UK in the mix with Stephenson??

News broke a few minutes ago that top 10 2009 guard Lance Stephenson has added Kentucky to his final three schools and taken USC off in the midst of their recruiting scandal involving star guard OJ Mayo. Stephenson, according to his AAU coach, is down to Kansas, UCLA, and now Kentucky. All of this talk is stemming from this blog, run by New York basketball guru Adam Zagoria.

Ever since a report surfaced recently that Brooklyn Lincoln junior Lance Stephenson had cut his list to UCLA, USC and Kansas, not much more has been heard on the subject.

Yet Lamont Halsey, the AAU coach for Dexter Strickland and a friend of the Stephenson family, says Stephenson’s list actually now includes Kansas, Kentucky and UCLA, with USC having been eliminated in the wake of the O.J. Mayo recruiting scandal.

“There were four schools, UCLA, Kansas, Kentucky and USC but USC is out of the mix because of O.J. Mayo,” Halsey said Wednesday by phone. “Lance is going to UCLA for a team camp at the end of next week. He’ll take one visit to Kansas and one to Kentucky. They’re more or less looking for a program with a lot of tradition that’s not caught up in any scandal, an institution with a clean slate.”

Web Wednesday – 6/11/08

Recruiting Trail

- The UK Elite Camp took place over the weekend in Lexington and supposedely there were some great turn outs. Daniel Orton, the #1 center in the country, showed up surprisingly even though he is hurt. This has to help UK’s chances that he decided to show up and probably gets the tour of the campus. Jon Hood was there as well and according to this post by Marc Maggard he played very well and was always in control on the floor. Also in that post by Maggard is a list of all the teams participating. Team 1 is loaded, they have GJ Vilarino, Jon Hood, Dominique Ferguson (Who is ultra-athletic according to Maggard), Covington Holmes standout Jerimiah Johnson, & Louisville Trinity star Josh Sewell (Both 2010).

- Chrisitan Watford has recieved a formal scholarship offer from Billy Gillispie himself. He was offered face to face by Gillispie over the weekend at the Elite Camp and according to Marc Maggard Watford’s dad and Gillispie were really hitting it off, UK is supposedely leading for Watford’s services now.

Watford visited UofL and UK over the weekend and in this interview Jeff Drummond says that Watford seemed more upbeat when talking about his visit to Little Brother. Watford said his time in Lexington was good, though, saying “The facilities are nice and they treat their players really well. I think Coach G (Gillispie) does a good job with his players.” Watford went onto say that his team was very good and didn’t lose a game during the camp.

- In other recruiting news it’s official, Matthew Pilgrim is a Cat! According to this blog Pilgrim has signed to play for UK in 2010 and 2011 but will have to sit out this season but will get to practice with the team. Pilgrim played for Hampton University last season.

Cool Website Alert

- I was talking to a friend of mine earlier this week and he introduced me to this very cool website. It’s called whatifsports.com and it is based on the idea of comparing sports legends from the past to the present stars. For example, in the NBA Sim league you have $42mil (I think) of cap room to pick 12 players from any year in NBA history and based on some crazy simulation software it actually simulates the games! You can multiple of the same player but from different years, so you could have 1995 MJ on your team along with 1988 MJ.

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2009 Prospect Rankings – #18

#18, Dexter Strickland – Committed to North Carolina

Positives

- One of the nation’s top juniors put on a very strong overall performance, despite not making much noise scoring the basketball. Strickland, one of many talented players on a loaded St. Pat’s team, spent most of the afternoon deferring to teammates in the Celtics win over St. Raymond’s. The future Tar Heel spent the majority of the game playing at the small forward spot due to St. Pat’s playing a backcourt made up of three players all capable of running the point guard position.

- Strickland has a lot of ability as a slasher, which leads us me believe he could line up at the off-guard spot a fair amount in college depending on who is on the floor. He exhibits excellent ball-handling skills, dribbling himself out of several double teams during the course of games. Strickland proved to be a handful to contain thanks to his ability to mix a great first step in with a nice hesitation move that freed him up to attack the basket. He has nice length for a guard and is an explosive player, which allows him to finish with consistency around the basket, even in traffic. In situations where bigger players took away a direct line to the hoop, Strickland showed nice touch on a running floater he was able to deliver from the baseline.

- In games where he isn’t lighting up the scoreboard, Strickland definitely exhibits a pass first mentality. He is equally as dangerous as a playmaker in both the transition and half court games thanks to his athleticism and excellent basketball IQ. On the break he has a knack for drawing defenders by waiting until the last possible second to deliver a pass to an open teammate. In the half court set he is so good at breaking down defenders off the dribble, that he forces other players to commit to him, leaving open looks for teammates.

- Defensively, Strickland really gets after it in every aspect. He is a terrific on ball defender, possessing great lateral quickness and coupled with his long wingspan for a guard, he is tough to beat off the dribble consistently. He closes well on perimeter shooters, and his leaping ability makes him tougher to shooter over that many other guards his size. What impressed us the most about Strickland was how hard he hit the glass for a guard. Only 6’3”, he was still able to haul in 8 rebounds thanks to his tenacious effort in the paint.

Negative

- The one major question mark left after this game with Strickland is his perimeter shooting. He passed up on plenty of open looks from the outside, and while he is a very team oriented player, these are shots he will need to at least attempt from time to time in order to keep the defense honest. He attempted a couple of mid-range shots off the dribble, and while they didn’t fall, he shows nice form on his shot.

Comparison

 

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