BIG EAST RECRUITING UPDATE: LOUISVILLE

September 9, 2009


VERBAL COMMITMENT ALERT: Zach Price, 6'9 BF/C from Lakewood (OH) St. Edward


It was a busy weekend at Louisville with several highly touted 2011 recruits on campus making visits. One of those prospects has decided he found his college home while making the visit as the Louisville Courier-Journal reports that Zach Price Commits to Louisville following the trip.


Projected 2009-2010 Roster


Seniors: Edgar Sosa (G), Jerry Smith (G), Reginald Delk (G)
Juniors: Preston Knowles (G), Chris Smith * (G)
Sophomores: Samardo Samuels (BF/C), Terrence Jennings (C), Kyle Kuric (G/F), Jared Swopshire (SF), George Goode (F)
Freshmen: Mike Marra (G), Rakeem Buckles (F), Peyton Siva (PG), Stephan Van Treese (PF)
2010 Commitments: Josh Langford (SF)
2011 Commitments: Ryan Taylor (F), Michael Chandler (C), Zach Price (BF/C)


* -Smith will sit out the 2009-2010 season as a transfer and have two years of eligibility remaining


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In an effort to flex his recruiting muscle and to show that the recent controversy involving his person life will not diminish that mucle, Louisville head coach Rick Pitino is on a mission to put together a 2011 recruiting class that will rival anyone's in the state of Kentucky or nationally.

Over the weekend, UL hosted highly touted 2011 prospects such as Wayne Blackshear, Mike Shaw, Marquis Teague and Zach Price. With Indianapolis (IN) Lawrence North teammates Michael Chandler and Ryan Taylor already in the fold as verbal commitments for the class of 2011, Pitino is well on his way to a homerun class.

Following the weekend visits, the class now stands at three as Lakewood (OH) St. Edward C/BF Zach Price made the decision to join the class, offering a non-binding verbal commitment to the Cards. The 6'9, 225-lb Price averaged 15 points and 8 rebounds as a sophomore and told the Louisville-courier Journal UL was the place he felt comfortable at.

"There's no other school for me" Price told the C-J. "I came (to Louisville) in June and felt it was a very, very good school and situation for me. But I didn't know for sure.

"The second visit confirmed it."

The issues surrounding Rick Pitino outside of basketball are also out of the mind of Price's family and the allegations made against Pitino by Karen Sypher did not enter the mind of Price's mother when discussing the decision with her son.

"His personal life is his personal life," Price's mother, Valerie told the C-J. "That didn't affect anything with us. You can't be judged by that. It was the right fit for my son.

"What we heard and know is that coach Pitino gets kids to the next level both on the court and off the court. He cares what the kids do, no matter what. We didn't hear that from other coaches."

Price joins Chandler and Taylor in the early class for UL.

Ryan Taylor is a 6-foot-6 forward that currently plays as an undersized post. He has the toughness of a post player but the athleticism that could allow him to transition away from the basket in the future.

Michael Chandler is a 6-foot-11 sophomore that is just beginning to come into his own. While he has yet to get a lot of playing time at the high school level, coaches universally agree that his has loads of potential and also had Ohio State, Indiana, Florida, Kentucky and others very interested in his services.


Now, all eyes are on Blackshear, who immediately named the Cards his leader after the visit, and Teague, who has long been the object of Pitino's recruiting attention of the class of 2011. To aide in their recruitment of Teague and the Indianapolis region that has been so good to the Cards recently, UL added Shabaka Lands as a special assistant to Pitino last week. Lands was previously an assistant coach at Indianapolis (IN) Pike High School, the same school Teague currently attends.

While Blackshear and Shaw are expected to be a package deal and take additional visits, the commitment by Price definitely muddles the picture of available scholarships in the 2011 class. On paper, the 2011-2012 Cards would currently have 13 players, which is the NCAA limit. This also does not take into account additional commitments for 2010 and UL is deeply involved with wing Rod Odom, who also visited last week, and elite point-forward prospect Tobias Harris who has recently sounded more and more interested in playing a Terrence Williams-style role for UL. Canadian native Cory Joseph has also long been a target for the Cards in 2010 and remains on their radar.

