Freshman Alex Legion may bring new meaning to the basketball term crossover: A day after being granted permission to transfer, he might decide to return to Kentucky’s team.
“The last 24 hours they’ve been working on my son,” the player’s mother, Annette Legion, said Tuesday night.
She likened her son’s second thoughts to someone not realizing what they have till it’s gone.
“It’s like a divorce,” Mrs. Legion said. “You don’t know how valuable that person is till you’re divorced. When you’re married, you couldn’t see it.”
The player’s mother said she heard from two people (one from their home state of Michigan) about the possibility of her son coming to an understanding with UK Coach Billy Gillispie. She had not heard directly from her son.
“I’m told Billy and he have worked out their differences,” Annette Legion said. “If that’s true, I will support him. I don’t have a problem if he goes back. He’s the one that’s doing the hardship. He’s the one doing the workouts.”
Quoting a source close to Legion, Seth Davis of CNNSI.com first wrote that the player was reconsidering the transfer.
On Monday night, UK announced that Legion would transfer. The announcement came hours after Gillispie spoke of trying to convince the player to stay.
“You always hate to lose a valued member of your program, and Alex was definitely that,” Gillispie said in the news release Monday night. “He has tremendous potential as a player and a student, but most importantly, he is a wonderful young man. We hate to see him leave, but if he can be happier elsewhere then all you can do is wish him the best.”
Legion had started twice and played in all six UK games. He averaged 6.7 points in 17-plus minutes per game.
In talking with reporters after his radio show, Gillispie noted that such mid-year transfers had never happened in his head coaching career.
“Hopefully it won’t happen now,” the UK coach added.
Whenever a player decides to transfer, speculation centers on playing time. Legion did not enter the game against North Carolina on Saturday until the 11:07 mark of the second half. That after fans chanted his name. Booes filled Rupp Arena when Gillispie took Legion out of the game 22 seconds later. But after giving him instruction, the UK coach returned Legion to the game at the 9:21 mark.
Legion played a season-low six minutes, and scored seven points against North Carolina.
His mother said playing time was not the problem. “It has nothing to do with basketball,” she said.
Jerry Tipton of the Lexington Herald- Leader has covered Kentucky basketball since the 1981-82 season. That time includes five coaches, five Final Fours, four athletic directors, two interim athletic directors and many memories. Before coming to Lexington, Tipton worked eight years for the Huntington (W.Va.) Herald-Dispatch. He covered Marshall’s basketball team for two seasons before coming to the Herald-Leader.