Kentucky Wildcats Basketball: July Recruiting Roundup- Part 1

Tomorrow is the first day of the dead period of the July recruiting period that lasts until the 21st. And for those critics of Coach Calipari and Big Blue Nation that think UK is in trouble regarding 2012 recruiting, guess again. Calipari and his staff have been on the grind, scouting various prospects around the country and looking for the best, because that’s what Cal wants, right? We know that DaJuan Coleman has UK and Syracuse at the top of his list, Mitch McGary was offered as well as his teammate TJ Warren, and Shabazz Muhammad (No. 1 in 2012) plans on visiting UK first. But what about everyone else? Let’s take a look back at the prospects that UK has shown interest in throughout the past 15 days:

Perry Ellis: Ellis has been on UK’s radar for some time now, and our own Tyler Cox has spoken with Perry about his recruitment process before. Calipari and Assistant coach Orlando Antigua were both at the Adidas Invitational in Indianapolis to watch Ellis.“I knew Cal and Orlando would be watching him but I didn’t know they would be watching him that many times,” said Fonda Ellis, the prospects mother. “It was really impressive to see Cal at seven of Perry’s games so far that I am aware of.” Ellis has plenty of other schools courting him, such as local schools Kansas, Kansas St., and Wichita St. Duke and Memphis are among others also recruiting him. “I might narrow it again and go from there,” Ellis said in Indianapolis last week. “I know it’s coming down to the end for me. It’s about to be the start of my senior year and I need to start thinking about (a decision).”

Brandon Ashley: Brandon Ashley’s name has surfaced recently, he is a breakout senior power forward who plans to take his talents to Findlay Prep. If you are familiar with that name, it is where DeAndre Liggins came from before going to UK. Ashley is a 6-foot-7 player who has been putting up great numbers recently. In an interview with ZagsBlog yesterday, Ashley said that he is considering cutting his list or even possibly making a decision soon. “I don’t really have a list yet,” said Ashley. “I plan on getting that after Peach Jam.” “I’m thinking I might sign early so I can go early. I just want to get it over with,” he said. “It’s a lot to deal with and really just make my decision early.”

Archie Goodwin: Goodwin is another prospect, like Ellis, that UK has had their eye on for some time now. Goodwin has been playing great despite playing with an injury he suffered in his non-shooting hand last month. Not only that, but he has been the scoring leader thus far in the Peach Jam in Augusta this week, averaging 20.4 a game. His Arkansas Wings team went up against another UK prospect, LJ Rose (Houston Hoops), in a game that was watched by Calipari. The guard out of Arkansas has been considering taking visits in the fall to Arkansas, UConn, and UK so far, before making a decision in the spring. No other schools have been considered for visits so far.

Ricardo Ledo: Since decommitting from Providence in January, UK has shown interest in Ledo, but it has varied at times. Nonetheless, Ledo is interested in UK and plans to take his first official visit in the fall to Kentucky, as is fellow 2012 prospect Shabazz Muhammad. “I’m going to go out and see Kentucky for sure,” he said. “Other than that, I’m not sure yet….I was supposed to go visit a while ago and I didn’t make it. I like that school, Coach Cal and Coach ‘O’ [Orlando Antigua], just the atmosphere of the school.”

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