Marcus Lee poised to join “scary” 2013 Kentucky Wildcat recruiting class today
By Paul Jordan
From all accounts, the above picture that was tweeted by Marcus Lee after his visit to BBM is about to become a very real (and scary) reality. As you can see, Lee tweeted the pic of himself with the Harrison Twins, James Young, and Derek Willis. Most bluebloods expected a commitment was imminent, but Lee seemed to stall the announcement and p;lanned another visit to Cal. Yesterday, Lee made the announcement that he would be committing sometime today.
At the moment, there appears to be some confusion about where and when Lee will make his decision. The general consensus is that it will be between 2:30 and 3:00 PM EST, which would mean 11:30AM in California. One website is saying it is 11:30AM EST, which is 8:30AM in California. There also seems to be some confusion as to whether it will be on ESPN, ESPNU, or not televised. As soon as I can find something definite, I will tweet it out on @wildcatbluenatn but as of now, the even money is on it being in the 2:30PM range. If you have some doubts about WHAT the decision will be, here is another tweet Lee sent out after BBM.
I don’t think anyone can appreciate the magnitude of this class, especially if Kentucky can add Julius Randle in the Spring. And for the third straight week, all the dominoes are falling for Kentucky. Adam Zagoria had a great piece in which he said that Lee has a good relationship with the Harrisons and that Julius Randle is OK with how things are going at Kentucky:
"“I think the Harrisons help a little but just because he has that previous relationship with them, and there is sort of a comfort level,” Bryan Lee, Marcus’s brother, told SNY.tv Tuesday night. “I think he trusts the way they play.” The 6-foot-8 Lee — who is down to Kentucky and Cal — knows Aaron and Andrew Harrison from their summer workouts in their home state. “He works out with John Lucas in the summer for the last few years in Texas,” Bryan said. “I remember a few years ago him telling me how these kids were beasts. I think that he does look at them as pretty good players.” Lee, out of Deer Valley (Calif.) Antioch, also wants to play on the highest level possible in order to prepare for an NBA career. And given what Kentucky has accomplished recently, there may be no higher level and no better way to prepare for the pros. “We figure that if Marcus thinks that he can be a pro one day, he’s gotta prove that he can play on any team, you know?” Bryan said. Lee is coming off an official visit this past weekend to Kentucky for Big Blue Madness that went extremely well. “It went really well,” Bryan said. “They did their job. They timed it well with having the kids there and being able to sit down with the academic advisors and get to watch practice, they did a good job.” Julius Randle , the top power forward in the Class of 2013, went out of his way in his USA Today blog to point out that he has no feud with the Harrisons and would love to play with them. “I love that they’re at Kentucky too,” he wrote."
Oct 11, 2012; Lexington, KY, USA; Kentucky Wildcats head coach John Calipari speaks during media day at Memorial Coliseum. Credit: Mark Zerof-US PRESSWIRE
Regardless of whether Marcus Lee’s announcement is on TV today, the ESPN family is the place to be today for all your John Calipari coverage. Calipari will take part in the media “carwash” and will make the following live appearances:
9:15 a.m. – Mike and Mike (ESPN)
10:20 a.m. – SportsCenter (ESPN)
10:50 a.m. – First Take debate (ESPN)
3:15 p.m. – Scott Van Pelt Show (ESPN Radio)
4 p.m. – Numbers Never Lie (ESPN2)
5 p.m. – SportsNation (ESPN2)
Also at 8:00PM. All Access Kentucky will debut on ESPN. Set your DVR’s folks.