At one time the 2010 UL recruiting class stood at three verbal commitments, but Jeremy Tyler going pro and Justin Martin and the Cards parting ways leaves just Josh Langford of J.O. Johnson High School of Huntsville (AL) as the lone commitment for the class of 2010. Louisville staff members were very visible at his AAU games last summer during the open evaluation periods for the Alabama Lasers. Last year, i95ballerz.com had a very good story as Hard Work, Skill Building Netted Langford his Dream Offer from the Cards.

There will be another addition to the UL attack for the 2010-2011 season besides the incoming freshmen. After averaging 13.4 points and a team-best 5.7 rebounds a game for Barry Rohrrsen's 16-14 Manhattan Jaspers, Chris Smith decided he wanted to move on. The 6-foot-3, 200-lb guard, who is the younger brother of NBA player J.R. Smith, has chosen Louisville to be his new college home.

Smith is a product of St. Benedict's Prep in New Jersey and was once committed to Seton Hall. However, after an academic issue prevented him from enrolling, Smith and the Pirates parted ways and Smith joined the program at Manhattan.

Smith is not afraid to get down and play defense and he should also fit in well in the Cards' style of play once he is eligible to compete after sitting out the 2009-2010 season.

If Smith is to receive an athletic scholarship, he would push the Cards one over the limit with four signed freshmen for the 2009-2010 season, however the expectation is he will walk-on to the program if the scholarships are filled..



We will continue to monitor the UL recruiting developments as they happen as Rick Pitino continues to position the Cards among the elite in the college game.

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Europe-Bound Tyler Pulls out of Louisville Commitment

April 29, 2009

by Zach Smart


So, another promising young talent sidesteps the NCAA experience to weigh his professional stock and pursue an over-the-waters career.

Only, this 6-foot-11 muscle-bound high school student is not taking the Brandon Jennings route.

Jennings, an NBA prospect who made the leap from high school to the European professional ranks, at least returned for his senior year of high school.

Jeremy Tyler, who originally committed to Rick Pitino and Louisville, has shocked the sports world with his recent, unexpected announcement.

Tyler became the first United States-born player to leave high school early to pursue a professional career.

The junior is widely regarded as the most polished, dominant American center since Greg Oden.

Oden, as we recall, was hyped up to heaven-sent during his high school days in Indiana. His games were aired on ESPN2 before he decided on a date to his junior prom.

Tyler is currently unsigned to any professional team and has not signed with an agent.

The five-star recruit, who originally chose Louisville over USC and UCLA, has been heavily courted by Spain. Teams throughout Europe, however, area pursuing the fundamentally sound big fella.

Read Rest of Zach's Article HERE!!

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BIG EAST ROSTER UPDATE: LOUISVILLE

April 25, 2009


INCOMING TRANSFER ALERT: Chris Smith, 6'3 SG from Manhattan College


Projected 2009-2010 Roster


Seniors: Edgar Sosa (G), Jerry Smith (G), Reginald Delk (G)
Juniors: Preston Knowles (G), Chris Smith * (G)
Sophomores: Samardo Samuels (BF/C), Terrence Jennings (C), Kyle Kuric (G/F), Jared Swopshire (SF), George Goode (F)
Freshmen: Mike Marra (G), Rakeem Buckles (F), Peyton Siva (PG), Stephan Van Treese (PF)
2010 Commitments: Josh Langford (SF), Justin Martin (F)
2011 Commitments: Ryan Taylor (F), Michael Chandler (C)


* -Smith will sit out the 2009-2010 season as a transfer and have two years of eligibility remaining

Louisville has a spring roster addition as Manhattan College Guard is Coming to U of L (Louisville Courier-Journal) with the news that Chris Smith will transfer in.

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After averaging 13.4 points and a team-best 5.7 rebounds a game for Barry Rohrrsen's 16-14 Manhattan Jaspers, Chris Smith decided he wanted to move on. The 6-foot-3, 200-lb guard, who is the younger brother of NBA player J.R. Smith, has chosen Louisville to be his new college home.

