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Wiggins helps World win another Hoop Summit

 Posted by at 9:50 PM on April 20, 2013  2 Responses »
Apr 202013
 
UK signee Andrew Harrison scored 19 points for Team USA on Saturday night. Photo: Sam Forencich/USA Basketball

UK signee Andrew Harrison scored 19 points for Team USA on Saturday night.
Sam Forencich/USA Basketball

Andrew Wiggins helped lead the World Select team to a victory in the Nike Hoop Summit for the second consecutive year Saturday.

Wiggins scored 17 points to go with nine rebounds and four assists for the World, which won 112-98 over a Team USA squad that included UK signees Julius Randle, Andrew Harrison and Aaron Harrison.

UK commitment Karl Towns – whose mother is from the Dominican Republic – had seven points, four rebounds and four assists off the bench for the World team.

Wiggins, a native of Canada, scored 20 points to lead the World to a win over Team USA in last year’s Nike Hoop Summit, which is played in Portland, Ore.

Randle and Andrew Harrison each scored 19 points for the U.S., which was led by Duke commitment Jabari Parker’s 22 points. Randle had a team-high eight rebounds and Harrison dished out a team-high five assists.

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UK announces signings of Randle, Hawkins, Johnson

 Posted by at 1:54 PM on April 18, 2013  1 Response »
Apr 182013
 
Kentucky's McDonald's All-Americans, left to right, Dakari Johnson, Marcus Lee, Andrew Harrison, Aaron Harrison, James Young and Julius Randle. Derek Willis and Dominique Hawkins are also part of UK's eight-man recruiting class. Photo courtesy of McDonald's

Kentucky’s McDonald’s All-Americans, left to right, Dakari Johnson, Marcus Lee, Andrew Harrison, Aaron Harrison, James Young and Julius Randle. Derek Willis and Dominique Hawkins are also part of UK’s eight-man recruiting class.
Photo courtesy of McDonald’s

UK released a statement Thursday announcing the signings of 2013 recruits Julius Randle, Dakari Johnson and Dominique Hawkins. The three late commitments join the Harrison twins, James Young, Marcus Lee and Derek Willis in UK’s eight-man class.

John Calipari had comments on each of the new signees. Here they are:

Calipari on Randle …

“Julius is another hard-working player who is a great student and person along with being a dominator on the court. He has that will to win that the players I’ve had who have become special have all had. That motor will be important to our success next year. Julius has the skill set to be an inside-outside guy for us. He has the ability to put it on the floor and beat guys off the dribble, but he’s also got the toughness, size and ability to score against bigger defenders. At the end of the day, he’s a true leader whose personal drive is off the charts.”

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Kentucky’s Randle and Johnson are ‘strong like bulls’

 Posted by at 5:31 PM on April 2, 2013  1 Response »
Apr 022013
 
UK commitment Dakari Johnson, top left, and UNC signee Kennedy Meeks, top right, stretch out their teammates at McDonald's practice. Photo courtesy of McDonald's

UK commitment Dakari Johnson, top left, and UNC signee Kennedy Meeks, top right, stretch out their teammates at McDonald’s practice.
Photo courtesy of McDonald’s

CHICAGO — John Calipari going to have a couple of animals in the post next season. At least, that’s the word from the McDonald’s All-Americans that have had to practice against Julius Randle and Dakari Johnson this week.

The East team workouts have been tough affairs, and Johnson and Randle have been right in the thick of things.

The two UK commitments have been most commonly matched up with North Carolina signee Kennedy Meeks, Indiana signee Noah Vonleh and Florida signee Chris Walker.

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Where’s the beef? Randle and the Harrisons speak up

 Posted by at 2:41 PM on April 1, 2013  2 Responses »
Apr 012013
 

CHICAGO — Aaron Harrison frowned and shook his head when the subject came up. Julius Randle just looked at the floor and chuckled.

Nobody knows where it all got started. Randle and the Harrison twins just want it to end.

The trio spent the last few months hearing and reading about how they were engaged in a bitter feud. Three Texas superstars on two sides of the ball with the one certainty being that they would never play for the same school.

There was zero truth to any of it, they say.

“That was a terrible rumor,” Aaron Harrison told the Herald-Leader. “It’s always been a lie.”

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Randle, Harrison react to Cauley-Stein’s decision

 Posted by at 1:59 PM on April 1, 2013  3 Responses »
Apr 012013
 

CHICAGO — McDonald’s All-Americans Julius Randle and Andrew Harrison were all smiles when told Monday that freshman center Willie Cauley-Stein would return to UK for another season.

