Lots of speculation and rumors are starting to buzz now that BBM is over and the recruits are starting to talk to reporters and such. Let’s take a look at a few of the biggest stories to slip out in the past 48 hours or so since BBM ended.
The Kyrie Irving/Tobias Harris team mate story: Obviously this is my favorite of all the stories to start leaking out. It’s apparent that Kyrie Irving and Tobias Harris bonded on their BBM trip and apparently they discussed the possibility of both of the recruits playing at the same school together. Adam Zagoria has commented on this story and through the methods of deduction, figured that the only two schools recruiting both Irving and Harris were Kentucky and Georgia Tech. Zagoria received a text from Harris which said the same thing:
“We talked about that but both of us don’t have a leader in this process and the only schools recruiting us both are Kentucky and Georgia Tech”
A third part of this story is the fact that Irving and Michael Gilchrist (who also attended BBM) have talked about playing together for Calipari at Kentucky. Irving and Gilchrist are HS team mates and Gilchrist is considered a UK lean.
Is this just idle chatter between teenagers? Or a sign that UK can be on the verge of something very, very big. Harris will make his college choice in less than a month so we should find out if this story has legs very soon.
Kentucky/Duke virtually even for Irving : This as a story that is gaining momentum more and more. Remember, Irving was widely expected to have committed on 9/27 and not to take any more visits after his Duke visit. That commit never happened and each day that Irving does not commit is better for all the other schools.
Irving, in a conversation with KentuckySportsRadio’s Dustin Rumbaugh confirmed that he had a great time in Lexington and that Kentucky was “right up there” with Duke. Rumbaugh did note that the Duke campus had more of an “at home feel” than UK did.
It’s also pretty well known that academics is big for Irving and that he intends on being a four year player. I am sure it was hard to miss the academics section that Calipari put in his BBM address.
Torrell Harris really likes UK: This much is very evident. You get the feeling that Tobias Harris’s dad would have committed weeks ago if the decision was up to him. Dustin Rumbaugh just posted an article and detailed the conversation he had with Tobias Harris’s dad. In it, he said that the whole family was very impressed with UK and the passion the fans have. He also had good things to say about Calipari:
I mean you can’t go wrong when you get a coach like Coach Calipari. You just can’t go wrong, you know? Great guy, great family man, Christian man. You just can’t go wrong. Cal’s the man! He’s a great guy.
Tobias Harris has said that how he fits into a team’s style of play will be a big part of his decision. On that, Torrell seemed to indicate that Kentucky had passed that test as well:
He would fit in good with the dribble drive offense. He can hit the jump shot, he can shoot from outside, he can handle. Yeah that dribble drive offense is good. It’s a good offense. Coach Cal, you know, he’s just a good coach and that’s the bottom line, he’s just a great coach. You gotta hit that outside jump shot in that dribble drive offense, and you gotta penetrate. If he can do those things, then that offense is a perfect fit for you, if you can do those things.
Where was C.J. Leslie?: The biggest question was the whereabouts of John Wall’s HS teammate. Most pundits had C.J. as showing up at BBM as late as mid-day Friday but in the end, he was a mystifying no show. Both Dustin Rumbaugh and Adam Zagoria were unable to actually get ahold of Leslie this weekend, but they did talk to Leslie’s brother who provided no definitive reason. I really would not put this in the “bad” for UK section as Leslie has indicated he will take in a few games this year in support of John Wall, so UK will get Leslie on campus eventually.
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