Smith is a product of St. Benedict's Prep in New Jersey and was once committed to Seton Hall. However, after an academic issue prevented him from enrolling, Smith and the Pirates parted ways and Smith joined the program at Manhattan.

Smith is not afraid to get down and play defense and he should also fit in well in the Cards' style of play once he is eligible to compete after sitting out the 2009-2010 season.

If Smith is to receive an athletic scholarship, he would push the Cards one over the limit with four signed freshmen for the 2009-2010 season.

As for the class of 2009, for the longest time it was widely considered that Stephan Van Treese would end up as part of Tom Crean's 2009 class at Indiana. However, things never came together and now Van Treese will take his talents across state lines to Kentucky and suit up for Louisville.

Van Treese had been recruited at times by some of the elite schools of college basketball, including the Hoosiers, UCLA, Ohio State, Michigan State, Kansas and Purdue. Van Treese will play tough in the paint and hit the boards. He is a very solid big man that will play his role for coach Pitino at Louisville.

Back in May coach Pitino picked up his third commitment from the class of 2009 when Peyton Siva out of Seattle (WA) made the Cardinals his college choice. Siva has long been considered Louisville's to lose on the recruiting trail after a visit this past season for their game with Georgetown. In the end, Louisville did not lose and scored a very good commitment from their point guard of the future.

Siva is an extremely quick and lightning fast point guard with the ball in his hands. He is also an above-average perimeter shooter who can also explode at the rim with a dunk when the time is right. As he matures, his decision making continues to improve and he always seems to be calm and cool on the floor, a trait that is a must for the most successful point guards in the game.

Siva and Van Treese join previous 2009 commitments Rakeem Buckles and Mike Marra. Buckles is a wiry and raw forward prospect who is just touching the tip of the iceberg when it comes to his potential. At 6'8, he has explosive athletic ability that you see in an NBA small forward, however his game is still transitioning from a skinny big man to the wing and is a process that is just beginning. However, Louisville head coach Rick Pitino definitely believes it is a project worth undertaking as he aggressively courted the Miami Pace junior and landed an early verbal commitment from Buckles in February. Local Miami and West Virginia were also closely monitoring his progress, but Louisville easily took the most attention in Buckles.

Mike Marra, a 6'5 native of Smithfield (RI), was the first of Pitino's 2009 commitments. Marra is an athletic shooter for Northfield (Mass.) Mount Hermon School. According to his coach, John Carroll, Marra averaged nearly 28 points per game and has hit 55% from 3-pt range over an 11 game stretch late last season. Marra was also considering Providence, Massachusetts, Gonzaga, Wake Forest and Michigan, but after coach Rick Pitino came to watch him play last winter, Marra decided to end the process early and commit to the Cards, who had been his leader for some time. Marra visited Louisville and Freedom Hall in December and they have been on his mind ever since.


Rick Pitino continues to stay well ahead of the game on the recruiting trail as the Louisville coach has now added two top 2011 recruits to go along with a trio of 2010 commitments from Justin Martin, Jeremy Tyler and Josh Langford to the four players already signed for the class of 2009. After this weekend's highly anticipated showdown with rival Kentucky, Lawrence North High School sophomores Michael Chandler and Ryan Taylor informed the UL staff moments after the thrilling win that they wanted to be part of the Cardinal future.

Ryan Taylor is a 6-foot-6 forward that currently plays as an undersized post. He has the toughness of a post player but the athleticism that could allow him to transition away from the basket in the future.

Michael Chandler is a 6-foot-11 sophomore that is just beginning to come into his own. While he has yet to get a lot of playing time at the high school level, coaches universally agree that his has loads of potential and also had Ohio State, Indiana, Florida, Kentucky and others very interested in his services.

