NEWPORT, R.I. — Maybe the word "committed" doesn't mean what it used to anymore. Or maybe the Rivers family just doesn't have its story straight.
In any event, Celtics coach Doc Rivers addressed the media on Thursday afternoon and said that his son Austin had not made a final decision on where he will attend college in the fall of 2011. Just hours after an ESPN story surfaced saying that Austin Rivers, a top high school basketball recruit, was headed to Duke University, his father refuted the report and explained that nothing is set in stone.
"It's not official yet," Doc Rivers said at Celtics training camp in Newport, R.I. "I'll wait and let him do it."
Rivers, a skinny, 6-foot-4 shooting guard at Winter Park High School in central Florida, is ranked as the No. 1 high school senior in the nation by ESPNU. He originally committed to the University of Florida back in the summer after his freshman season, but he has since pulled out and is rumored to be deciding between Duke, Kansas and North Carolina.
The word today is that Duke has landed the prized recruit, but his father insists that it's not quite a done deal.
"He's leaning there," Doc Rivers said of Duke. "Most likely he'll commit within the next couple of days."
