The bluesman Muddy Waters once said, "You can't lose what you ain't never had."

As official recruiting efforts go, Georgetown wasn't a finalist for 6-0 guard Kenny Anderson in 1989, but the circumstances surrounding his interest in, and subsequent disinterest in the Hoyas was a major story in college basketball circles in the summer and fall of 1988. At the peak of John Thompson's recruiting influence, the loss of the nation's top ranked player is as provocative today as it was 30 years ago.

"There is a dark legend that surrounds New York City playground basketball heroes," wrote Sports Illustrated in 1994. "Part of the fascination with schoolyard stars in New York comes from the knowledge that heartbreak awaits so many of them. No one knows this better than Kenny Anderson." Anderson was a New York legend by the time he was 10, and the first college recruiter approached him in sixth grade. Growing up in the Lefrak City development of Queens, it was a three mile bus ride to Archbishop Molloy HS, where he scored 2,621 points in four years, including a 35 point per game performance as a senior, leaving more than one high school coach to call Anderson the most prized recruit from the New York area since Lew Alcindor.

"In my eight years as a coach and four as a player he is far and away the best player I've ever seen in high school," said John Sarandrea, a Pittsburgh assistant, to the Associated Press. "He isn't outstanding in just one area; he is the best in all of those areas...That's why people say he is the best player to come out of New York City since Kareem." And while Anderson patterned his game after former North Carolina guard Kenny Smith, it was Georgetown, not UNC, where Anderson's interests were strong.

Various press articles after the fact told the story of Anderson's recruiting with the Hoyas.

"Anderson said that from the eighth grade until his sophomore year at Molloy, his goal was to attend Georgetown," wrote the New York Times. "That was my dream school," he said. "Patrick Ewing, Reggie Williams, David Wingate. I just felt that I could fit into that trapping defense, aggressive play, getting the easy basket, great transition and a great coach and motivator in John Thompson."

The interest in Georgetown began to fray as other schools were turning up the heat. Coaches from across the country were setting up visits. John Thompson, Anderson suggested, wasn't coming to see him play. Coach Thompson was otherwise occupied that spring with preparations for the 1988 U.S. Olympic Team, but also maintained what was well known among fellow coaches--he didn't chase recruits.

"Georgetown was his main interest six months ago," said Molloy coach Jack Curran to the Times. "But then the Olympics got in the way of his recruiting and Kenny really wanted to be recruited. At least John had to make some overture to him and he didn't. [Craig Esherick] called several times, but that's not the same."

"They called a couple of times but I just didn't think they recruited me the way they should have," Anderson said.

With Georgetown out of the picture, North Carolina and Syracuse were the new favorites. Anderson's family advisor was Kenny Smith's older brother, Vince, and was thought by many to be the tie that could bring Anderson to Chapel Hill. The interest by Dean Smith in Anderson was strong enough that Bobby Hurley, also considering UNC, switched his commitment to Duke as a result. But Anderson cancelled a visit to North Carolina when he asked if he could suggest changes to Smith's offense to accommodate him. Smith politely declined, and Anderson dropped the Tar Heels from consideration.

Anderson then chose Georgia Tech over Syracuse, telling the Times that "They were the only school really pushing it...I got letters every day, left and right. Last week there were at least 20 letters just from Tech. From everybody. The whole Georgia Tech was sending letters, the assistant coach, the president, vice president, everybody. That showed me some kind of character."

Georgia Tech coach Bobby Cremins was reported to have made more than 40 visits to see Anderson. By contrast, John Thompson offered a different view.

"I never saw [Alonzo] Mourning play a high school game," said Thompson in a December 1988 interview with the Washington Post. "The thing I resent is all the attention these kids have been conditioned to expect...they think, 'This guy never saw me play. He doesn't like me.' That's absolutely wrong."

"I wish Kenny luck. But I will say that the people who have been most effective for me understood these things about our program...maybe he should have been curious enough to find out more...when I coached in high school, I told players, 'If you want to go somewhere, contact them. This isn't about your ego. It's about your education.'"

Anderson's two years at Georgia Tech were a golden age of sports at the Atlanta school. While the football team won a share of the 1990 national championship, Anderson averaged 27.4 points per game in a three-man attack that earned Georgia Tech the ACC tournament title. Late game heroics by Anderson helped pilot the Yellow Jackets in the NCAA tournament (three wins by a total of six points), capped by a 93-91 win over minnesota to advance to the school's first Final Four appearance, falling to eventual champion UNLV, 91-80.

Following the departure of forward Dennis Scott to the NBA draft, the 1990-91 Yellow Jackets were all about Anderson, but without the depth he enjoyed as a freshman. Anderson averaged 23 points a game but the Yellow Jackets finished just 17-13 with a second round exit in the NCAA tournament.

Anderson exited Tech for the 1991 NBA draft, being picked second. An NBA all star in the 1993-94 season, Anderson's pro career was largely underwhelming, averaging just 12.6 points a game with 10 teams over 14 seasons. At the conclusion of a pro career which earned him $63 million in cumulative salary, Anderson declared bankruptcy.

John Thompson took criticism in the press for his hands-off approach to Anderson. Bill Reynolds of the Providence Journal wrote that "One senses the coaching fire has been gone for awhile. He no longer recruits like he once did. Word is he never saw Mourning play in high school. Word also is that Kenny Anderson originally was interested in Georgetown, but Thompson, fed up with a system that forces coaches virtually to have to [woo] 17-year-olds, never got around to courting Anderson."

Thompson's approach was a consistent, if increasingly anachronistic one in the cauldron of contemporary college recruiting.

"We do that which is necessary to make the kid acquainted with the university and it has nothing to do with whether it's Kenny Anderson or Jaren Jackson. Everyone who's in this business knows that's how we do things," Thompson told the Washington Post after Anderson's commitment. "What is important is that Kenny Anderson selected a school that meets his needs academically and athletically. Hopefully, he did that, because we're not going to lose a day's sleep over whether he came here or whether he didn't come here."

The prospect of a second #1 recruit alongside Alonzo Mourning could have meant big things for the 1989-90 Hoyas; Thompson's substitute for Anderson was a fellow New Yorker, David Edwards, whose similar run and gun approach to the game ran afoul of Thompson's style of play and led to an early transfer. What was clear was Georgetown wasn't changing its recruiting process one iota for any recruit, something Thompson found yet again with the recruitment of Grant Hill a year later.