Chandler and Taylor join teammate Justin Martin as verbal commitments to UL. Martin is a highly regarded 6-foot-7 forward out of the class of 2010. Martin, Chandler and Taylor are teammates of UL 2009 signee Stephan Van Treese at Lawrence North. Martin made the early commitment, picking the Cards over Xavier. Martin had yet to play a varsity basketball game, playing on the JV last season, at the time of his commitment. Martin is very long and athletic and uses that to score inside and out.

Jeremy Tyler, a highly touted 6-foot-9 manchild surprisingly ended his commitment early this Fall and verbally committed to the Cards over UCLA, Memphis, Arizona and others. Surprises out of Tyler seem to be the norm as earlier this week he decided he would bypass his senior season and turn professional. That is, his senior season of HIGH SCHOOL. Tyler is off to the professional leagues of Europe, opening a scholarship in the class of 2010 back up for UL. Tyler was expected to slide nicely into the spot occupied by Samardo Samuels if he decided to leave for the NBA after his sophomore season. Instead, it is Tyler moving on to pay for play first.

Josh Langford of J.O. Johnson High School of Huntsville (AL) was the first to make the pledge to the Cardinals for the class of 2010. Louisville staff members have been very visible at his AAU games this summer during the open evaluation periods for the Alabama Lasers. Recently, i95ballerz.com had a very good story as Hard Work, Skill Building Netted Langford his Dream Offer from the Cards.

With Tyler out of the picture, Pitino wasted little time feeling sorry for himself and was on the recruiting trail checking out 7-foot Brazilian big man Fabricio de Melo of the 2010 recruiting class. Weston (FL) Sagemont Upper School is the current home of de Melo, who also visited UL during the season when they hosted Marquette.

Another Indianapolis Lawrence North junior, Dominique Ferguson. is also on the Card's radar for 2010 and with the Tyler news, the former Kentucky commit might be seeing more attention from coach Pitino. Findlay prep point guard Cory Joseph is also a player the Cards have been pursuing on the recruiting trail in 2010.

Also visiting for the UK/Louisville game of 1/4/2009 at Freedom Hall was Indianapolis Pike sophomore Marques Teague. The 6-foot-1 guard is considered an elite prospect in the class of 2011 and Louisville is a favorite to land Teague, who could be deciding early this summer. Teague's high school teammate, Jordan Manuel, also lists the Cards. Manuel is an athletic 6'8 small forward in the class of 2010.


We will continue to monitor the UL recruiting developments as they happen as Rick Pitino continues to position the Cards among the elite to keep an eye on for March Madness betting pools each and every year.

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W WILD WEEK AROUND LOUISVILLE BASKETBALL

April 24, 2009


The program in the news most often in the last week has been Louisville with three stories that made major headlines and has college basketball fans stepping back and saying...'whoa.'

The first item with the Cards was a change in their coaching staff as Richard Pitino left his father's staff to fill an opening on Billy Donovan's staff at the University of Florida. The move on its own was very curious as Richard was on the UL staff for just two seasons after working as an assistant on Ron Everhart's staffs at Northeastern and Duquesne and a year as an administrative assistant on Tom Herrion's staff at the College of Charleston. The Gators Finalized the Pitino Hire (Gainesville Sun) before things took a very serious turn for coach Rick Pitino, and the move started to make more sense.

Coach Pitino went public late last weekend that he was victim of an extortion attempt of the estranged wife of a Louisville team equipment manager, a woman with whom it appears Pitino had an affair with. Apparently the woman, Karen Sypher, has made "false, defamatory and outrageous allegations in an attempt to pressure" Pitino to "cave in to this scheme" and pay her millions of dollars.

With those allegations not public knowledge, the rumor mill has been buzzing strong for several days and Regardless of Outcome, Nobody Will Win in Pitino Mess (CBS Sports) as, in the very least, reputations will be sullied as Sypher and her Mother Vow Not to Back Down (ESPN.com) as they claim to be the victims, not coach Pitino who has the FBI investigating an extortion claim against Sypher.

