Gary Parrish

CLEVELAND -- One of the things I gathered from my three days at the LeBron James Skills Academy and King City Classic is that Class of 2011 star Michael Gilchrist doesn't appear to be getting the kind of attention from college coaches that's typical of a top-ranked prospect.

The reason is simple: Everybody thinks he's a lock for Kentucky.

"I should be fired if I waste one cent recruiting that kid," said one high-major coach who apparently knows his boundaries. "[Gilchrist] is going to play for [John Calipari]. It's done. Trust me. He's playing for Cal. If you recruit him, you're wasting your time."

This perception is based on Gilchrist's relationship with Calipari confidant and basketball powerbroker William Wesley , plus a newspaper article two summers ago that quoted Gilchrist talking about how he planned to play for Calipari. Far as anybody can tell, nothing has changed even though Gilchrist has never publicly committed in a traditional way to Calipari at Memphis or Calipari at Kentucky, and that's why Gilchrist's phone isn't constantly bombarded by most of the elite programs.

It's not because he isn't talented enough.

Or smart enough.

Or good enough on a personal level.

He is all of those things, and I can't imagine there's a single school that wouldn't love Michael Gilchrist on its roster. It's just that coaches are hesitant to invest time and money into recruiting the gifted wing only to watch him sign with Kentucky in November 2010. That's the dilemma. But it should be noted that Gilchrist, his family and his high school coach are making an effort to convince schools that Gilchrist is open to being recruited by anybody and everybody. Whether it works remains to be seen.

"You talk to his mom, talk to him, they both tell me he's not automatically going to Kentucky," said Kevin Boyle, who coaches Gilchrist at St. Patrick's High in New Jersey.  "They say there is no guarantee that he's going to Kentucky, that he's pretty wide-open. So the mom is putting that out there, and I'm putting that out there, and hopefully more people will respond ... because he probably hasn't gotten a number of phone calls that you'd expect for a guy of his level."