Actually, Kendrick choices of schools were pretty slim. Not to many big time schools wanted to touch him with all of the NBA talk. I know Carolina offered a scholarship to him but only if he promised to play two years before heading to the pros. Most schools didn't even bother recruiting him much the way it is for Lebron James. Lebron James has mentioned Carolina numerous times when he talks about colleges but most Carolina fans are more concerned with Courtney Sims. I agree 100% with this. As a Carolina fan, I really don't want Perkins. I'd take Butch, Taft and Padgett before him. I guess he felt Memphis was the best available. I don't have a list of schools that offered him (I would be curious to see one though) but I guessing a lot of those offers are tentative right now espically with his NBA talk. Even so, Memphis did a pretty good job with Wagner last year. He came in and showcased his skills immediately something that Alabama didn't do with Gerald Wallace.
And what's with the talk about Cincinnati? I've followed the Bearcats for since I was little (I was born in Columbus) and although I will admitt they aren't the cleanest program, their are far worse programs that don't get the negative publicy Cincy does.
Most of the negative publicly comes from the SI article where it listed Cincy's grad rate at 0%. While this is true, the number failed to report a lot of information. JUCO players were not included in the study and Huggins recruits a lot of JUCOs. Players also had to graduate within 6 years. This would put Vince Carter, who recieved his degree from Carolina in the same class as William Avery, who dropped out of school after the basketball season and hasn't went back. Since then, Cincy has had several grads including Kenyon Martin, who graduated during the summer after being the number one pick in the draft, Jermaine Tate, Pete Mickael and Steve Logan, who graduated with slightly less than a 3.0 GPA. Last fall, 7 players made the Bearcat Scholars lists with a 3.0 or higher for the fall semester. Overall, Huggins has a graduation rate of around 40% at Cincinnati including junior college players. Although their are better ones, their are certainly worse ones.
Cincy also has gotten a bad rap for some of it's players off the court actions. Donald Little this season is a perfect example. Little was dismissed for burning and stabing his roomate with a hot knife who he had tied up in his dorm room. The 6'11" Little, who had pro potential, wasn't a first time offender and was dismissed from the team. BJ Grove, Cincy's other 6'11" big man who isn't as athletic as Little, has ran into problems with abusing his girlfriend over the last two years. Cincy recruit Eric Hicks, a NC native, was also shot this year in the leg "breaking up a fight". I'll be the first to admitt that Cincy isn't a perfectly clean program but every program has it's problems.
I don't mean to single out Duke here but I'm going too. (And part of it is yes - because I am a Carolina fan, too.) Casey Sanders was arrested for abusing his girlfriend this summer. Incoming recruit Shelden Williams was accused of rape. The case never went to trial because of the girl's wishes but according to the reports I've read could go to trial at any time. Shelden was suspended from his high school team for the remander of the season. Incoming recruit Sean Dockery, also had questions with his ACT score. And Duke is widely regarded as the perfect school for sports and academics (Thank You Dick Vitale). Even Carolina has had it's problems. Jackie Manuel was arrested for assault in a club, where the minimum age is 21, which Jackie is not. We had three transfers this over the last year. Yet, still neither school gets a bad rap for these things. Yet, schools like Cincinnati are constantly considered "What is wrong with college ball" when the truth is that it happens anywhere.
