So you thought that only college football was plagued by decommitments, the widespread practice of high school seniors making an oral commitment to a college only to change their mind and sign with another school?

"Are you kidding?" said recruiting analyst Roy Schmidt of Illinois Prep Bulls-Eye. "We can't vouch for football but we are willing to bet that decommitments are an even bigger problem in basketball. That has certainly been the case over the past five to 10 years."

But Roy and Harv Schmidt agree that--in basketball, at least--an even bigger problem than decommitments is the increasing number of high-profile players who transfer from school to school whenever and wherever they like.

"It might be the biggest thing that is wrong with recruiting today," Roy Schmidt said.

Remember when Austin Rivers switched from Florida to Duke? DeMarcus Cousins from Alabama-Birmingham to Memphis to Kentucky? Simeon's Kendrick Nunn from Texas A&M to Illinois? Proviso East's Keith Carter from Loyola to St. Louis to Valparaiso? Waukegan's Akeem Springs from Tennessee State to Northern Illinois? Crete-Monee's Michael Orris from Illinois to Creighton to Kansas State?

The Schmidts point out three of the most widely publicized and controversial cases involving decommitments that have greatly affected basketball recruiting in Illinois in recent years:

1. Eric Gordon's decommitment from Illinois:

"As far as we are concerned, this will go down as the most consequential decommitment in college basketball history," Roy Schmidt said.

"That is because it forced coach Bruce Weber to completely change his recruiting philosophy at Illinois. To this day, we still believe that from a personal standpoint Weber never really wanted to go in that direction but he felt he had no choice. It was something he had to do to survive in Champaign. The most unfortunate part is in the end he still couldn't do so.

"Furthermore, it has left a lasting impact and another huge stain on the resume of (former Indiana coach) Kelvin Sampson, who recruited Gordon. It further confirmed what many had long suspected and what others already knew--that Sampson is a snake in the grass."

2. Ryan Boatright's decommitments from USC and West Virginia:

"When Boatright committed to USC and coach Tim Floyd while still in eighth grade, we knew right then and there that basketball recruiting had gone to hell in a hand basket and we just knew that it would never stick. Above all else, it illustrated the lunacy of college coaches offering scholarships to players at such a young age before they even see them play," Roy Schmidt said.

"Boatright's decommitment from West Virginia came about because he and his parents (particularly his mother) were looking for promises that coach Bob Huggins and his staff weren't willing to make, namely that Boatright would start from day one and that Huggins wouldn't recruit another point guard while Boatright was there.

"Boatright's parents tried to tell people that Huggins lied to them. That isn't true. He simply wasn't willing to give in to their demands. It is another classic case of how out of control recruiting has gotten with parents thinking that they can call all the shots. As it turned out, West Virginia signed another point guard in the same class, leading to Boatright choosing to sign with Connecticut, where he currently is one of their top players."

3. Cully Payne's decommitment from DePaul:

"Payne's initial commitment to DePaul under coach Jerry Wainwright came about in much the same manner as Boatright's commitment to USC. It was another one that everyone knew wouldn't last. Once he decommitted, he ran into a string of back luck with respect to his recruitment," Roy Schmidt said.

"In fact, Payne may be the only player from Illinois in recent memory to obtain releases from two different schools--from Alabama after coach Mark Gottfried was fired and from Iowa after coach Todd Lickliter was fired. Payne finally opted to return close to home and committed to play for coach Porter Moser at Loyola, where he currently is the starting point guard."

Like in football, college basketball coaches have talked for years about possible solutions to this controversial issue. But without success.

"There is no question that this is an issue that the NCAA seriously needs to address and something desperately needs to be done about the problem," Roy Schmidt said. "Unfortunately, we don't have an answer for what that is. At the rate it is going, however, it looks to get worse before it gets any better."