Florida Gators WiretapMay 2012 Florida Gators Wiretap

Julius Randle To Host Nine In-Home Visits

Aug 31, 2012 8:59 PM

Julius Randle will have nine in-home visits over a two-week period beginning on September 9th.

Both N.C. State and Kentucky will visit Randle on the first day. North Carolina, Duke and Kansas will visit on September 10th, 11th and 12th respectively. Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas and Florida will visit one week later.

“We want to give everyone a fair chance because these are the final schools that made his top 10,” Randle's mother Carolyn Kyles said. “We want to give all of them a fair chance to present their school, what they have to offer, what they have to offer Julius as far as helping him improve his skills and get him to the next level on the court and off the court, who is the best coach for him to get him there and continue to instill the values that I have all these years off the court.

Steve Jones/Courier-Journal

Tags: Julius Randle, North Carolina Tar Heels, Oklahoma Sooners, Duke Blue Devils, NC State Wolfpack, Baylor Bears, Kansas Jayhawks, Oklahoma State Cowboys, Texas Longhorns, Florida Gators, Kentucky Wildcats, High School, NCAA

Discuss
Wayne Selden Eliminates North Carolina

Aug 20, 2012 11:12 AM

Wayne Selden has eliminated North Carolina from considering, trimming his list to Ohio State, Florida, UCLA, Missouri, Kansas and Syracuse.

Selden, a 6-foot-4 forward, is ranked 13th overall by ESPN.

Matt Hamm/Keeping It Heel

Tags: Wayne Selden, North Carolina Tar Heels, Kansas Jayhawks, Missouri Tigers, Ohio State Buckeyes, UCLA Bruins, Florida Gators, Syracuse Orange, High School, NCAA, NCAA Recruiting

Discuss
Troy Williams Set To Play At Oak Hill Academy, Targets Mid-November Commitment

Aug 19, 2012 8:44 PM

Troy Williams will play his senior season at Oak Hill Academy, a small preparatory school located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of southwestern Virginia.

"Everybody talks about all the players who went there," Williams said. "I'm mainly focusing on the maturity process. You play basketball and go to school. There's no outside distractions there. Everything you need is right there.

"Really, that's all I've been doing all summer, anyway. It won't be that much different. There will be video games there. I don't go out and party and all that, anyway. It won't be that much of a change."

Williams, a top-50 recruit in the 2013 class, expects to commit on or shortly after Nov. 14, when the early signing period begins.

The 6-foot-6 forward has offers from Kentucky, North Carolina, Georgetown, Louisville, Florida and South Carolina.

Dave Johnson/Newport News Daily Press

Tags: Troy Williams, North Carolina Tar Heels, Georgetown Hoyas, Louisville Cardinals, Florida Gators, Kentucky Wildcats, South Carolina Gamecocks, Atlantic Coast Conference, American Athletic Conference, Southeastern Conference, High School, NCAA, NCAA Recruiting

Discuss
Jabari Parker Still Has No Order Of Preference For College Choices

Aug 19, 2012 6:53 PM

Jabari Parker has no clear favorite as he makes his college decision.

Parker is considering Kentucky, Duke, Kansas, North Carolina, Michigan State, Stanford, Florida, Georgetown, BYU and DePaul.

“Hopefully in September, that’s the target date,” Sonny Parker said on Saturday. “Then, he’s going to take his visits and his trips and hopefully make his decision in the fall. If he’s not really feeling it feeling it, then wait until the spring.

“He has no No. 1 or No. 2, he doesn’t really have a favorite. I told him, ‘You have to make a decision.’ He likes pretty much all those programs. I don’t know if anyone has an advantage or disadvantage. It’s just going to come down to him being comfortable in their system where he can grow and develop and get better. He likes all the programs in his top-10 choices.”

Sporting News

Tags: Jabari Parker, North Carolina Tar Heels, Duke Blue Devils, Kansas Jayhawks, DePaul Blue Demons, Georgetown Hoyas, Michigan State Spartans, Brigham Young Cougars, Stanford Cardinal, Florida Gators, Kentucky Wildcats, High School, NCAA, NCAA Recruiting

Discuss
16 Top Nike Teams Commit To Special Phil Knight Tournament In 2017

Aug 16, 2012 11:14 AM

Kentucky, North Carolina, Duke, Michigan State, Florida, Connecticut, Oklahoma, Ohio State, Georgetown, Stanford, Oregon, Butler, Xavier, Portland and Gonzaga have committed to special tournament in November of 2017 to celebrate Phil Knight's 80th birthday.

Knight, the co-founder of Nike, will turn 80 on February 24, 2018.

The two tournaments, each consisting of eight teams, will take place over four days in Portland, Oregon.

"All of these great basketball programs have been supported by Phil Knight and Nike," Michigan State AD Mark Hollis said. "His support of the programs have created scholarships and resources for these departments to excel."

Hollis said he has contacted ESPN about televising the event. ESPN vice president Burke Magnus confirmed the discussion and said that ESPN is interesting in televising it in 2017.

The best high school junior, Andrew Wiggins, would be in his senior year of college during the event should he stay in school.

