The trend of players choosing a college before a high school

You're joking.

Howard Avery uttered those two words into his phone last Monday after Kentucky basketball coach Billy Gillispie offered Avery's son, Michael, a scholarship. Avery had called to follow up on an encounter with Gillispie at a LeBron James -sponsored tournament in Akron , Ohio , the previous weekend. NCAA rules forbade Gillispie from discussing Michael's play with Avery at the tournament site.

Gillispie could, however, field Avery's call two days later, after the family had returned home to Lake Sherwood, Calif. , Gillispie told the proud papa that after watching Michael, a 6-foot-4 combo guard with a sweet shooting stroke, play in a pair of games with the Indiana Elite travel team, he had seen all he needed to see. Gillispie wanted Avery's son to come to Lexington . The brevity of the evaluation didn't cause the elder Avery to question Gillispie 's tone, though. Neither did the fact that such a momentous occasion was taking place during a phone call instead of during a campus visit.

Avery simply couldn't believe the University of Kentucky head coach had just offered a scholarship to an eighth grader who had never set foot on campus and who still had yet to decide where he would attend high school. By now you know Michael Avery accepted that scholarship offer. When the news hit the Web shortly after Avery committed last Thursday, criticism rained on Gillispie and Avery.

The questions were pointed but predictable:

1. How could Kentucky -- college basketball royalty -- stoop to offering a scholarship to an eighth grader?

2. How could that child's parents allow him to accept a scholarship offer 40 months before he can sign a Letter of Intent?

3. Will this turn into college basketball's version of the subprime mortgage crisis with coaches (banks) trying in four or five years to excavate themselves from the wreckage of a series of bad offers (loans)?

Here are the answers:

1. Gillispie offered because he was worried someone else would beat him to the punch. In this case, "someone else" translates loosely to USC coach Tim Floyd , who accepted commitments in consecutive years from players who had yet to suit up for a high school team.