BIG EAST RECRUITING UPDATE: LOUISVILLE

February 25, 2008

VERBAL COMMITMENT ALERT: Rakeem Buckles, (2009) 6'8, 200 lb (F) from Miami (FL) Pace HS


Projected 2008-2009 Roster


Seniors: Andre McGee (PG), Terrence Williams (SF)
Juniors: Edgar Sosa (G), Jerry Smith (G), Derrick Caracter (BF), Earl Clark (G/F), Reginald Delk (G)
Sophomores: George Goode (F), Preston Knowles (G)
Freshmen: Melquan Bolding (G), Samardo Samuels (BF/C), Terrence Jennings (C), Kyle Kuric (G/F), Clarence Holloway (C), Jared Swopshire (SF)
2009 Commitment: Mike Marra (G), Rakeem Buckles (F)


Rick Pitino REALLY was not kidding when he said he was concentrating his recruiting efforts on the class of 2009, seemingly pulling out of the Tyreke Evans' sweepstakes. In the week since he made that proclamation, Louisville landed 6'5 junior Mike Marra and today comes More Good News for Louisville Hoops (Courier-Journal) as Rakeem Buckles verbally commits to the Cardinals.

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Rakeem Buckles is a wiry and raw forward prospect. At 6'8, he has explosive athletic ability that you see in an NBA small forward, however his game is still raw and transitioning from a skinny big man to the wing 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 earlier today.

Buckles is averaging about 14 PPG and 8 rebounds a contest for Pace in his junior season and the potential to be a major impact player is certainly there, you just do not teach that kind of athletic ability in a 6'8 player. Local Miami and West Virginia were also closely monitoring his progress, but Louisville easily took the most attention in Buckles.

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

NYC native Lamont 'MoMo' Jones, currently at American Christian school, committed to Louisville during his sophomore season at Rice (NYC) HS. However, Jones recently decided to re-open the process and is looking at schools such as Memphis (likely to land Tyreke Evans, his teammate at American Christian), Xavier, Pittsburgh, Florida State, Seton Hall, among others.

Another immediate target in the class of 2009 that Pitino and his staff will concentrate on is Seattle (WA) Franklin 5'11 point guard Peyton Siva. Siva recently took a trip to Louisville for their game with Georgetown and spoke very highly of the experience.


It certainly was a busy, busy time to follow Louisville recruiting during the class of 2008 where Rick Pitino sealed commitments from Martez Walker, Jeff Withey, Melquan Bolding, Samardo Samuels, Kyle Kuric, Terrence Jennings and Jared Swopshire. Walker and Withey subsequently de-committed and the status of Bolding's commitment is up in the air at this point. The main topic of discussion of Louisville recruiting the last several months has been their chase for Tyreke Evans. For much of the last few years, Louisville had been considered the leader for the American Christian star. However, although he has still not committed to a school, Rick Pitino has seemingly resigned himself to the fact that Evans is likely to commit to one of the other finalists (likely Memphis) and has moved in, in a hurry, towards the class of 2009.

Of course, with 15 players on paper for the 2008-2009 AND 2009-2010 seasons, the Louisville roster situation does have some sorting out to do. Whispers are that Clarence Holloway is unlikely to continue his basketball career due to health issues (and, it is unclear if he ever made it through the NCAA Clearinghouse, but it must have been settled if he is in school on scholarship), Mequan Bolding is not going to enroll and Derrick Caracter, among others, is likely to declare for the NBA Draft this spring. Stay tuned...things could change again soon...