Recruit backs out for time being

By Gary Bedore Apr 22, 2005

Lewis

Dwight Lewis’ nonbinding oral commitment to Kansas University certainly didn’t last long.

Lewis, a 6-foot-5 junior basketball guard from Archbishop Rummel High in Metairie, La., who Tuesday committed to KU, on Thursday backed off the commitment, saying, through his dad, he definitely would visit KU on April 29-30 and in-state school Louisiana State at a yet-to-be-determined date.

He also might visit Oklahoma, Florida and USC.

“I apologize for creating this situation,” Dwight Lewis Sr. told the Journal-World. “I’m the dummy. It’s me. I take full responsibility. It’s my statements that caused a lot of furor. I apologize.”

Lewis — he informed media members Tuesday night that his son had chosen KU — said he misinterpreted his son’s intention to choose KU without even taking a campus visit.

“I made a mistake in my interpretation of his feelings,” Lewis Sr. said. “If anybody is to blame, it’s me. He still loves Kansas. He may visit Kansas and decide to commit the next day.

“All the statements I made this week (about his son wanting to play at KU) are true. I’m not saying he won’t commit to KU. It’s just that he wants to be sure.”

It has been speculated that coaches from another school or two might have talked the Lewis family into backing off the commitment, which is nonbinding.

“It was no school,” Lewis Sr. said. “It was the realization that set in of him saying, ‘I did this and I haven’t even seen it.’ It’s a maturing process. He is excited about Kansas — always has been and still is.

“It’s just a matter of him taking his time and making the right decision. I want him to make the right decision and be a man of his word, like he is.”

“It’s his decision, not mine,” Lewis Sr. said. “It’s his life.”

Lewis is off limits to the media. He’s been weakened by a bout with mono which has prevented him from playing AAU ball.