Maryland picked up guard Tyree Evans, a JUCO player, on Wednesday. You may not remember his name, but it may come back to you, as it did to us, through a bit of haze.
Evans, from Richmond, was pretty highly regarded, much more so than his cousin Tyrese Rice, and originally chose Cincinnati. Bob Huggins cut him loose after he was charged with statutory rape of a child over 14 (she was 15) and indecent assault and battery on a child. He eventually pleaded guilty to lesser charges, for which he received two years probation. We're not clear on whether that's expired yet.
Then it was off to Butler Community College, where he was booted off the team after a year, then off to Motlow State.
The original plan, apparently, was to rejoin Huggins at Kansas State, where he ended up after being pushed out at Cincinnati. Huggins wasn't there long enough to get Evans back in, of course, having moved on to West Virginia after a single season.
To say the least, and obviously we're saying this from a great distance, he seems like a risk, and his recruitment smacks a big of desperation. And fair or not, he'll certainly hear from ACC crowds.
Given what he was accused of, this is perhaps an unfortunate choice of words:
âThe Lord knows what goes on and who did who and what did what, and Iâm a good person. I got a second chance. Not too many people can say they had a second chance.â
Incidentally, Chuck Driesell managed his recruitment, and if it blows up in their face, Gary will know who to blame.