Several things came in to play when making this decision:
Distance- Ricardo is very close to his family and playing in Athens at Ohio allows his parents, friends, and other family the opportunity to still come and see him play. Also, with Akron recruiting his brother JJ really hard, there's a chance they could end up in the same conference and playing against one another.
Playing Time- Ricardo will see playing time right away and likely will come in and start. You guys can argue that he might not have seen much playing time as a freshman, but I'm fairly confident the coach of BU would have found somewhere for him on the floor. Let's not forget Ricardo will run the point for Holmes this year at 6'5. I don't know too many coaches who wouldn't want a pg with that kind of size, strength, and athleticism. Espn rates Ricardo as a Grade 90 prospect and the #46 SG in the country.
ESPN's scale of 90-100 gives the following defintion:
90-100: Immediate Impact Prospect
Player demonstrates rare abilities and has the potential to start as a freshman for a national, top-25 program.
Maxpreps.com also lists him as the 83rd best prospect overall nationally in the c/o 2010.
The final and deciding factor was Ohio's recruiting class for last year and this year. According to ESPN's ratings, they got the following prospects over the past two years:
2010
Ethan Jacobs 86 (C #55)
Ricardo Johnson 90 (SG #46)
2009
Ivo Baltic 88 (PF #58)
DJ Cooper 87 (PG #39)
James Kinney 85 (SG #97)
Marquis Horne 85 (SF #75)
Reggie Keely 85 (PF #106)
Not overly impressive, but for a MAC team, two pretty solid recruiting classes.
Personally, I think Ge'Lawn Guyn (Charlotte) and Josh Sewell (Miami,OH) also played a part in where Ricardo chose to go to school. Both of those two players are top 5 in KY and chose smaller schools over big name programs as well because of immediate playing time.