Now that we know that DeAndre Daniels will not be making his way to Lexington, I figured it was time to finally put a close to the 2010 recruiting season and look at our net gains and losses from last season. I found the following write up on Rivals a couple of months ago and have been saving it for a good time to post. All in all, it’s a good basketball read on a day that is going to be dominated by football on the site today. Don’t forget that Zach West makes his decision later today as well.
"The loss of five first-round draft picks hardly means Kentucky will head into the season shorthanded. Coach John Calipari signed the nation’s top-ranked recruiting class to help replace all those draft picks. Here’s a look at the comings and goings in Lexington. IN Pos. Height Rivals rank Terrence Jones F 6-8 13th The buzz: Jones averaged 30 points, 14 rebounds and 6 assists as a senior at Portland (Ore.) Jefferson. Jones, a McDonald’s All-American, committed to Washington before signing with Kentucky. Enes Kanter F 6-11 3rd The buzz: Kanter played for the Turkish under-18 national team last year and was named the MVP of the European Championships. He also committed to Washington before signing with Kentucky. Kanter still is awaiting clearance from the NCAA because he played for a Turkish pro team before moving to the United States and going to high school at Merced (Calif.) Stone Ridge Christian. Brandon Knight G 6-3 6th The buzz: Knight graduated from Fort Lauderdale Pine Crest as the second-leading career scorer in Florida high school history. He is a McDonald’s All-American and a two-time Gatorade national player of the year. Doron Lamb G 6-4 21st The buzz: Lamb averaged 23 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists last season at Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va. He was selected as a McDonald’s All-American. Stacey Poole G 6-4 33rd The buzz: Poole won a Class 2A Florida state title this year while playing on a Jacksonville Providence team that also included Florida signee Patric Young. Poole is the son of former Florida star Stacey Poole, who scored 1,678 points in his college career. Eloy Vargas C 6-11 N/A The buzz: Vargas was born in the Dominican Republic. He averaged 25 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks last season at Miami-Dade Community College after transferring there following his freshman season at Florida. (Vargas isn’t included in the 2010 Rivals.com rankings because he’s coming from a junior college instead of a high school. He was 26th in the Class of 2008 rankings.) OUT Pos. Height Scoring Eric Bledsoe G 6-1 11.3 The buzz: Bledsoe made the All-SEC freshman team and the All-SEC tournament team in his lone year on campus. The Oklahoma City Thunder took him with the 18th overall pick in the NBA draft, though his rights later were traded to the Los Angeles Clippers. DeMarcus Cousins F/C 6-11 15.1 The buzz: Cousins averaged 9.8 rebounds and 1.8 blocks to go along with his 15.1 points per game. He earned first-team All-America honors from The Associated Press. Cousins went to the Sacramento Kings with the fifth overall pick in the draft. Daniel Orton C 6-11 3.4 The buzz: Orton averaged just 13.2 minutes per game his lone season at Kentucky, yet he still showed enough potential to get selected by the Orlando Magic with the 29th overall pick in the draft. Orton averaged 3.3 rebounds to go along with his 3.4 points. Patrick Patterson F 6-9 14.3 The buzz: Patterson spent three seasons at Kentucky. He averaged 16.4 points as a freshman and 17.9 points as a sophomore before the influx of freshman talent caused his scoring to drop last season. He went to the Houston Rockets with the 14th pick in the draft. John Wall G 6-4 16.6 The buzz: Wall won the Adolph Rupp Trophy as the national player of the year and was a finalist for the Naismith Award and Wooden Award his lone season at Kentucky. The Washington Wizards selected him with the top overall pick in the draft."
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