Coach: Jamal Lewis/UConn 'blown out of proportion'

Last night The Buzz as well as a Connecticut recruiting outlet reported on a few tweets from Penn recruit Jamal Lewis indicating that national champion UConn had called his coach asking the point guard to reopen his recruiting.

"That’s getting blown out of proportion," says Eric Singletary, Lewis' coach at Sidwell Friends high school in Washington.

Here's the real deal:

Singletary says he received a call from Connecticut's Director of Basketball Administration, Karl Hobbs, offering congratulations on choosing Penn, not inquiring about recruiting. According to Singletary, Hobbs recruited Lewis when he was the head coach at George Washington. (He was fired in April 2011.)

Hobbs told Singletary that Lewis "was a player that UConn would take a look at," Singletary said, adding that it was meant more as a compliment to Lewis' game. "It wasn’t 'come on, come to UConn.'"

But is Lewis really a Big East caliber steal for Penn? Singletary has seen him play since age nine.

"It would be a stretch," he said. "I think the world of him, he’s going to do big things at Penn. He has a lot to prove up there."

Singletary affirmed that Lewis and his family are set on the Quakers. He said he believed the senior applied to Penn early decision.

"Once he made the commitment, that’s where he wanted he be. It’s a done deal on their part for the Lewis family"