Kentucky Basketball Recruiting: Notes on Wiggins, Randle, Gordon, and Owootoah

Emmanuel Owootoah

Kentucky’s recruiting class for 2013 is already considered one of the best of all time, and that became even more evident with  5 out of the 6 Kentucky signees making the Jordan Brand Classic game, and the McDonald’s All-American game.

I just wanted to take the time to give you some updates on the remaining guys that Kentucky is still recruiting, and a new name is on the radar for the 2013 class.

The name everybody in the nation knows about is Andrew Wiggins, and he recently cut his list from 6 to 4 schools. The final four are Kentucky, Kansas, Florida State, and North Carolina. Wiggins will be in Lexington next week to take in the Mississippi State game for his official visit. Wiggins will be joined by his entire family, which I think is a big deal because I had heard before that it was only going to be Andrew and maybe a coach. Calipari is known as the best closer in the recruiting game, and getting the whole family on campus is big because Calipari can show them how much he wants Wiggins at Kentucky. Andrew Wiggins recently told ESPN he would make his decision in April. It’s really to close to call, and everybody I talk to really has no feel for where Wiggins will end up, because he doesn’t talk about it to the media.

Julius Randle who is the #2 player in the nation right behind Wiggins came back from injury last week, and had 19 points in his debut. Randle wasn’t originally picked for the McDonalds All-American game, because of the injury he suffered earlier in the season, but there is still a chance he could be picked as the 25th member. Randle took his last official visit last weekend when he went to Kansas, and seemed to have a great time. His mom told USA Today “Kansas has the best fans, and they have the loudest fans.” Kansas wasn’t in the top 2 according to Evan Daniels of Fox Sports late last year, but now they may be the favorite. Randle will make his decision between now and the middle of March he told USA Today.

Aaron Gordon is a long shot in my opinion, and that became even more clear to me when he added Oregon back to his list. That tells me that he is going to stay out west, and it will be one of the 3 schools that are out west. I would say Arizona is the favorite for Gordon, and I have heard Sean Miller will not let John Calipari come out to the west coast, and get another kid from California. Miller and Calipari are two of the best recruiters in the game, and they are also 2nd cousins so it runs in the family. Gordon is an absolute monster, and is a Blake Griffin is the waiting so whatever schools gets him will have maybe the best athlete in the 2013 class. I wouldn’t expect that school to be Kentucky at this point, but things can change quickly.

A new name Kentucky fans may want to keep on eye on is Emmanuel Owootoah who plays at Cordia High School in Kentucky. Owootoah isn’t a 5 star or 4 star recruit like the guys Kentucky usually gets, but Orlando Antigua has made it clear that they are giving him a serious look by watching him play earlier this week, and may be back to watch him in the district finals on Friday nights. Owootoah is a 5-10 point guard, and would likely be a 4 year player at Kentucky, but Rodrick Rhodes who played at Kentucky under Pitino said “This kid will be a good or great player by the end of his career if he goes to Kentucky.” Owootoah has been recruited hard by UCLA, and Bob Huggins was in attendance earlier this week to watch him play. I don’t know if Kentucky will offer, but I know they are giving this kid a serious look.

Here is a highlight film of Owootoah last year in the MCI quarter finals.