A couple of days removed from signing Nerlens Noel and missing out on Shabazz Muhammad, questions are swirling as to who Kentucky could add to cap off an already impressive 2012 class.
Anthony Bennett and Amile Jefferson are household names that continue to be thrown around, but where does UK stand with them? Are there any guards available Calipari may pursue?
We have all of that right here in this edition of Garrett’s Mailbag.
[B]Will Kentucky look to add another SG/SF?
– @Iam_AceBoogie12
Any new word on Anthony Bennett or Amile Jefferson?
– @lepps4[/B]
Amile Jefferson and Anthony Bennett look to be the most probable names for Kentucky to land over the next few weeks. To answer Boogie’s question, Jefferson is a small forward, and Anthony Bennett is a combo forward (better for the power forward, though), so yes, there is the possibility of Calipari landing another talented wing player to complement Archie Goodwin and Alex Poythress.
Things have been quiet on the Jefferson front lately, but those close to the situation continue to say he is close to a decision. No telling when a decision will be made, but Duke, NC State, and Villanova are in the mix with UK for his services.
As for Bennett, he had a rather busy weekend in North Carolina for the Jordan Brand Classic. I confirmed the reports first put out by Dave Telep, as Oregon, UNLV, and Florida all conducted in-home visits with him. Kentucky visited him last week during the Nike Hoop Summit in Portland, Oregon.
CatsPause reported that he was on the verge of committing to UK, but since that, Bennett has denied such things. According to him, he plans to take his visits and will make a decision in May.
[B]Who is the biggest target left for Kentucky?
– Mike[/B]
As mentioned above, Jefferson and Bennett are the names being linked to UK the most right now. But if I had to pick one player, I would say Anthony Bennett. If you look at the class right now, UK has a point guard (Harrow), a shooting guard (Goodwin), a small forward (Poythress), and two centers (Noel & Cauley). The only thing left to get is a power forward, which is Anthony Bennett. Poythress has the ability to move down and play the 4, but he will be more effective as a 3.
In the end, I firmly believe Kentucky gets Bennett.
[B]I was wondering if you thought Marquis Teague or Doron Lamb may come back for another year? If not, are there any other guards UK may look at?
– Jeff[/B]
I’m not going to give an explanation, but I think we will see Teague and Lamb both gone. However, the second half of the question in interesting.
As far as guards, there isn’t much to choose from at this point. The one name that I could throw out there is Torian Graham. There are questions about Graham qualifying academically and UK has stopped showing interest, but he is the only logical name I can say.
If you ask me, I do not think Kentucky adds another guard. Calipari is known for keeping his team small regarding to numbers, so that is my reasoning. The only thing is, there is no pure shooter on the perimeter, except Wiltjer. I think they need a guard to shoot the three-ball, but I guess that is why I am sitting on my couch and Calipari is making the big bucks.
That’s all for today. Thanks for the questions! To submit other questions, feel free to email me at [EMAIL=”[email protected]”][email protected][/EMAIL]
Follow Garrett Tucker on Twitter [URL=”https://twitter.com/#%21/GTuckersports”]@GTuckersports[/URL] for more info on Kentucky recruiting.