Andy Katz/ESPN

Tags: North Carolina Tar Heels, Oklahoma Sooners, Duke Blue Devils, UConn Huskies, Georgetown Hoyas, Michigan State Spartans, Ohio State Buckeyes, Butler Bulldogs, Oregon Ducks, Stanford Cardinal, Florida Gators, Kentucky Wildcats, Gonzaga Bulldogs, Portland Pilots, NCAA, NCAA Misc Rumor

Discuss
Chris Walker Intends To Enter NBA Draft After One Season At Florida

Aug 14, 2012 10:54 AM

Chris Walker fully intends to enter the NBA draft after one year at Florida.

“Coach (Billy Donovan) said where my skill level is, if that's what I want I should go for it,” said Walker, who has committed to the Gators' 2013 recruiting class. “What I keep hearing is that I'm a potential lottery pick. But I'm not satisfied.”

Donovan believes the 6-foot-9 Walker can play small forward or power forward at the college level.

“I can shoot 3s now,” Walker explained. “I can finesse you. I can dunk on you. I can guard anything, and I'm rebounding better. When I block shots I catch the ball. I can post you up with my back to the basket and hit you with a post move. Or I can face you up and use my quickness to blow by you.

“NBA draft people have said I'm like a sick mix of Kevin Garnett and Perry Jones III.”

Jason Shoot/Panama City News-Herald

Tags: Chris Walker, Florida Gators, Southeastern Conference, High School, NCAA, NBA, NBA NBA Draft, NBA Draft General

Discuss
Jabari Parker Likely To Cut List To Five

Aug 12, 2012 1:32 PM

Jabari Parker will likely trim his list of schools to five before the end of September.

"I don't know where anybody is getting that from," Parker's father, Sonny said. "He hasn't cut his list. Right now he's resting and sometime next month he's probably going to cut it down to five."

The top recruit is tentatively targeting a fall decision.

"He's got to get it cut down to this five and then take his visits," Parker said. "But, I told him that if he can't make up his mind that it's OK for him to go ahead and wait until the spring."

Eric Bossi/Rivals

Tags: Jabari Parker, North Carolina Tar Heels, Duke Blue Devils, Kansas Jayhawks, DePaul Blue Demons, Georgetown Hoyas, Michigan State Spartans, Brigham Young Cougars, Stanford Cardinal, Florida Gators, Kentucky Wildcats, High School, NCAA, NCAA Recruiting, NBA

Discuss
Kuran Iverson Considering Connecticut, Syracuse, Florida, Memphis

Aug 10, 2012 10:25 PM

Kuran Iverson is considering Connecticut, Syracuse, Florida and Memphis.

Iverson visited Uconn this week and will also meet with his other three finalists before making a decision.

“We’re going to take visits to Syracuse, Memphis and Florida before he makes his own choice,” Iverson’s mentor Andre Harrington said.

Adam Zagoria/ZagsBlog

Tags: Kuran Iverson, UConn Huskies, Florida Gators, Memphis Tigers, Syracuse Orange, American Athletic Conference, Southeastern Conference, Conference USA, High School, NCAA, NCAA Recruiting

Discuss
Schuyler Rimmer Commits To Florida

Aug 6, 2012 12:36 AM

Schuyler Rimmer verbally committed on Sunday to Florida, joining elite point guard Kasey Hill and top 10 national prospect Chris Walker.

"Towards the end it was between Florida, Southern Cal, Stanford, Virginia, Vanderbilt and Tennessee," Rimmer said. "I started playing basketball really seriously about the same time Florida won the back-to-back (NCAA) championships (2006 and 2007). They were always in the back of my mind as the place I wanted to go."

Rimmer, a 6-foot-9, 233-pound forward, averaged 16.4 points, 13.1 rebounds and 2.8 blocked shots as a junior at Boone High School in Orlando.

Buddy Collings/Orlando Sentinel

Tags: Florida Gators, Southeastern Conference, High School, NCAA, NCAA Recruiting

Discuss
Mike Young Chooses Pitt Over Florida

Aug 5, 2012 1:07 PM

Mike Young has committed to Pitt for the 2013 season, the first of the class for Jamie Dixon.

Young is a power forward who will play for St. Benedict's in New Jersey next season.

“(Dixon) wanted me really bad,” said Young, who will play the upcoming season for St. Benedict’s (N.J.) Prep, one of the nation’s top high school teams. “I was his No. 1 priority. He was so excited, he was stumbling over his words. He said he can’t wait to talk to me some more.”

Young is ranked 67th in the nation by ESPN and 102nd by Rivals.com.

Young chose Pitt over Florida, his other finalist. Young also had offers from Connecticut, Miami, Massachusetts, Memphis, Xavier, St. John’s, N.C. State, Seton Hall, Rutgers, West Virginia and Georgia Tech.

Jerry DiPaola/Tribune-Review

Tags: Mike Young, Pittsburgh Panthers, Florida Gators, High School, High School Recruiting, NCAA, NCAA Recruiting, NCAA Commitment

Discuss
7-Foot-1 Joel Embid Receiving Interest From UCLA, Florida

Jeff Borzello/CBS

Jabari Parker May Not Commit Until Spring

Scott Powers/ESPN

Xavier Rathan-Mayes Narrows List Of College Choices

Daniel Martin/College Basketball Talk