Well the November early signing period for college basketball ends in just a few days and so far, it has been a quiet period for UK. The only official news thus far has been that Stacey Poole signed his LOI on Wednesday and Wildcat fans have sat by and watched Kyrie Irving, Adreian Payne, Harrison Barnes, and Jelan Kendrick announce their commitments to play for teams not named the Kentucky Wildcats. Not that I am getting angsty over those prospects. We were not figured to get any of them (except for Payne) and UK was not really in the running for Barnes and Kendrick. So while, it would be nice to see more names on the roster, UK is going to have to wait till April or May to finalize this signing class. Not that waiting till April or May is a bad thing. DeMarcus Cousins, Eric Bledsoe, and John Wall all committed in April or May last season and I think all three may turn out to be keepers. So without any further ado, let's looks at the rest of UK's targets and see if they may be giving us an early Christmas present or making us wait till the Spring.
TOBIAS HARRIS, #5 rivals
The only thing anyone knows is that Tobias will sign, somewhere, on Wednesday. From all indications, he is totally undecided and even his dad, Torrell, who is a pretty vocal guy, states that he does not even know who Tobias is going to pick. Tobias is still on the road making visits, having checking out Maryland yesterday and going to Georgia Tech today. Tobias and his dad have been pretty gracious in their comments on all the schools they have visited, leading fans of each school to say they are the leader for Tobias. Tobias will be deciding from Syracuse, Tennessee, Kentucky, Louisville, West Virginia, Maryland, and Georgia Tech.
CHANCE OF DECISION THIS WEEK: 100%
MY GUT FEELING: Syracuse, but it will be between UK, UL, and Tennessee. I don't think Syracuse is a lock by any means but most of the buzz has been towards the Cuse. I don't think that UK is out of the running, and Tobias could end up in Blue.
DORON LAMB, #21 rivals
If you would have asked in May or so, Lamb was the consensus pick to be the Wildcat's first commit for the 2010 class. It never happened then. There was a little bit of drama before Stacey Poole made his decision that it was a race between Poole and Lamb to see who would commit first. Poole won that race, and Lamb made visits to Oklahoma and Kansas, prompting UK fans to say that UK was out of the running. Then Lamb made some comments that UK, Oklahoma, and Kansas were all co-leaders. Then there was the report that Doron was seen rocking the Kansas shirt but at the same time was saying he was nowhere ready to commit and was still looking at Kentucky, Kansas, UConn, Arizona , and Oklahoma. Lamb is currently visiting UConn this weekend and plans to visit Arizona soon. Despite the busy schedule, Lamb says he plans to commit in the Fall, but will not sign his LOI till the Spring.
CHANCE OF A DECISION THIS WEEK: 25% . There is probably not time to visit Arizona by Wednesday and make that decision, but we should know by Christmas
MY GUT FEELING: A tie between UK, Kansas, and UConn. Part of me tells myself that Lamb has been on the radar so long is because he likes Kentucky and he is comparing each subsequent school to them. That is pure speculation, just a hunch. UConn is interesting because he is one of the three finalists for Roscoe Smith and you wonder if they may try to play together at college.
BRANDON KNIGHT, #1 rivals
Knight is in Gainesville this weekend visiting his home state Gators and I don't think anyone expects Knight to make a decision soon. That, I think, is a good thing for UK. I think that Brandon (and every top PG recruit in the country) will be watching Calipari and UK very carefully to see how two of the top three freshman point guards in the country can co-exist on the same team and if that type of scenario can lead to the NBA. After this weekend, Knight will have taken visits to Kentucky, Kansas, Miami, and Florida. One assumes that visits to Connecticut and Syracuse will follow. Knight said on Thursday that ``The recruiting doesn't bother me much. It's not something I need to get out of the way. When I find out which place I'm going to go to, I'm not going to waste anybody's time or hold anybody back. I am just going to go ahead and announce it.'' Personally, I like this quote as it means he will not be a Twitter drama queen playing out his recruitment for the drama ala Kyrie Irving. A source from the Orlando Sentinel said that Knight's top three choices are Kentucky, Kansas, and Florida.
CHANCE OF A DECISION THIS WEEK: 0%
MY GUT FEELING: UK
JOSH SELBY, #4 rivals
Ever since he de-committed from the Tennessee Vols, Selby has been rumored to be a strong UK lean. His mother has made statements that they like Kentucky as well and Kentucky remains very much in the mix for Selby. I think that Selby will definitely out wait Brandon Knight to make a decision and may be one of the last recruits to pull the trigger. The family has stated they will be watching to see how all the team's seasons turn out and that would probably put the earliest decision in April or so. Selby did visit Indiana this weekend and you have to think Selby is Tom Creans number one priority by far after IU missed out on Irving and Kendrick. The family is still working on setting dates to visit UK and Syracuse. Kansas and Miami also seems to be in the running.
CHANCE OF A DECISION THIS WEEK: 0%
MY GUT FEELING: Depends on Brandon Knight. If Knight does not sign with UK, Selby will. If Knight is a Wildcat, I doubt Selby will be but never count out Calipari. Bledsoe, Knight, and Selby would give Calipari that 3 PG offense he has talked about.
TERRENCE JONES, #13 rivals
At this point, it is pretty safe to assume that Jones will decide in the Spring. He was supposed to announce a decision a few nights ago if he was going to be a Fall or Spring commit, and as far as I can find out, that decision has not been made yet. Some people think that Washington, UCLA, and Oklahoma are the front runners, but that appears to be more speculation than insider information. Kentucky and Oregon are still very much in the mix. Evan Daniels from Scout.com have also said that Jones will be a spring decision.
CHANCE OF A DECISION THIS WEEK: 33%
MY GUT FEELING: Not Kentucky and this may depend on CJ Leslie also. I think that UK got into the chase too late and that Washington and UCLA look pretty good right now, although I am always ready to be pleasantly surprised.
C.J. LESLIE, #14 rivals
If you dig deep enough into the C.J. Leslie recruitment, you read a lot of interesting things about how the state legislature of North Carolina and the association of evil sheriffs are planning an act of war against the Commonwealth of Kentucky if fancy pants, fast talking John Calipari comes into their state again and steals another blue chip recruit. Interesting reading but I am unsure how much is sure. One thing that is evident is that Leslie likes UK and some think he may be the last top 25 recruit to commit, ala his good buddy John Wall. Other think that because Leslie's HS coach at Word of God is recent NC State commit Ryan Harrow's brother in law that Leslie is a lock to re-commit to the Wolfpack. I actually called famed NC lawyer Matlock to find out who cut the brake lines on Leslie's car, thus preventing him from attending UK's Big Blue Madness and found that while Kentucky is the only school that Leslie has visited, he is still considering NC State, Florida, Oregon, Georgia, and Connecticut and that there is no official leader.
CHANCE OF A DECISION THIS WEEK: 5%
MY GUT FEELING: UK
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