“I’m happy about that — Willie staying,” Randle said. “Next year, we’ll have a lot of guys who can do a lot of different things. I think it’ll be tough to match up with us.”

As the probable starting point guard, it will be Harrison’s job to make sure everybody meshes on the court. He’s looking forward to adding Cauley-Stein to the mix of five-star high school recruits UK has coming in.

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Weekend recap: Gordon’s finale & Calipari’s road trip

 Posted by at 1:33 AM on March 25, 2013  No Responses »
Mar 252013
 
2013 forward Aaron Gordon is considering Kentucky, Arizona, Oregon and Washington. Photo: Associated Press

2013 forward Aaron Gordon is considering Kentucky, Arizona, Oregon and Washington.
Photo: Associated Press

Some recruiting stories you might have missed amid the recent Madness …

Aaron Gordon played his final high school game Saturday night. The undecided 2013 prospect and his Archbishop Mitty squad fell to Mater Dei 50-45 in the California state finals. Gordon had 22 points and 20 rebounds in his last game with Mitty. The top-10 recruit will choose among UK, Arizona, Washington and Oregon during next week’s McDonald’s All-American Game. The consensus in recruiting circles is that Gordon, a San Jose native, will stay out West and pick one of the three finalists other than Kentucky. Mater Dei was led by 2014 forward Stanley Johnson, who scored 26 points in the title game and already has a scholarship offer from UK. Gordon and Johnson were teammates last year with the Oakland Soldiers, who won the Peach Jam finals over the summer.

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The reaction: Randle’s decision is the talk of Twitter

 Posted by at 1:07 AM on March 21, 2013  4 Responses »
Mar 212013
 

There was no shortage of Twitter talk following Julius Randle’s commitment to Kentucky on Wednesday. Here are some you might have missed …


Thank you guys ! Happy to be apart of my new family ! Time for the real work now#BBN
March 20, 2013 2:14 PM via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite
@J30_RANDLE
Julius Randle

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Randle is no stranger to sacrifice, his coach says

 Posted by at 6:05 PM on March 20, 2013  No Responses »
Mar 202013
 

Julius Randle was a scoring machine as a sophomore at Prestonwood Christian Academy.

He was already a nationally known recruit by then, and he already had a state championship under his belt.

Randle averaged 25 points per game that sophomore year, but Prestonwood failed in its repeat bid with a loss in the state title game.

When new coach Chris Mayberry arrived at the beginning of Randle’s junior season, he asked the star player to tone down the scoring. Mayberry wanted Randle to excel in other areas and get his teammates more involved.

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Harrison Sr. thrilled to have Randle join the Cats

 Posted by at 4:40 PM on March 20, 2013  No Responses »
Mar 202013
 

Less than an hour after Julius Randle committed to Kentucky on Wednesday, future UK father Aaron Harrison Sr. received an incoming call from a familiar phone number.

It was Carolyn Kyles, Randle’s mother, and she wanted to let the father of UK signees Andrew and Aaron Harrison know that all of their children would soon be teammates.

The friendly chat didn’t fit the story that’s been so popular for the last few months. The one that painted Randle and the Harrisons as bitter rivals on the Texas AAU circuit who didn’t get along and would never play at the same school.

Apparently, it was all just another tall tale from the recruiting trail.

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The Magnificent Seven: UK’s recruiting class of 2013

 Posted by at 1:30 PM on March 20, 2013  No Responses »
Mar 202013
 

With the addition of Julius Randle, UK’s recruiting class of 2013 now consists of seven players — six of whom are McDonald’s All-Americans.

Here’s a closer look at the next wave of Wildcats:

UK’s recruiting class of 2013
Player Pos Ht Wt Hometown Rivals Scout ESPN 24/7
Aaron Harrison SG 6-5 205 Houston, Texas 4 4 7 3
Andrew Harrison PG 6-5 205 Houston, Texas 5 3 5 4
Dakari Johnson C 6-11 250 New York City 13 18 11 13
Marcus Lee F 6-9 200 Antioch, Calif. 18 21 18 9
Julius Randle PF 6-8 240 Plano, Texas 2 5 3 2
Derek Willis SF 6-9 200 Mt. Washington, Ky. 129 – – 64
James Young G/F 6-6 200 Rochester, Mich. 10 10 6 11
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