And so it begins. After speculation that Jaren Sina would decommit from Northwestern, Sina was officially released from his letter of intent on Monday. Sina said all along that he would reconsider his commitment if Bill Carmody was fired, and Monday, he followed through. This is standard procedure for most schools, who allow recruits to get "re-recruited" by the new coach and by other schools that were initially involved.
The news was initially broken by Jerry Carino at NJ Hoops Haven. The site offers high praise of Sina, and quotes NJ Hoops publisher Jay Gomes calling Sina, "one of the best shooters probably the state has seen in a long time."
Sina had a number of scholarship offers, but his most likely landing spots other than NU look like Alabama or Seton Hall. Sina had originally committed to Alabama as a sophomore, before decommitting and switching to NU. He also drew a lot of interest from Seton Hall, which is close to his home, and Carino said he thinks Sina would be a good it with the Pirates.
All in all, Sina has lots of choices.
https://twitter.com/nicholasmedline/status/313832855119728641
As noted earlier, while there is certainly cause for concern among Northwestern fans, this is standard procedure with coaching changes. Sina may leave, but NU knew it was entertaining that possibility when it fired Carmody. It certainly wouldn't be ideal for Sina to go, but NU made this move for the long term, not with one player in mind. And after all this, there's still a change Sina could end up in Evanston. Carino tweeted this after tweeting his initial article:
https://twitter.com/njhoopshaven/status/313771787840282626
We'll have more on "Sina watch" when there's more news, since this was semi-expected. Don't expect a decision until after NU has hired its new coach.
Nate Taphorn, a commit from Pekin, Ill., is in a similar boat as Sina. According to Wildcat Report, NU athletic director Jim Phillips visited him to talk about the coaching change. Like Sina, Taphorn will wait until he meets the new coach to decide where he will play next season. He originally held offers from Colorado, DePaul, Boston College, Creighton and a number of mid-majors.