2011 HS Senior Schools

 Should have said it is kind of a game. To answer some questions, I do think there is a chance Lacey commits to Kentucky, I think they want at least one more and more than likely a guard, and since Wroten is out of the running apparently, Lacey could be their guy. But, I do think that Doron Lamb could be one of those guys who could hold down the spot at 2 for a few years. Still, definite possibility, but I just think that Alabama could be a chance to be more of a focal point. With Quincy, I think Baylor could be in the running, but I just have always seen him destined to play for Pitino with his pal Deuce. I honestly do believe Wroten could easily commit to Louisville, but I went with the underdog in UW. It is just a guess, and I still think Louisville has a better chance until I hear otherwise, but UW has to get one of these guys down the line. After losing out on two huge possible commits last year, I think Wroten might buck the trend and stay home. The Siva connection and also Quincy Miller might say otherwise, but these things have happened before where you think two guys are destined to go to the same place and than choose different schools. I do not think recruiting is just as simple as saying, "I want to play with this player and that player", but it is also about the situation and who you feel comfortable playing for. Wroten could feel very comfortable playing for Rick Pitino, but I think Lorenzo Romar has a great rep amongst players as well. Plus, I would love to see Wroten play with Isiaiah Thomas, that would be a tight back court with Abdul Gaddy possibly coming in as a third guard. Also, as far as Quinn Cook goes, it seems like Duke has the lead, even with their stacked back court. They will be losing two more than likely (Irving, Smith) and will not really have a "true" PG, though Seth Curry might get that spot with Austin Rivers. I have also heard Quinn Cook to UCLA amongst others, but I for some reason feel he will go to Duke. But thanks for the comments, and I would love to see more peoples ideas or thoughts on the subject. Wreck, where do you think Quinn Cook will end up? 

Signed with Auburn, so at least I got one. I am guessing I will probably do pretty horribly. I mean, Louisville has a lot of commits at present time, and I checked their roster and they have one senior. Now, unless Pitino is handing a lot of guys their walking papers (which is just a weak move), or is going to go back on offers too committed prospects (even weaker), I have no idea how that will work. I mean, let’s look at the Cardinals roster and current recruiting class. Now, they have 5 freshman coming in this year from class of 2010, 9 other players who are junior/sophomore. I am pretty sure a teams limit is 13 scholarships, so let’s assume a couple guys are walk-ons. Does that still not make for very few available scholarships? I mean, Pitino has been the coach at Louisville for quite a while now, it is not like he is just suddenly going to a new job and rebuilding a program (like Calipari did at Kentucky for instance). My point is, it is not like he is some new coach that comes in and pretty much brings in his new players and has others ship out subsequently. Of his current Cardinal players, only a few are NBA prospects, and I do not know who you would count as being early entry. Peyton Siva is the one with the most upside, due to his ridiculous athleticism, but I see Peyton more than likely coming back for his junior year. Terrence Jennings has potential, but again, do not know if he is early entry. So, where are these scholarships coming from? They currently have 5 verbal commits in 2011 according to ESPN, Angel Nunez just committing not to long ago (a 4 star SF). They also have center Zach Price, highly rated small forward Wayne Blackshear and MVP of the NBA HS camp PF Chane Behanan. ESPN also lists SF Ryan Taylor as having committed. My question is, where will they fit on the team unless a number of players leave early? The reason Kentucky’s recruiting class, and others do not have these same questions is due to the fact that they have guys with early entry all over them. Well, Louisville at this current point in time, does not. So, how will Quincy Miller, Deuce Bello and possibly Tony Wroten fit into this current recruiting class Pitino has made? I have a feeling that they either won’t or Louisville might be having a number of players transfer in the next little while. Either way, with all that has been happening to Rick Pitino lately, I kind of wonder why so many players still want to go to his school. No doubt he is a great coach, his work at Kentucky was fantastic and he has had a couple of NBA gigs, plus he made Louisville a regular power. But, again, with this current roster and situation, does anyone else see Louisville being a good situation right now? It honestly gives me a headache thinking about it. I guess it is better to have to many people wanting to go to your school than too few, but I think this is just a pretty shady situation, and I do not know why other people have not pointed it out or at least gone into how Louisville could have around 7 scholarships available come 2011.