Then, to top off the week, Louisville 2010 verbal commitment Jeremy Tyler has decided to forego his senior season, of high school, to turn professional. The 6-foot-11 Prospect Will Leave High School to Play in Europe (NY Times). Tyler will no doubt earn a lucrative contract overseas and pick up endorsement money (Under Armour) as he will get his schooling against professional men and come back for the NBA draft in two years. Will he be a trailblazer? Or will the European trail to the NBA go down in flames with Brandon Jennings and now Tyler? We should know soon enough how successful the path is...

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PITINO STAYS WELL AHEAD IN RECRUITIN GAME

April 17, 2009


Louisville seems to be well ahead of the curve when it comes to recruiting, having already three commits in the class of 2010 with Jeremy Tyler, Josh Langford and Justin Martin. In Jody Demlings U of L Recruiting Update on his Recruiting Blog at the Louisville Courier-Journal, Demling speculates that the biggest current target for coach Rick Pitino and his staff is Findlay Prep point guard Cory Joseph, a Canadian native. The Cards are also likley to make a large push for yet another Indianapolis Lawrence North player in Dominique Ferguson, who recently re-opened his recruitment after being committed to Kentucky.

While the Cards' recruitment for the Class of 2010 is already at a narrow focus, the 2011 recruiting is well on it's way as well as Louisville already has commitments from Ryan Taylor and Michael Chandler, who like Justin Martin in the class of 2010 and 2009 signee Stephan Van Treese attends Lawrence North. The biggest target in that class is Indianapolis Pike HS point guard Marquis Teague, who could make a college decision prior to July.

With Pitino on the recruiting trail, the college basketball odds of the Cards remaining near the top of college basketball's elite teams is very high.

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Q&A WITH LOUISVILLE RECRUIT MIKE MARRA

By Pat Stevens

Pat Stevens (PS) -What’s the Mike Marra story…

Mike Marra (MM) -Freshman year in Rhode Island I was a JV player. That summer I ended up working hard and made varsity and then junior year is when I started excelling and knew I had to make the move. I ended up repeating junior year at NMH which was the best decision I made and had a breakout type season, that’s when I got my offers. This year was a little tougher with teams keying on me but both years at Northfield Mount Hermon (Mass.) went really well.

PS -What was the summer workout like between your freshman and sophomore year…

MM -That summer I went to a six week training camp in Providence. I was shooting on the gun and running sprints 5 days a week for 4 hours. I was getting up 1,000 shots a day and working on ball-handling and it was really beneficial.

PS -Best game this past year…

MM -Against South Kent in our last game of the year was my best of the game the year. I had 33 points and seven three-pointers.

PS -Playing back home in Rhode Island at the big tournaments…

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MM -At the tournament at URI, that was just an off weekend for me. Couple guys got things going our way for us so I wasn’t really disappointed. But it was tough to come home and play. But earlier in the year in November at Bryant College, I came out and had 25 points and six or seven rebounds in one game so that went well.

PS -Memorable game from earlier in school…

MM -Last year against St. Thomas More with Devin Ebanks, we went back and forth a few times and I was like 10-11 from 3 and ended up with 38 points and he had 34.

PS -Memorable game from circuit…

MM -Two summers ago in New Jersey it was my breakout game, I hit 11 threes against the New York Panthers. Richard (Pitino) was in the stands and Ohio State and Michigan happened to be there. I was just lucky that they were there.

PS -Top Shooters that you like…

MM -JJ Reddick, I used to watch all the time. Recently, I’m a big Celtics fan, I’ve been watching Eddie House and he’s great coming off screens. And of course Ray Allen is always money. Everyone loves his shot.

PS -Playing uptempo at NMH…

MM -I think it helps out a lot. We get up and down and get up a lot of shots. I look forward to getting up just as many at Louisville and hopefully I can just be on the court.

PS -Thoughts on classmates…

MM -I roomed with Peyton (Siva) this weekend and Rakeem (Buckles) was there on my visit. I love the way they play. Peyton really has a desire for the game and he just loves to play and Rakeem works just as hard.

PS -Arrival to campus…

MM -I get there June 2nd and I’m hoping to gain some weight and get in there and shoot.

PS -Major…

MM -I’m not sure but I think I’m going to start with Business but I’m pretty open.

