One-time Kentucky recruit Vinny Zollo expressed no second thoughts about a long and winding recruiting process that ended Monday with his commitment to Western Kentucky.
"It's a crazy process," he said. "I made a decision (to commit to UK) before a lot of guys are actually recruited. The good, the bad, it made me a better person and a better player."
The question he's most often asked, Zollo said, was whether he regretted committing to UK after his freshman year of high school. After committing, he and his family moved to Winchester, where he is in his senior year at Clark County.
Then UK fired Billy Gillispie as coach after the 2008-09 season. That left Zollo in limbo. In time, he decided to re-open the recruiting process. Such schools as DePaul, Miami (Ohio), Morehead State, Pacific, Tulane and Marshall expressed interest.
"If I had to do it all over, I'd do exactly the same thing," he said. "I enjoyed the ride. I've loved living here. I've loved representing these people. It would have been great doing that in blue and white. I really plan to do the same thing in red and white."
Zollo, a 6-foot-9 forward who is a three-star recruit according to Rivals.com, committed after visiting Western Kentucky this past weekend. That visit went so well he canceled an upcoming official visit to his other finalist, DePaul.
"I'm excited for Vinny," Clark County Coach Scott Humphrey said. "It's been a long process for him. ... I could tell a sense of relief and also just excitement.
"I've been just so impressed with how Vinny handled everything," Humphrey said. "I can't imagine a 15-year-old getting a scholarship offer to Kentucky. And then I can't imagine a 15-year-old having the rug pulled out from under him.
"A lot of kids would have gotten down, pointed fingers and been bitter. I never saw Vinny that way."
Zollo plans to have the same major as his older brother Joe: journalism. He's working as an intern at Lexington television station WKYT.
"It's been a long process," Zollo said. "It's kind of nice to get it summed up."
Western Kentucky also picked up two other commitments this weekend, four-star point guard Cezar Guerrero of Bellflower, Calif., and three-star Nigel Snipes of Marietta, Calif.
Those commitments, combined with previous ones by Derrick Gordon of Plainfield, N.J., George Fant of Bowling Green, and Deng Leek of Greenboro, N.C., give the Hilltoppers six 2011 recruits ranked with three stars or better by Rivals.com.
