The final day of the spring signing period for college basketball recruits passed Wednesday, but it’s not like the clock hitting 0:00 in the Super Bowl. The recruiting season never really ends.
With top-50 shooting guard Trevor Lacey choosing to stay home at Alabama, though, just about all the elite 2011 prospects are off the board. So this is an opportunity to measure the winners and losers in this year’s recruiting race.
Loser: Tennessee. A year in NCAA purgatory pretty much wiped out what could have been -- and needed to be -- a banner year for the Volunteers.
Winner: St. John’s. When Steve Lavin took the job last spring, he understood he’d lose his whole team after his first season. So he recruited a whole new team: Nine players, including underrated wings Maurice Harkless and Sir’Dominic Pointer.
“What Steve Lavin and his staff were able to do in such a short time was incredibly impressive,” Scout.com analyst Evan Daniels said. “They have a lot of guys at the same position, but they have a lot of guys who are going to help them -- and help them right away.”
Loser: UCLA. With Malcolm Lee and Tyler Honeycutt checking out early, the Bruins could have used a big-time wing to complement their solid frontcourt. Can four-star shooting guard Norman Powell make an immediate impact?
Winner: Duke. The Blue Devils lost a tremendous amount of production with Kyle Singler, Nolan Smith and Kyrie Irving gone. Asking Austin Rivers to cover all that production is a bit much -- but he’s just confident enough not to mind.
Loser: Boston College. Perhaps Steve Donahue shares Al Skinner’s gift for uncovering sleeper stars. Craig Smith and Jared Dudley were among the unknowns who once flourished at BC. The Eagles’ seven-man class includes only one prospect rated by Scout.com among the top 25 at his position.
Winner: Kentucky. John Calipari lined up another group of top-10ish prospects, featuring small forward Michael Gilchrist and power forward Anthony Davis -- rare freshmen who’ll improve UK’s defense more than its attack.
You know what could really make UK a winner? If the NBA were to adopt a 20-year age limit and the Wildcats got to keep this group for two full seasons.
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