CSZ Basketball Recruiting Notebook 8/25/14

By Justin Renck and Steve Rummage:

In our basketball recruiting notebook, we fill you in on where the Cards stand with their top targets in the class of 2015. This week we we have a big target who was scheduled to visit, but now will push that back. But on the flip side, another 5-star guard will be in town this coming weekend!

Point Guard

 Donovan Mitchell (Commit) – It has been fun watching Mitchell’s rise from sleeper to star. At last week’s Elite 24 game the 6’3 guard added to that status. Mitchell finished 3rd in the Elite 24 dunk contest and completely stole the show with this dunk that made the ESPN SportsCenter top 10:

As far as recruiting goes, Mitchell seems to be recruiting PJ Dozier, Derrick Jones, and Antonio Blakeney to Louisville with him. Mitchell has a close friendship with Jones and Dozier, but is intrigued with playing along side a guard with the talent of Blakeney. One thing for sure is which ever guard ends up grabbing that last scholarship is sure to have an absolute stud (Mitchell) playing beside them. -Steve Rummage

 Tyler Dorsey –  The former UCLA commit cut his list to 10 last week and Louisville was one of those teams. The 5-star guard says he will attend one of the following colleges next year: Arizona St., Cal, CU, G’Town, Kansas, Louisville, Oregon, St. John’s, UConn and UNLV. We have been reluctant to add Dorsey to the CSZ Notebook this summer as we like to keep only the players we feel actually could land here on the list. After de-committing from UCLA this summer, Dorsey mentioned Louisville as one of the schools he was interested in and had great things to say about Pitino and the Cards. Not much really materialized after that between Dorsey and Louisville. Dorsey has official visits set up to Arizona St (Oct 17), Oregon (Sept 5), Colorado (Sept 19), and Kansas (Oct 10). That leaves one visit left got Dorsey. Dozier, Blakeney, and Jones seem to be atop the Cards list, so I wouldn’t hold my breath on Dorsey visting Louisville. -Steve Rummage

 PJ Dozier  – Originally, Dozier was going to be on UofL’s campus this coming weekend for the Miami game. That has changed and he has pushed back all of his visits, now not taking any until the end of September. In order, he will visit Michigan (Sept. 27), Louisville (Oct. 3), Georgetown (Oct. 17), North Carolina (Oct. 27), and South Carolina (Oct. 31). Some think that North Carolina has the edge with Dozier. If nothing happens with Blakeney this weekend (see below), then that October 3rd visit is very big. With Dozier and (commit) Donovan Mitchell being such good friends, the Cards appear to still be in a good spot here. Not saying they will for sure land him, but they are definitely in the mix. – Justin Renck

Shooting Guard

 Antonio Blakeney –  The 5-star shooting guard has been a top priority for the Cards for quite a while now. And likewise, Blakeney has always had Louisville at or near the top of his list. He will actually be visiting UofL this coming weekend and be in town for the Miami football game. The visit is expected to be Sunday and Monday. With PJ Dozier pushing his Louisville visit back to October, this one becomes very interesting. Would Blakeney go ahead and commit after this visit? I doubt it, because there is for sure somewhere else that he wants to check out as well, but if Pitino puts the pressure on for some kind of decision, you never know. -Justin Renck

Small Forward

 Deng Adel (Commit) –  Deng Adel’s summer season seems to be over and the 5-star SF will now prepare for his upcoming High School season.  -Steve Rummage

 Derrick Jones – Last week, Jones announced who his final 9 schools are: UConn, Kansas, Kentucky, Florida, Louisville, North Carolina, Arizona, Auburn, and UNLV. According to Adam Zagoria, the only home visit is with UConn on September 10. His dad told sny.tv that they also plan to visit Louisville, Kansas, Kentucky, and Auburn, among others. The question here now becomes, “Does Jones see himself as a SG?” If the answer to that question is yes then Jones’ friendship with UofL commit Donovan Mitchell becomes very interesting. Jones showed his extreme athletic ability by winning the Elite 24 dunk contest this past weekend. That ability could make him a serious threat in the Pitino style of play. If Blakeney leaves campus this weekend without commiting, keep a close eye on Jones. -Justin Renck

Power Forward

 Raymond Spalding (Commit) –  Nothing new to report here. Spalding’s great summer has come to an end, and now he just prepares for his senior season at Trinity High School. -Justin Renck