PS -Anything unique in recruiting process…

MM -Talking to Rick, he seemed the most genuine. I really believed everything they said and they just really stood out to me.

PS -Feeling when offered…

MM -It was kind of unexpected. Richard offered me in person. He was there just to watch one of our open gyms. It was a little unreal, I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t see it coming.

PS -Feeling when committed…

MM -I told him I want to be a Cardinal. He was really excited and said he had a bottle of Cristal he was going to pop open that Billy Donovan gave him.

PS -If not Louisville, then where…

MM -I really considered Providence but the coaching staff was just too uncertain at the time. PC, Wake Forest and Miami were the schools I liked but Louisville set themselves apart. I did visit UMass, URI, and Syracuse for the elite camp.

PS -What’s it take to get a Louisville caliber offer…

MM -It takes a lot of hard work, no matter how tired you are. I used to play both 16s and 17s at the same time in AAU, playing six games in a day. You have to play your hardest whenever you’re on the court.

PS -Big East memories…

MM -When I was younger I really didn’t watch a lot of college basketball. But of course this year was crazy with Louisville winning the Big East outright in the regular season and conference tournament.

PS -On prep players headed Big East…

MM -Omari Lawrence - A beast. That’s all I can say about him. He finishes everything around the rim.

Jamaal Coombs and Alex Oriakhi – They’re good kids. They’re going to do really well there. We’ve had some battles the past few years. I like the way they play.

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LOUISVILLE LOOKS FOR SECOND CONSECUTIVE ELITE 8

March 27, 2009


The master of the Sweet 16, Rick Pitino, takes his Louisville Cardinals into Lucas Oil Stadium for 2009 NCAA Tournament match-up with Arizona with a berth in the Elite 8 on the line.

Arizona was hardly expected to make the tournament going into selection Sunday, let alone be playing after the first weekend. The Wildcats, let by interim head coach Russ Pennell, beat Utah, the 5th seed in round one and knocked off Cleveland State in the second round, 71-57.

The Selection Sunday inclusion of Arizona drew the ire of TV commentators following the release of the brackets. The Wildcats had lost five of their last six, finishing 9-9 in the Pac 10 and 19-13 overall. But, non-conference wins over Gonzaga and Kansas seemed to carry a lot of weight with the committee.

On Friday night, the Wildcats face their steepest challenge to date with a match-up against the overall #1 seed in Louisville, the regular season and conference tournament champions of the Big East.

Playing Louisville means playing against pressure and the depth of the guards. Arizona prefers a fast paced game, so they should be comfortable in the speed, but the press will keep coming at them in waves.

"I think it's that it's so relentless," coach Pennell said of the UL press. "They have so many guys they can put in there. They really get into the basketball and make it difficult. Then once those guys get tired, they put in a new wave. And they can just keep coming at you."

Arizona does not have the depth to keep rotating players in against the Louisville onslaught, so preventing the Cards from making a patented run will be a major key.

"The thing you have to be careful about, you can handle it (pressure) for a little while, then all of a sudden they hit you with one of those big runs," said Pennell. "That's, to me, what makes them so dangerous. All the games that we have watched, there's that one moment in the game where they've been able to really explode. You try to keep that from happening. It's easier said than done."

Arizona could be compared somewhat to a Duke-type team, preferring to have a free flowing game while Louisville will try to disrupt your offensive in a similar fashion as Villanova, attacking the guards on the perimeter and preventing you from running your offense in the manner you are comforable in.

Rick Pitino will work his team hard on the defensive end because there is some top-heavy talent on the Arizona club.

"They have outstanding talent," said Pitino. "We know that. Now they understand what their coaches are teaching them concept wise offensively and defensively. They're a very dangerous opponent."

While that is true, Louisville should not have much trouble getting through the Arizona press and while in turn, pressing the Wildcats none stop, the depth of Louisville should take hold and lead to a big lead as the game heads toward the stretch.

It is looking like another record-settting Round in the Elite 8 for the Big East.


NBE Blogger Prediction:

Louisville 79
Arizona 64

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