A Note on 2010 UK Basketball Recruiting-
The college basketball early signing period will conclude on Wednesday, yet UK has only received one letter of intent as of today. Stacey Poole of Providence School (FL) is a solid four star prospect that could reach five star status by the end of the year.
A vocal minority of UK fans are understandably beginning to get a little nervous about 2010 recruiting for two reasons. First, UK will need to secure commitments from a minimum of five and a maximum of eight players.
Ramon Harris, Mark Krebs, and Perry Stevenson will be graduating at the end of the year. John Wall is projected by many as the number one pick in the 2010 NBA Draft. Patrick Patterson can possibly graduate in three years and is projected as a first round draft pick.
It’s possible that both DeMarcus Cousins and Eric Bledsoe could be first round NBA picks by the end of the year and depart after only one year at UK. Cousins is already projected as a lottery pick by several ESPN draft insiders and Bledsoe will be able to showcase his talent to NBA scouts as a likely starter all season. Finally, there is no guarantee that DeAndre Liggins will get out of Calipari’s doghouse and be back with the team next season.
The second reason a certain segment of UK fans are getting nervous is because of the recent recruiting success of Josh Pastner. Pastner is a former Memphis and UK assistant coach (briefly) before getting the head coaching job at Memphis. Pastner has already secured the commitments of three five star players: Will Barton, Joe Jackson, and Jelan Kendrick. He also secured the commitment of four star recruits Chris Crawford and Tarik Black. Memphis is currently on track to have the number one recruiting class of 2010. In addition, UK was seriously recruiting Barton, Jackson, and Kendrick before they eventually signed with Memphis. There is no question that if Pastner were still in Lexington, it would have improved UK’s chances of landing Barton, Jackson, and Kendrick.
Some UK fans are wondering how much of Memphis’s and Kentucky’s 2009 number one recruiting classes were due to the work of Calipari and how much was possibly attributable to the work of Pastner. At this time last year, Memphis had already secured commitments from Xavier Henry, Darnell Dodson, Will Coleman, and Nolan Dennis.
To be fair to Calipari, he did have a significant amount of recruiting success at Memphis before Pastner arrived there as an assistant coach. According to Rivals.com, Memphis had the fifth best recruiting class in 2008, tenth best recruiting class in 2007, seventh best recruiting class in 2005, and ninth best recruiting class in 2004. Memphis’s recruiting classes were unranked by Rivals.com in 2006 and 2003. These numbers suggest it’s reasonable to expect Calipari to secure top ten recruiting classes each year, but it’s probably not likely that he will land the number one or even top five recruiting classes each and every year.
With the early recruiting period concluding on Wednesday, let’s take a brief look at the six major five star recruiting prospects that remain on UK’s radar: Tobias Harris, Terrence Jones, Brandon Knight, C.J. Leslie, Doron Lamb, and Josh Selby.
Harris, Lamb, and Jones: We may learn something from these three five star recruits by Wednesday-
Tobias Harris- He recently took recruiting visits to Maryland and Georgia Tech. He is also considering Tennessee, Louisville, and West Virginia. He has said he will sign his commitment letter by Wednesday, but won't publicly announce the decision until Thursday. Syracuse was once thought to be his leader, but Harris insists he’s enjoyed every visit and favors no particular school. His own father claims to have no idea where he will end up.
Doron Lamb- News broke today that he plans to verbally commit to a school soon, but not sign his letter of intent until the beginning of the late signing period in April. Kansas, Kentucky, and Oklahoma are thought to be his three co-leaders. Originally it was Kansas and Oklahoma, so it appears UK made up some ground after his official visit to Lexington. He’s also considering Connecticut and Arizona.
Terrence Jones- It’s still unclear whether he will make a decision by Wednesday or wait until the late signing period. He is also considering Washington, UCLA, Oklahoma, and Oregon. He would fit perfectly in Calipari’s dribble drive offense, but UK hasn’t had much luck in getting players from the Pacific Northwest.
Knight, Leslie, and Selby: We probably won’t know anything about them until the late signing period, which goes from April 14-May 19, 2010-
Brandon Knight- He’s considered the number one high school player in the country by several recruiting services. He took an official visit to Florida this weekend and is also considering Connecticut, Syracuse, and Miami. After his visit to Gainesville, a source close to Knight told the Orlando Sentinel his top three schools were Florida, Kansas, and Kentucky. This rumor was quickly debunked by Knight in an e-mail to Adam Zagoria. With the recent success/publicity surrounding Derrick Rose, Tyreke Evans, and John Wall, one would think the top high school point guards would want to play for Calipari.
C.J. Leslie- He’s a former high school teammate of John Wall and has only taken an official visit to UK. He insists he has no leader and was recently spotted at the North Carolina State commitment ceremony of friend Ryan Harrow. In addition to NC State (he’s already withdrawn his commitment there once), he’s also considering Florida, Oregon, Georgia, and Connecticut.
