter. Because he signed that LOI just days after the coach’s departure, it appears, for now, he’s not considering leaving.
According to Washut, Johnson says he is still considering the Huskers as an option. At the same time, asking for his release from his LOI seems like a step that would only take some rather big relationship building between he and Tim Miles in order to reverse.
The really interesting aspect of this story could come later. UCONN had not really been in on Johnson the first time around. Will they enter the picture now that the man who brought him to the Nebraska basketball team is there? It doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibility.