I did a little research:
I think we are probably the favorites for top 50 recruits Greg Echinique and Christian Wofford. We are the favorite for Lance Stephenson. Top 2 for Xavier Henry. Still in running for Derrick Favors. Noel Johnson likes us. Leslie McDonald. Ferrakohn Hall. Recruiting DaShonte Riley really hard. Still in the running for John Wall.

Does anybody have anymore info on these recruits?

the little I've seen of Echinique I really like. but I've not seen anything that leads me to believe that we would be his favorite

grizz101 Wrote:I did a little research:
I think we are probably the favorites for top 50 recruits Greg Echinique and Christian Wofford. We are the favorite for Lance Stephenson. Top 2 for Xavier Henry. Still in running for Derrick Favors. Noel Johnson likes us. Leslie McDonald. Ferrakohn Hall. Recruiting DaShonte Riley really hard. Still in the running for John Wall.

Does anybody have anymore info on these recruits?

I don't know if we're the "favorite" for anyone now, but we are in very strong with several. Many threads on here have detailed who those guys are.

IMO, we're in good shape with Watford, Favors, Henry, McDonald, Rashanti Harris (he will likely reclassify), Karron Johnson and Stephenson. I think Wall goes to NC St.

Here is recent info on Karron Johnson -

"Karron is really developing into an all-around player," said Richmond Squires coach Kevin Johnson. "I think his game is similar to that of Michael Beasley's in that he can do so many things. Karron can score inside or step out and shoot the three. He handles and passes the ball well for a guy his size. Inside, at 230 pounds, he is tough to handle at this level."

"He's been contacted by Memphis, LSU, UNC Charlotte, Georgetown, Virginia, Duke and Kansas, just to name a few," said Johnson. "He's taking a hard look at all the schools. He wants the opportunity to contribute right away, get an education, have a chance to play for a national title and develop into a better overall player."

Also, here's a clip of top 2011 recruit and future Tiger Mike Gilchrist. He's only a freshman, but he's one of the nation's best already.

http://www.hssmtv.com/TV%20Channels/Clas...202011.htm

I want Favors bad!!! Anyone got a read on where we stand with him.... I thought a while back we were in pretty good with him, but lately it doesn't seem to be the case as much.

I think it's really too early to tell how the 2009 class is going to turn out. I do feel with us being involved with so many top players this class will probably be Cal's best.

I spoke with someone close to his recruitment yesterday. It appears that he is going to start a little visit spree. He went to UCLA recently and next up will likely be Arizona and Arizona State. Sidney and his family are hoping to visit them on the same weekend in mid-February.

They are also working on setting up visits to Texas and Memphis.
Evan Daniels
EvanDanielsScout@aol.com
Scout.com Bball Recruiting Analyst

It's all fun and excitement for now, after April coaches will start applying a little more pressure. It will intensify during July. Then it gets really crazy.

New Article on Leslie McDonald...I sure hope UNC and Duke let us have a chance at this guy, LOL

Rumors swirled last week that five-star shooting guard Leslie McDonald from Memphis (Tenn.) Briarcrest Christian was a heavy lean to North Carolina and that a decision was near. Last night, Devils Illustrated had an opportunity to speak with McDonald and talk to him about these rumors.

"I've heard all of those rumors and they are not correct," McDonald said. "I am still evaluating all of the schools on my list and they are all on equal ground. Duke, North Carolina, Indiana, Georgetown, Ohio State, Memphis and Tennessee all have the same chance for me right now. Those rumors are just not true. I'm not ready to make any kind of decision."

Around the same time that these rumors started to hit the Internet, McDonald received a visit from several members of the Duke coaching staff. According to the 6-foot-4, 195-pound junior the meeting with very well.

"Coach K and three other coaches came down to visit me, my dad and my coach at the school," he said. "They stayed for a good while and we just sat in the locker-room before practice and talked about a lot of things. They mainly gave us more information about Duke, about their tradition, about the history of the basketball program and just a lot about the school.

"We used the time to get to know each other better and it gave me and my dad an opportunity to get more comfortable with him and the other coaches. It was a good visit.

"My dad was just really taking notice of what he said. For a man as known as Coach K to come in and be down-to-earth like that and be comfortable with us made my dad take notice of things."

With nearly the entire coaching staff in attendance for this meeting, McDonald indicated that it truly caught his attention.

"I saw that as a good thing," he said. "For all of them to come down and meet me at once shows me that they do want me at Duke and that they want to take the opportunity to get to know me."

It was during that visit, that McDonald received his offer from Duke. With the offer now in hand, did it do anything for Duke's stance with the talented junior?

"Well, I've always been open to Duke. Duke has always been an option to me, no matter if they had offered yet or not. It was still a school that would be on my list. So I was already pretty interested in Duke."

In addition to getting to know one another, the Duke coaches also discussed possible visits with the nation's No. 17 rated player in the 2009 class.

"Coach K did discuss with me about some dates for visits, but me and my dad are having to talk about when a good time will be to make one. Right now we're not sure when we can, but eventually we will make our trip.

"I want to go out to all of the colleges and visit them, so I'm hoping I can get them all worked in, but we'll see. I really would like to see all of them in person and learn as much about the schools as I can, so that I can make the right decision. I want to know everything I can so I can evaluate them fairly and pick the right place."

Outside of his visit with the Duke coaching staff two weeks ago, McDonald said that Duke assistant Steve Wojciechowski has been in regular contact with him, and he has spoken to Coach K several other times on the phone.

"Off and on I'll get a call from Coach K, but Coach Wojo talks to me the most. They are making sure we have a good relationship and it's always good to talk to them."

In addition to Duke's heavy involvement with McDonald, the other six schools on his list have been coming just as hard.

"Coach Roy Williams has seen me play twice and Coach Sampson and Matta have been to a game once," he explained. "The local schools, Memphis and Tennessee, have seen me a bunch, but they are closer by. So I understand that they can get to more games than the other schools. They all play heavy schedules and need to be with their teams, so I realize it is harder for them to get out to watch me."

Despite the rumors and all of the recent commitments from 2009 prospects, McDonald said he would continue to take his time with the process and make sure the right decision has been made.

"I've taken notice and observed all the other players that are committing to schools, but at the same time, I don't let that affect me and make me feel like I need to rush into a decision. I'm trying not to rush things and try to evaluate all of my options.

"I don't know exactly when I will make my decision, but I'm not rushing into anything."

I thought this was an interesting anecdote from Rivals' Jerry Meyer's weekly mailbag yesterday...

Memphis talent

I recently read an article where (not surprisingly) John Calipari boasts about his recruiting ability, especially in Memphis. He basically said anytime there is a top player out of Memphis, he gets him. I have followed recruiting for a while, and I couldn't help but notice that Calipari's recent track record of recruiting his own city isn't all that impressive. The last time he signed the top player out of Memphis was in 2004 (5 star Shawne Williams), who went to prep school and then back to Memphis. In 2006, Memphis had a Rivals top-5 player in Thaddeus Young and Calipari lost him to Georgia Tech. This year, Memphis had a Rivals top-20 player in Elliot Williams and lost him to Duke. So my question is, with Memphis being a consistent top 25 program, has John Calipari completely lost the ability to recruit his hometown? If he doesn't get Leslie McDonald (a 2009 top 20 player out of Memphis), is it safe to say John Calipari should be in panic mode?

-- Kevin from Knoxville
-----
I know Tennessee fans would love to see Calipari in panic mode, but I have a feeling that the coach of the No. 1 team and only undefeated team in the nation is far from panicking. I agree with your sentiments that Calipari doesn't have a lock on his hometown. I think it is unrealistic to expect Memphis to have the city on lockdown, since almost every program in the country is now pursuing prospects in Memphis. Perhaps Calipari is doing some damage control, but I don't really know because I'm not familiar with the quotes to which you are alluding. (He is )

The fact is that Memphis is able to recruit nationally at the highest level. No one likes to lose hometown talent, but Memphis is in a position to absorb some losses on the homefront.

http://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/c...CID=769132

k2tigers Wrote:I thought this was an interesting anecdote from Rivals' Jerry Meyer's weekly mailbag yesterday...

Memphis talent

I recently read an article where (not surprisingly) John Calipari boasts about his recruiting ability, especially in Memphis. He basically said anytime there is a top player out of Memphis, he gets him. I have followed recruiting for a while, and I couldn't help but notice that Calipari's recent track record of recruiting his own city isn't all that impressive. The last time he signed the top player out of Memphis was in 2004 (5 star Shawne Williams), who went to prep school and then back to Memphis. In 2006, Memphis had a Rivals top-5 player in Thaddeus Young and Calipari lost him to Georgia Tech. This year, Memphis had a Rivals top-20 player in Elliot Williams and lost him to Duke. So my question is, with Memphis being a consistent top 25 program, has John Calipari completely lost the ability to recruit his hometown? If he doesn't get Leslie McDonald (a 2009 top 20 player out of Memphis), is it safe to say John Calipari should be in panic mode?

-- Kevin from Knoxville
-----
I know Tennessee fans would love to see Calipari in panic mode, but I have a feeling that the coach of the No. 1 team and only undefeated team in the nation is far from panicking. I agree with your sentiments that Calipari doesn't have a lock on his hometown. I think it is unrealistic to expect Memphis to have the city on lockdown, since almost every program in the country is now pursuing prospects in Memphis. Perhaps Calipari is doing some damage control, but I don't really know because I'm not familiar with the quotes to which you are alluding. (He is )

The fact is that Memphis is able to recruit nationally at the highest level. No one likes to lose hometown talent, but Memphis is in a position to absorb some losses on the homefront.

http://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/c...CID=769132

The thing Cal can't control is players wanting to get away from home.

more Lance news...it never gets old to see Memphis in strong with players of this caliber. What a tribute to the coaching staff.

Despite reports that Lance has visited Memphis recently or will visit North Carolina, Lance "Stretch" Stephenson, Sr., said they had not visited Memphis and had no immediate plans to visit UNC.

"We'll handle it after the season," he said, "We're not thinking about that."

Lance has already visited Indiana, Louisville, Seton Hall and Southern California, and plans to visit Memphis, Kansas, North Carolina and Georgetown.

http://njmg.typepad.com/zagsblog/2008/02....html#more

its pretty much memphis or north carolina

and there's still those st. john's idiots who say he's going there. seriously those people are more intellectual than Tennessee fans

grizz101 Wrote:its pretty much memphis or north carolina

I dunno about that. It's interesting to see Kansas on that list also. So it appears KU, UNC and Memphis are all going after the same guys -

McDonald - Memphis, UNC, Duke, Indiana, G'town
X. Henry - Memphis, KU, UNC a little
Stephenson - Memphis, UNC, G'town, KU

I'm not sure Roy Williams is really keying on Henry or Stephenson as much as a few others to round out his '09 class.

k2tigers Wrote:

grizz101 Wrote:its pretty much memphis or north carolina

I dunno about that. It's interesting to see Kansas on that list also. So it appears KU, UNC and Memphis are all going after the same guys -

McDonald - Memphis, UNC, Duke, Indiana, G'town
X. Henry - Memphis, KU, UNC a little
Stephenson - Memphis, UNC, G'town, KU

I'm not sure Roy Williams is really keying on Henry or Stephenson as much as a few others to round out his '09 class.

According to Rivals all three of these guys are mostly shooting guards. What are the chances of signing two (maybe all) of them? It helps that the Tigers' system allows for some blending of positions, i.e. combo guard play.

Also, the more I hear about Rashanti Harris, the more excited I get about him. Anyone got any more reads/info to share regarding him?

k2tigers Wrote:I thought this was an interesting anecdote from Rivals' Jerry Meyer's weekly mailbag yesterday...

Memphis talent

I recently read an article where (not surprisingly) John Calipari boasts about his recruiting ability, especially in Memphis. He basically said anytime there is a top player out of Memphis, he gets him. I have followed recruiting for a while, and I couldn't help but notice that Calipari's recent track record of recruiting his own city isn't all that impressive. The last time he signed the top player out of Memphis was in 2004 (5 star Shawne Williams), who went to prep school and then back to Memphis. In 2006, Memphis had a Rivals top-5 player in Thaddeus Young and Calipari lost him to Georgia Tech. This year, Memphis had a Rivals top-20 player in Elliot Williams and lost him to Duke. So my question is, with Memphis being a consistent top 25 program, has John Calipari completely lost the ability to recruit his hometown? If he doesn't get Leslie McDonald (a 2009 top 20 player out of Memphis), is it safe to say John Calipari should be in panic mode?

-- Kevin from Knoxville
-----
I know Tennessee fans would love to see Calipari in panic mode, but I have a feeling that the coach of the No. 1 team and only undefeated team in the nation is far from panicking. I agree with your sentiments that Calipari doesn't have a lock on his hometown. I think it is unrealistic to expect Memphis to have the city on lockdown, since almost every program in the country is now pursuing prospects in Memphis. Perhaps Calipari is doing some damage control, but I don't really know because I'm not familiar with the quotes to which you are alluding. (He is )

The fact is that Memphis is able to recruit nationally at the highest level. No one likes to lose hometown talent, but Memphis is in a position to absorb some losses on the homefront.

http://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/c...CID=769132

Ahhhh . . . poor Kevin from Knoxville. His question reeks of desperation. Enjoy Phillip Jurick next year--monster recruit!

Woolridge and Jurich, lol.

You realize that utk's three most gifted players, Tyler Smith, Lofton and JP Prince, were not originally recruited by Pearl....?!?

k2tigers Wrote:Woolridge and Jurich, lol.

You realize that utk's three most gifted players, Tyler Smith, Lofton and JP Prince, were not originally recruited by Pearl....?!?

Seriously . . . Pearl is the king of lucky pick-ups. Ramar Smith is in that catagory as well. Now he's in the picture for Scotty Hopson after Scotty cooled off on his commit to MSU and has fewer options to choose from. If Pearl scoops him up on the rebound, those hillbilly fools will probably try to brag that he's a great "recruiter". Yeah, and my dog is an excellent "chef". He makes a fine meal of tasty morsels that fall off the table.