Tobias Harris decision looms, Kentucky looks for second 2010 commitment
By Staff
by Andrew Hardison
The recruitment of elite power forward Tobias Harris will come to an end Thursday with a plethora of schools in the mix for his services. He hasn’t revealed any mind-blowing news or hints as to what school he plans to play college basketball at.
He’s officially visited seven programs, the A-list of college basketball schools who would love to have Harris on their team. Along with teams like Louisville, Georgia Tech, Maryland, and Syracuse, Kentucky stands to gain their second commitment of the 2010 recruiting class if head coach John Calipari has played his cards right.
Any clue as to what Harris’ decision would be would blow his cover. Instead, it will be aired on ESPNU on Thursday revealing where he’ll play collegiate basketball at. The choice, among experts varies. One says Syracuse. The other insists Tennessee is the place. Many in the Big Blue Nation hope the Big Blue Madness festivities paid off, with a Harris commitment in the works.
Dustin Rumbaugh over at KSR seems to believe that Harris is icing the clock and will wait until the very last minute to choose his destination. With no clear favorite, it’s hard to make a valid argument on any of his listed schools. At this point, one stands just as good a chance as the other. Adam Zagoria over at Zagzblog think the decision Harris makes will be affected by several other decisions. JayVaughin Pinkston is said to be close to committing for the Vols, a move that could deter Harris’ decision. Maryland head coach Gary Williams just received a verbal commitment from 2010 power forward Ashton Pankey, the same position Harris plays. At 6’8” and 220 lbs, Pankey would take up minutes from Harris and vice versa.
Harris has come away from every one of his visits with great praise towards each respective program, head coach, fans, players and anything else you could think of. He hasn’t dropped any suggestive lines that could be dissected as a sure fire commitment to any of the schools. In his most recent visit to Georgia Tech, Harris and his father continued their high praise of each official visit in saying:
“We had a great visit. Coach [Paul] Hewitt is a great teacher, a lot of teaching. In the practices, his players go really hard. He’s got a great group of guys, high-character players on the team.”
Nothing has really changed as the fall recruiting period winds down other than this. We know he’s got seven schools, all said to be on an equal playing field. In the end, the real player in all of this is obviously Kentucky. Have John Calipari and his staff done enough to make Harris realize the possible success he could obtain while donning a UK jersey? Midnight Madness was essentially a $300,000 rock concert that Harris attended with several other recruit. Two of them has already committed elsewhere, the main target being Irving to Duke. Will another Midnight Madness visitor decide to go elsewhere or will Stacey Poole finally have a teammate in the 2010 recruiting class?
Here are some other point of views to keep you entertained while awaiting the Harris announcement:
Harris a long shot for Maryland
West Virginia commitment puts Harris in question
Syracuse or Tennessee? It’s up in the air
Harris recruitment intriguing to say the least
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