Have not heard any news on his reclassifying one way or the other, seems to have died out, and I just assume he is staying 2012. Also seems to be wide open as far as schools are concerned, as no solid choice is really known with him, though people seem to think Connecticut or Georgetown are favorites. I do not see much wrong with Louisville either, I just know that Pitino has been going through his whole embarassing trial situation, which I guess you would not care about if you never read, lol. Pitino has sent tons of players to the league and is a great recruiter, just do not think any of his Cardinals teams has been overly special. The Terrence Williams, Earl Clark led Cardinals were very good, but I agree that it appears they will struggle this year, two years later. Did not know Quinn said NC was his dream school, but, than again, things change. I mean, I have always been a fan of the Tar Heels and hated Duke, but it seems like Coach K might get 2011 over Roy, who got 2010 over Coach K this coming year. They go back and forth.

Just announced he will be going to Georgetown. 2 for 2! Well, looks like JT3 got himself a pretty solid big man, have always liked the Hoyas and hope he keeps them competitive by maintaining the solid recruiting classes Georgetown has had for the last few years.

It appears I could have been way off on Jabari Brown. I had heard of chances he might go to Kansas, which I think would be a great situation for him, but I am now hearing he might be down to two choices: Arizona State and THE UNIVERSITY OF OREGON!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well, supposedly Jahii Carson has been telling people Jabari is headed to Tempe, but in the insider story it says the Ducks are charging hard. The Ducks indeed have a lot of wing players on the team, but it is safe to say none are at the level of Brown, who would be the star of our basketball program. The last time Oregon recruited someone at Brown’s level goes even further back than Michael Dunigan to Malik Hairston. If Dana Altman were to land this recruit, it would be an incredible start for his first actual recruiting class (we will not count last year because it was far too late into the process, even though I like Johnathan Loyd to make an impact). Martin Seiferth, a 6-10 German who no one seems to know anything at all about, is also potentially coming to our team this year, which as we have nobody over 6-8 (and Tyron Nared is more of a 3), is desperately needed. I would settle for a 7-2 Tuba player! Well, I will definitely be keeping my eye out on the Brown situation, but hopefully, he knows we have Uncle Phil on our side and that we rocked ASU in football! Jabari, it would be an honor to call you a Duck, and Sun Devils probably do not exist, and while ASU parties like crazy and has beautiful women, we are good in that department as well. GO DUCKS!

My first missed pick is also the best miss I could have possibly had! Jabari Brown did indeed go to U of O, just when it seemed like we would have no chance of landing a top 100 ranked player, we get a player ranked 14 by scout. Meanwhile, Tony Wroten did choose to stay home and play for UW, the Ducks arch-rival who under Lorenzo Romar have become the pre-eminent force in the Pac-10. Wroten has been ranked at or near the top of his HS class since he was a freshman, and while he has slipped slightly in the rankings, I am sure he will have a strong impact as a Huskie. I know he is good friends with Huskies star Isaiah Thomas, and they should make a great backcourt duo. With the addition of Wroten, the Huskies backcourt could very well be the deepest in the nation come 2011-12. Huge signing for Romar, Wroten is a combo guard lefty who has a great handle and can fill it up. Jabari Brown luckily enough came to Eugene to say the Ducks beat Stanford and I guess he left feeling it was the best place for him. He is supposed to be one of the best shooters in this class, and the Ducks have always lived and died by the 3 as long as I have been watching them. Dana Altman’s most famous recruit ever is Kyle Korver, known as the NBA’s premier percentage shooter, so it seems like Brown found a good coach to work with his gifts. So far, Scout.com has Brown as the top rated recruit to sign with the Pac-10, and with his role on our team, he should be one of the favorites for Pac-10 freshman of the year in 2012. ESPN also says his signing moves the Ducks up to 14 in recruiting class so far. The Ducks still have a couple of spots open, so it would be great to see them sign another big to beef up our front line.

Kentucky not listed.

http://www.cardchronicle.com/2010/10/7/1737822/quincy-millers-latest-blog-post

Well, that’s about it … what, you thought I forgot about my college list? Well, I got news: I got it down to five. My top five right now is Duke, Oklahoma, Marquette, Baylor and Louisville. My reasons? I mean, Duke is Duke. With Oklahoma, I played for Coach Capel with USA Basketball over the summer, and I think I could definitely play for him. Marquette is close to home — even though I’m down in North Carolina, I’m still a Chicago boy — and I feel like they teach well and go hard. With Baylor, I feel like Coach Drew is a genuine person, and he lets his guys excel. And Louisville, they’ve been recruiting me hard, and Coach Pitino is a Hall of Famer. So that’s where I stand. If your school’s not here, they’re not on my list.

