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Simmons In, Stewarts Out At UWa - UPDATED

Update: August 28, 2002
Tre Simmons, a 6-4 combo guard from Seatlle, WA and Odessa College in Texas who a few weeks ago committed to South Alabama, has accepted the University of Washington's scholarship offer and is now headed to the PAC-10 school.
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Simmons, who attended summer school at Odessa, changed his mind after he returned home to Seattle. He told Seattle Times reporter Marc Matsui, "I was pressured into verbally committing to South Alabama, but my heart was at Washington."
Simmons prepped at Seattle's Garfield High School, who he helped lead to the Class 4A state tournament semifinals as a senior in 2000.
Simmons' change of mind apparently was a piece in the puzzle that resulted in Lodrick and Rodrick Stewart's decision to head to Southern Cal instead of Washington. On Saturday, Times reporter Sandy Ringer wrote that the twins had said they were headed to Washington. Ringer added a piece of information today: "Bull Stewart called The Seattle Times on Saturday to clarify the twins' decision, saying they would attend Washington, less than two hours after Lodrick and Rodrick had said during an animated interview that they were going to USC."
But the Stewarts announced Sunday night during the 10 P.M. PST Fox Sports Net Northwest Sports Report that they are headed to Southern Cal.
Danny O'Neil today in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer writes that committing to USC, "... was the only option of the two finalists after Washington rescinded its scholarship offers to the Stewarts, according to a source with knowledge of the situation."
And today, Ringer added, "... UW's scholarship offer to Garfield grad Tre Simmons... which Simmons orally accepted... indicated Washington no longer had two scholarships for them."
In an attempt to put this in chronological order:
Tre Simmons verbally commits to South Alabama
Tre Simmons returns to Seattle and accepts scholarship offer from Washington.
Saturday, the Stewart twins, upset by Simmons' recruitment and because Washington is stacked with guards, including ex-teammate Nate Robinson, say they've picked USC.
Later that day, their father, Andrew "Bull" Stewart, calls to clarify that the twins are headed to Washington.
After a family meeting Sunday afternoon, the Stewart family reaches a final decision. (see updated information below)
The USC decision is announced on Fox Sports Report Sunday night. But this story doesn't necessarily end there. The Times also reports today that, "Coaches at the Division I basketball programs in eastern Washington will be interviewed today by NCAA officials regarding allegations of recruiting violations by Lorenzo Romar's new staff at Washington."
UPDATE From the Post-Intelligencer -- "Bull Stewart saw the suspense slipping from his sons' televised announcement they would accept basketball scholarships from the University of Southern California. It was a flip-flop from what his sons had said earlier Saturday. It was a red herring that was supposed to preserve the suspense. And it was also wrong, Bull Stewart said yesterday."
For more on all this, please read the Seattle newspaper articles linked below.
Seattle Times, Sunday, August 25: Garfield's Simmons reverses direction, commits to Huskies
Seattle Times, Sunday, August 25: Stewart twins say it's going to be UW
Seattle Times, Monday, August 26: Stewarts reverse: Despite earlier statement, Huskies don't land twins
Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Monday, August 26: Stewart twins choose USC; UW rescinded scholarship offers
Seattle Times, Monday, August 26: Washington under scrutiny: NCAA checks out basketball recruiting
Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Tuesday, August 27: Stewart twins' father admits duplicity; He misled reporter to preserve agreement with Fox Sports
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