Kentucky Coach John Calipari still may not be finished putting the finishing touches on what could possibly be the best recruiting class ever hauled in. After already signing the top point guard, small forward, and power forward in the country, and consensus top 3-6 guys nationally in Anthony Davis (ranked 1st according to Scout.com and ESPN), Michael Gilchrist (ranked 3rd), and Marquis Teague, not to mention 5 star and 21st ranked Power Forward prospect Kyle Wiltjer, he now has his sights set on a couple more. Wake Forest transfer center Tony Woods may also still be on the table. After committing to Louisville last year, Woods de-committed once Louisville assistant Tim Fuller left to join Frank Haith's staff at Missouri. Woods is a very debatable prospect at this point because after already sitting out a year would be eligible to play immediately. Woods was the third best center prospect in the class of 2008 and played two years at Wake Forrest. A controversial tussle with his girlfriend and mother of his child led to his dismissal from the team. All major charges were later dropped against Woods, and if you read the Jason King article on Yahoo then you can read that the Woods story may not be as exaggerated as the media once led us to believe. None the less Kentucky can still afford to add a big body in the paint next year and word on the street is if Cal wants him then its a done deal. Texas, Louisville and a host of other schools are also in the mix.
More importantly though is the battle for former NC State point guard Ryan Harrow. Harrow, a five star PG in last years class played his freshman season for the Wolfpack but decided to look elsewhere after the departure of coach Sidney Lowe. Harrow is considering Kentucky, Texas, Georgia, Louisville and St. John’s. He just wrapped up a nine day tour of all the schools, but canceled his visit to St. Johns do to business issues that called for his mother to return home. Harrow has indicated he will take time to reflect on all the visits and all information received on those visits. Reports were that that the Kentucky visit went extremely well, but from all accounts so did the others. So what looked like a major Kentucky lean may not be as cut and dry as it once seemed.
Harrow would have to sit out a year under NCAA transfer rules, but that is a major reason for the need at Kentucky. We all know Cal's track record with point guards by now, his run of sending Derrick Rose, Tyreke Evans, John Wall, and now Brandon Knight to the NBA is reason enough to call UK point guard U. With Marquis Teague (top rated point guard 2011) on board to take over that long lineage next season Calipari is looking at sending five straight point guards into the top five picks of the NBA draft, unbelievable. The big issue is lack of overall point guard depth in the 2012 class. UK target LJ Rose, the most likely option at point in next years class recently slid from the teens to after fifty in updated 2012 recruiting rankings. Rodney Purvis is the lone star caliber point guard talent to emerge so far in the class, Purvis once committed to Louisville recently opened his commitment back up. However, if Kentucky misses out on Purvis then finding a suitable replacement for Teague and the long list of others before him us going to be a difficult task. BUT, if Kentucky can land Ryan Harrow, groom him under Calipari's watch for next season before he is eligible to play in the 2012-2013 season, they may end up with the best point guard option available. Harrow was impressive in his first year at NC State and has supreme handles with the basketball. Even if the new NBA collective bargaining agreement (CBA) institutes a two year rule that would cause Marquis Teague (along with Davis, Gilchrist) to return for a sophomore season, Harrow would still be able to be a major contributor. So in otherwords, Ryan Harrow is a prime target for Calipari and staff at this point. Look for a decision to come late next week.
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