UK Huge Favorite for Towns; How Does Cal Do It?

Gosh, so many of these recruits look good in Blue.

There’s been a lot of news on the Karl Towns, Jr. front lately, with a lot of folks mentioning the possibility of reclassification, as well as his decision to announce on December 4th.  A reclassification would be a great boon for the 2014 class, which has seen much of its top talent, including Andrew Wiggins, move to the 2013 class.  But even if Towns moves up a year, how likely is he to pick Kentucky?

According to BustingBrackets.com, Towns to UK is “a done deal.”  Their anonymous source allegedly close to his recruiting process says that “His decision has been made up and the announcement in three weeks is just a formality at this point.”  There are plenty of other schools on his list, but there’s no doubt that Kentucky is at least the prohibitive favorite, after Towns spent time under Cal’s tutelage on the Dominican national team this past summer.  But apparently “prohibitive favorite” isn’t even strong enough language to express Kentucky’s position.

“He will become the first Kentucky commit in either the class of 2015 or class of 2014, depending on whether he reclassifies.”

This is terrific news for Kentucky fans, who haven’t had a top ten recruit commit in weeks.  Hopefully Towns will end that drought.

Meanwhile, the recruiting folks at ESPN wonder just how Kentucky has nabbed 5 of the last 10 number one recruiting classes.  Paul Biancardi and Dave Telep break down the method to his madness and discuss the impact it’s had on the SEC.

Significantly, Telep points out that Cal always gets a point guard, and always gets a big man (Wall/Cousins, Knight/Kanter, Teague/Davis) who are among the very best at their position to anchor his teams.  Should Towns commit to UK, as many think he will, that will provide the big man that Cal needs for yet another year.

Though Telep says that “[Cal] ain’t offerin’ freshmen, sophomores, and juniors,” Towns seems to be an exception to that otherwise accurate rule.  That’s likely a testament to his ability, as well as Cal’s desire to have one of his Dominican team guys in Lexington for good.  And by “for good” I mean “for about nine months.”

Either way, don’t let the frenzy of the new season make you forget about these recruits coming up.  With Wiggins, Gordon, and Towns still out there, ready to make decisions, we have a lot to look forward to.  We may even get a little early Christmas present on the 4th if we’ve been good.