After Poole commit, who is next for Calipari and Cats?
By Staff
The accolades for Stacey Poole commiting to Kentucky continue to come and it is looking more and more that Poole, despite a player ranking in the 50’s, can be a real hidden gem and a true steal for Calipari and his Cats. Paul Biancardi, who is ESPN-U’s national director of recruiting had some very good things to say about Poole in a talk with Larry Vaught.
Now that Poole is in the bag, who is next for UK? Calipari has stated that Patrick Patterson will not be returning for his senior season so this would leave four scholarships available for this class. Two more spots may open up in the spring, depending on what John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins do.
To be honest, with the caliber of players that Calipari is bringing to Lexington and from his past statements, I would not expect him to fill every available spot. Simply put, you can do the math and figure out that 200 minutes a game will not give 12-13 **** and ***** players enough playing time.
Evan Daniels of scout.com has said that UK is not the “clear leader” for any other 2010 recruit:
“This could be an interesting class for Calipari. Kentucky is in with a lot of really talented kids, but I could not point to one and say they are the definite favorite like you could with Wall and Cousins last year. But they still have a chance to put together a strong recruiting class with the kids they are after and they have a lot of good secondary options as well”
So let’s take a look at these “really talented kids” and see where UK may stand with them.
ADREIAN PAYNE: With Patterson and Stevenson (and possibly Cousins) leaving after this season, UK finds itself in need of big players to fill the void. Daniel Orton and Josh Harrellson will be back, but UK needs depth here, especially if Cousins leaves for the NBA. Enter in Adreian Payne, one of the best big men available and is rated from the 13th to 25th best prospect, depending on who you look at. Payne is number 20 on the latest rivals list. Payne is in Lexington this weekend on an official visit and he has UK solidly in his final five choices. Payne would be a fantastic commitment as he “drips with high major impact potential and pound for pound has one of the biggest ceilings of any prospect in the 2010 class with hard work.” Kentucky joins Kansas, West Virginia, Michigan State, and Arizona in his top 5.
CJ LESLIE: Leslie is the former team mate of UK’s John Wall and has expressed a serious interest in UK thus far as he is scheduled for not one, but two visits to UK in October. He will be visiting next weekend, and then will make a return trip for Midnight Madness on October 16. Leslie has also expressed a desire to watch the UK/UConn game in NYC. It’s apparent that John Wall is in Leslie’s ear about UK but let’s see what happens when Leslie takes his visits. I like the fact that Leslie is frequently referred to as “Kevin Garnett like”. According to Rivals.com, this has become a UK vs UNC battle, but Florida, UConn, and Maryland are still in the hunt for the #14 prospect.
BRANDON KNIGHT: As was the case of John Wall last year, this year’s #1 rated player Knight will probably wait until the spring signing period to make his decision. Knight who visited UK last weekend wiwth fellow Floridain Stacey Poole is at UConn this weekend to see Jim Calhoun. Even though Stacey Poole is now recruiting Knight to follow him to Kentucky, Knight has not announced a clear leader yet. Rivals has Kentucky, Kansas, and UConn as his leaders with Florida, Duke, Miami, and Syracuse in the next tier.
JOSH SELBY: Selby appears to be following the lead of Brandon Knight and probably will not make a decision any time soon, preferring to wait and see how the college teams seasons play out. Kentucky made their second in home visit to Selby on September 24 and are definitely a player for the number 4 overall prospect. But then so is Baylor, Connecticut, FSU, Indiana, Kansas, Miami, Oregon, and Syracuse. Selby’s mom has said that the list would be trimmed when the in home visits wrap but did not know if it would be a “top 5” list.
TOBIAS HARRIS: The number 5 player rated by Rivals just trimmed his list to seven, and Kentucky made the cut, along with Maryland, West Virginia, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Tennessee and Syracuse. Harris and his family have said all along that they are very familiar with all the schools and may make the decison after the in-homes, and without making any other visits. Adam Zagoria has said that this should be a final three of Kentucky, Syracuse, and UConn and Jeff Goodman thinks Harris will end up at Syracuse.
KYRIE IRVING: Irving is the 9th rted player on Rivals but could very well be the first of the big 3 PG’s to commit. Irving was long considered a Duke/IU battle, but Irving dumped IU recently and he is visiting Duke this weekend and Jeff Goodman says not to be shocked if Irving commits. Irving does to be giving UK a good long look as well, and is scheduled to visit UK on October 15 and possibly for Midnight Madness. Irving said recently on an online chat that he would probably not commit till November and I would have to say that is Irving is un-committed by October 1, UK still has a very good shot. While this seems to be a UK/Duke battle, Georgia Tech and Texas A&M are still under consideration.
TERRENCE JONES: UK has very quickly entered the sweepstakes for Jones, the 13th best recruit and a 6’8 “point forward”. Calipari made a recent in home visit with Jones and really opened his eyes to Kentucky and playing in the DDMO. You have to love the quote from Hones about Kentucky: “It opened my eyes to the system. I can see myself playing in that offense. Plus it’s the winningest program in the nation and they’re going to have a good year.” Jones is declaring no favorites yet and says he will trim his list to five around the end of the month. Rivals is listing Arizona, Kansas, Oklahoma, Oregon, UCLA, and Washington as other potential destinations.
DORON LAMB: Some people have dropped UK on Lamb’s list after last week’s posturing before the Stacey Poole commitment, but I still think UK has a valid shot at Lamb. It was thought that this was a Poole/Lamb race to commit, but Jeff Goodman has said that Poole wou
ld not scare Lamb or other recruits away from committing. After a lot of “will he or won’t he”, it does appear that Lamb will visit Kansas’s version of Midnight Madness. While I am not ruling out the possibility of Poole wearing UK blue, I am upgrading Kansas and Oklahoma as co-leaders for the #21 ranked player with Arizona still an option.
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