Josh Selby- Josh withdrew his commitment from Tennessee several months ago and many people thought he would quickly commit to UK. The decision of UK to invite Kyrie Irving instead of Josh to Big Blue Madness does seem like a mistake in hindsight. Especially since it appears Irving was intent on attending Duke at the time of the visit. Some people think Kansas is currently his leader, as he enjoyed his unofficial visit there in October and they recently lost Harrison Barnes to UNC. Selby does still plan to visit UK and is currently trying to find an appropriate date. He is also considering Miami, Syracuse, Indiana, and Kansas.
According to a recent poll on CatsPause entitled “are you concerned about 2010 UK basketball recruiting”, only about one-third of fans are currently concerned. They are a vocal group and are certainly letting their fears be known and expressed on message boards and comment sections of UK webpages. While it’s probably too early to panic, such fear is not totally unfounded. UK likely needs to sign four to seven additional players for 2010. They are not clearly in the lead for any of the six five star prospects they are targeting and are battling other good programs with good recruiters at the helm, like Kansas, Connecticut, Oklahoma, etc.
Depending on how things go for UK next week, it’s possible that new names will emerge on the recruiting landscape. Point guards such as Cory Joseph, Ray McCallum, and even former UK commitment K.C. Ross-Miller may wait until the late signing period and could be available if needed. Brand new recruiting names like Chris Hill are also likely to appear in the coming months. In addition to action on the court, UK recruiting will be extremely exciting to follow throughout the year as well.
Aaron
11 comments:
Wasnt Pastner at UM for a grand total of one year before Cal took the UK job?
My guess is that Cal really believes he can land the top targets, and if not then wants to save for the 2011 class. He doesnt need to fill an entire 13 man roster next year. He could go 10 scholarships with 1/2 walkons. That would save 4 schollies (3 plus 1 for Harrelson) for the 2011 class in which he would have much more time to establish relationships.
Im not worried in the slightest... the guy just brought in arguably the best recruiting class in UK history. He knows what he is doing.
Thanks for summary, nicely done! (For the record, I am slightly worried, but as a UK fan, that is to be expected)...
I'm naturally, as a UK fan, worried as well. But I think Calipari is special. He enjoys being in the spotlight and coaching under heavy pressure. He sure is going to get just that with everyone expecting at least one top 25 recruit each year. I hope we get Brandon Knight - he seems really smart and athletic. If we could get Terrance Jones as well then that would be awesome. I'm anxious to see how this all plays out. I know these kids are thinking about the NBA so Calipari is their best bet as far as preparation for their ultimate goal.
great summary...I would love to hear more on some of our backup options for 2010. Don't get me wrong, I hope we sign all six of the 5 star recruits we're targeting, but in case we don't, where will we turn? I'm slightly nervous, but I'm mainly curious. I heard the name Chris Hill tossed around the other day. Do you know of any others like him?
In addition to the six targets i mentioned in the post, there are only two remaining top 150 rivals recruits that list UK as an option- 4 star Ray McCallum and 3 star Reggie Smith, a PG from Thorton Township (IL).
5 star Cory Joseph was interested in UK at one point, but isn't taking an official visit to Lexington. 3 star KC Ross-Miller was a Gillispie commitment and is apparently no longer considering UK.
I did see the story about Chris Hill, but haven't seen any others like it.
Kentucky paid $35 million for Memphis 09 recruting class!
I'm worried, but hopeful. We don't seem to be as clear favorites on any of the top 6 left, unlike last year when UK was discussed as the favorite (or 1 of 2 favorites) for Wall and Bledsoe and X, and we got 2 of them.
As for the '09 class, UK did not pay $35M for it. We got Dodson and Cousins after they signed with Memphis. That's it. Kansas got X and his brother, Baylor the other 2-G. Wall was unsigned and undecided, as was Bledsoe. Orton and Hood were singed with UK under Billy G.
-Jack
Most of them would not be at UK they would be at Memphis if not for their $35m. Spin it anyway you like.
I'm worried but still confident Cal's lands a solid class. We can't expect #1 recruiting classes every year but top 10 should be the norm. I still think there are more guys out there like Hill who could be late bloomers or diamonds in the rough. Cal has been pretty good at spotting these types of guys too. Who knew about Darnell Dodson before Cal came here? I think he is going to be a fine player. There could also be some JUCO guys that show up on radar later in the season.
So lets all enjoy the season and stay confident in Cal's ability to bring in the best players. Go Big Blue!
Cal accepted a better job that offered better pay. The players that left Memphis chose Cal over Memphis and were rewarded with a better program with better exposure. YOU can spin it any way you wish. It seems everyone involved came out ahead... accept for Memphis. Pastner will leave Memphis once he proves himself better suited for a better job.
John Calipari is clearly willing to do whatever is necessary to win. NCAA rules violations have occurred at every step along the way, and UK faithful should be not surprised if this happens there in the near future.
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