Rodney Purvis opens up recruiting

By: Graham Watson

Tim Fuller's decision to leave Louisville to become an assistant coach at Missouri in mid-April has altered the Cardinals recruiting and not in a good way.

Top recruit Rodney Purvis, a Raleigh, N.C. native, has decided to decommit from Louisville and open his recruiting back up to the masses. Fuller, Louisville's top recruiter, was the point person for Purvis and now that he's gone, Purvis feels he needs to be courted again.

"It was hard losing [assistant coach] Tim Fuller and then having to focus," Purvis told ESPN.com. "I talked it over with my family and we came to the conclusion that I would open up my recruitment."

And the minute Purvis' recruitment opened up, the calls came flooding in. Louisville head coach Rick Pitino is still recruiting 6-foot-3 combo guard, but now so is Duke, Kentucky, Florida, N.C. State and, of course, Missouri with Fuller leading the charge.

While Missouri pales in comparison to some of the other schools now courting Purvis, it's not too much of a stretch to at least consider the Tigers because of his relationship with Fuller.

"Louisville is still on the top of his list," Purvis' travel team coach Tony Edwards of CP3 All-Stars told Rivals.com. "Rodney and his family want to give the Louisville staff a chance to redevelop a relationship similar to the relationship he had with the former staff. They just want Rodney to be fair to the school and fair to himself."

Purvis is currently ranked the No. 2 player nationally in the 2012 class according to Rivals.

I think it will really chap Pitino's ass if he ends up at Kentucky.