Despite the loss of Harrison Barnes, UK basketball recruiting remains in full swing
By Staff
As speculated, Rivals #2 prospect Harrison Barnes did cut his list of prospective schools and it is a minor surprise that UK did not make the final 6. Harrison’s final list is Duke, Iowa State, Kansas, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and UCLA. I never really saw Barnes coming to UK, but figured they would at least make the final six. I think Barnes has been a Duke lean for quite a while and would be shocked if he went anywhere else. But as I mentioned not too long ago, UK is in the hunt for eight of Rival’s top 21 players and that is cutting Barnes off the list. Let’s take a look at some of UK’s top prospects and one of the biggest shocks over the weekend has to be the appearance of a former Gator in Lexington.
Eloy Vargas was granted his release from Florida and his first stop was Lexington. Vargas was heavily recruited by UK Assistant Orlando Antigua when he as an assistant at Pittsburgh. Vargas was a top 30 prospect and one of the top Forward recruits in HS, but battled injuries and had a disappointing freshman year at UF, averaging just 0.6 points and 0.7 rebounds. Vargas, who is 6’10, was supposed to take on a much bigger role for the Gators this year. Don’t count on Vargas playing this year as he would have been academically ineligible at UF and on top of that, would probably have to sit out a year as well. A more likely scenario would be Vargas taking the 13th scholarship and sitting out this year and getting his grades up, then playing next year when Stevenson graduates and Patterson and Cousins may bolt to the pros. That is of course, if he enrolls at UK. And such goes for the Gators as Vargas becomes the 13th player to leave the program since the 2004 season. I covered the fall of the Gator’s empire in a little more detail here.
It does appear that UK is still very much in the running for their top prospect, the number one point guard prospect, Brandon Knight. Based on conversations that Kentucky Sports Radio’s Dustin Rumbaugh had with Knight’s parents this weekend, UK is firmly in the mix and while an official list has not been drawn up, the top five would be UK, UConn, Miami, Kansas, and Florida. Calipari and his staff will make an in house visit to the Knights around the middle of September and Knight’s mom said an official visit would follow shortly. If you recall, Knight’s mom recently paid a visit to the UK campus and met with Calipari and UK president Lee Todd.
The loss of Barnes makes the signing of Doron Lamb that much more important. Lamb has been considered a UK lean for a while and apparently he still has UK near the top of his list. Lamb has only three college visits planned for the Fall, to Kentucky, Kansas, and Oklahoma. That list may grow as Lamb has indicated that UConn, Marquette, and Arizona were also possibilities. It may appear that UK is not in the #1 spot as many have thought since he says he has no favorite yet, but not having to worry about battling Barnes for playing time next year can only help.
There are a couple of other interesting tidbits from the weekend regarding the 2010 recruiting class. PG Kyrie Irving has placed UK in his final six list of IU, Duke, UK, Georgia Tech, UConn, and Seton Hall. Dustin Rumbaugh has talked to Irving and thinks that IU, Duke, UK, and Georgia Tech are the real leaders. Tobias Harris has an in home visit from UK on September 9 and all indications are that if UK is not the leader, they are in the top two or three and UK will remain in the running.
While top PG recruit for 2010 is still confirming his visit to UK, the top PG in the 2011 class Marquis Teague was in Lexington this weekend. There has been some speculation that Teague is closer to the end than to the beginning of his decision making process. At one time, Teague was considered to be a sure fire slam dunk for the Cardinals but it appears more than anything that Teague is wide open and UK is a very serious contender.
Keep following www.http://wildcatbluenation.com for the best in Kentucky basketball and football news, rumors, and opinions. By Kentucky fans for Kentucky fans