Well, if you look at the right side of the nbadraft.net home page, you see that Quincy Miller (and possibly Deuce Bello) are more than likely going to Baylor. So, in the meanwhile, I have been wrong about numerous other college destinations, lol. So, with Baylor supposedly getting these major commits, it just flat out shows that Scott Drew is becoming a big time recruiter. Baylor is turning into kind of a powerhouse program, and getting some major players, even if they are one and dones. Nonetheless, these one and done players would be a problem numerous teams would love to have (wouldn’t mind if the Ducks landed Quincy Miller….).

Some other commits from my initial list include:

23. Johnny O’Bryant C: LSU Tigers

60. D’Angelo Harrison SG: St. John’s Red Storm

64. Julian Royal PF: Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

79. Jabarie Hinds PG: West Virginia Moutaineers

81. Dom Pointer SF: St. John’s Red Storm

85. Ryan Boatwrigh PGt: West Virginia Moutaineers

94. Naadir Thorpe PG: Kansas Jayhawks

LSU signs a top center prospect in O’Bryant, definitely the biggest signing Trent Johnson has had in quite a while. Also, West Virginia signs two stingy PG’s, maybe looking to gain depth at a position they were exposed at last year late in the NCAA tournament due to injury. St. John’s also nabbed a couple more big name prospects, Lavin is definitely killing it on the recruiting front. That is 4 top 100 players that have said they will join the Red Storm resurgence, big things for the Alma Mater of some NBA iron men like Ron Artest, Mark Jackson, Malik Sealy and Jayson Williams. St. John’s was a staple amongst the Big East for years, and Lavin looks to be moving them back to the top if he maintains his recruiting prowess. Kansas also got its first top 100 commit for the class of 2011 with signing Naadir Thorpe, an SG whoe impressed with his play during the summer. The Jayhawks are still in the running for a number of other players though, and with Baylor’s signing of Quincy Miller, could it be possible that LeBryan Nash might take a long hard look at Kansas? We’ll have to see, but right now, it appears that Scott Drew might have landed the 1-2 punch Rick Pitino was dying to have in Miller and Bello.

Well, if you look at the right side of the nbadraft.net home page, you see that Quincy Miller (and possibly Deuce Bello) are more than likely going to Baylor. So, in the meanwhile, I have been wrong about numerous other college destinations, lol. So, with Baylor supposedly getting these major commits, it just flat out shows that Scott Drew is becoming a big time recruiter. Baylor is turning into kind of a powerhouse program, and getting some major players, even if they are one and dones. Nonetheless, these one and done players would be a problem numerous teams would love to have (wouldn’t mind if the Ducks landed Quincy Miller….).

Some other commits from my initial list include:

23. Johnny O’Bryant C: LSU Tigers

60. D’Angelo Harrison SG: St. John’s Red Storm

64. Julian Royal PF: Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

79. Jabarie Hinds PG: West Virginia Moutaineers

81. Dom Pointer SF: St. John’s Red Storm

85. Ryan Boatwrigh PGt: West Virginia Moutaineers

94. Naadir Thorpe PG: Kansas Jayhawks

LSU signs a top center prospect in O’Bryant, definitely the biggest signing Trent Johnson has had in quite a while. Also, West Virginia signs two stingy PG’s, maybe looking to gain depth at a position they were exposed at last year late in the NCAA tournament due to injury. St. John’s also nabbed a couple more big name prospects, Lavin is definitely killing it on the recruiting front. That is 4 top 100 players that have said they will join the Red Storm resurgence, big things for the Alma Mater of some NBA iron men like Ron Artest, Mark Jackson, Malik Sealy and Jayson Williams. St. John’s was a staple amongst the Big East for years, and Lavin looks to be moving them back to the top if he maintains his recruiting prowess. Kansas also got its first top 100 commit for the class of 2011 with signing Naadir Thorpe, an SG whoe impressed with his play during the summer. The Jayhawks are still in the running for a number of other players though, and with Baylor’s signing of Quincy Miller, could it be possible that LeBryan Nash might take a long hard look at Kansas? We’ll have to see, but right now, it appears that Scott Drew might have landed the 1-2 punch Rick Pitino was dying to have in Miller and Bello.