Just tuned in to see if we are going to be a basketball school or if BTP is going to go the way of @RhythmicSlappingDawg. Either way, should be chinteresting.
Just tuned in to see if we are going to be a basketball school or if BTP is going to go the way of @RhythmicSlappingDawg. Either way, should be chinteresting.
Just tuned in to see if we are going to be a basketball school or if BTP is going to go the way of @RhythmicSlappingDawg. Either way, should be chinteresting.
I’m about half as excited for the next 24 hrs as early signing period and dec signing period.
Jaden McDaniels Last time I did my insider notes, it was a two-parter with closing out the class of 2019 on May 1, and looking ahead to 2020 on May 2. In both of those posts, I added brief tidbits on 2019 five-star forward Jaden McDaniels and the latest on his recruitment (If you want to go back and catch up on both, I linked each post above).
To give you a quick SparkNotes, though, I essentially said that McDaniels was finally ready to get into the nitty-gritty of his recruitment and we should expect to see some movement in the coming days/weeks. In terms of a decision, while no one is certain of a final date set, what we do know (and did know even back then) is that it will come in the form of a post on either Twitter or Instagram and nothing more. And when that time comes, the general thought was that the hometown Washington Huskies would win out in the end based entirely on his quiet demeanor and tendency to shy away from the spotlight. He has always loved Kentucky, even called them his dream school at one point, but after talking with him at several different events, I just never got the vibe from him that he’d ever leave the comfort of his own home.
Just a day later, though, word leaked out that Kentucky was picking up momentum and may actually end up being the choice. In fact, I had heard at the time that the UK coaching staff not only felt confident in their position, but genuinely felt they had done enough in this recruitment to come out on top.
From there, the momentum has been all Kentucky, with nearly all major recruiting analyst (Evan Daniels, Jerry Meyer, Andrew Slater, etc.) picking the Cats to be the final choice. Daniels went as far as to say that he would be “shocked” if McDaniels ended up anywhere but Lexington this weekend. After talking to some people on both sides of the equation, while I’m not sure if there was ever an actual commitment from McDaniels behind the scenes as rumored, the UK coaching staff felt late last week that they were the pick. Whether that is why the recruiting experts flocked to make UK predictions, I’m not certain, but what I am very confident about is that the Kentucky buzz was legitimate.
Moving on to the next aspect of those rumors circling around social media that McDaniels had submitted his National Letter of Intent to Kentucky, I was told from the jump that while the smoke surrounding UK’s status was real, the signing talks were bogus. Daniels then confirmed that with the five-star prospect himself late last night.
Those in his inner circle, namely Cartiea French-Toney, his trainer, have actually pushed recently for McDaniels to not sign a LOI and only sign financial aid paperwork. As a side note, with the deadline being tomorrow to submit a letter of intent, this means that he could ultimately opt to wait a bit longer before making his announcement.
Around the same time of Daniels’ aforementioned tweet, he also made headlines by changing his Crystal Ball pick from Kentucky to “undecided,” which usually isn’t a good sign when it comes from arguably the best source of recruiting news (93.51% all-time prediction success rate) in the game. To put the cherry on top, 247 Sports’ Josh Gershon, another plus-90% predictor, also changed his pick to “undecided.”
So where did this change of heart come from?
“New information would probably be the best way to put it,” he told Matt Jones on KSR this morning.
After trying to work the phones today, I genuinely think this is nothing more than a high school kid being torn between staying home and being the hometown hero or making the first legitimate leap of faith in his basketball career. It’s down to Washington and Kentucky, without question. Those close to him want him to stay home one more year before heading to the NBA, though I’ve also been told that his parents have opened up to the idea of him landing in Lexington. As for McDaniels himself, I genuinely believe he knows Kentucky is the best move for his future, but doesn’t know if he’s ready for the spotlight that comes with being a UK basketball player. The former part of the argument is why the Cats gained so much steam recently, and I think the latter is why it has since cooled off.
I’ve also heard a theory that this could be McDaniels and his camp telling recruiting folks to back off their UK predictions to add intrigue to the decision, but I seriously don’t think that carries much weight, if any at all. This is a group of people that try to stay as tight-lipped and low-key as possible, so I just don’t see a benefit in that method of thinking at all. Maybe they simply just want to let McDaniels have his moment? While that may true, I don’t see a correlation there.
At the same time, we’ve also seen situations like Julius Randle, the Harrison Twins, and Trey Lyles in the past, where Kentucky was seen as the consensus favorite, we saw some last-minute rumors and momentum shifts, only to find out it was UK all along. That could come into play here, as well.
At this point, while I do not believe he will sign a letter of intent and will only sign financial aid paperwork, I still anticipate a decision this week, with Wednesday still being a legitimate option. His high school coach, who says he talked to McDaniels last night, also feels an announcement could come tomorrow.
Before yesterday, I planned on writing an incredibly optimistic post about how I would be surprised if it’s anything but Kentucky and it was time to pencil McDaniels in as a future Wildcat. Now, I’m genuinely conflicted and feel it could go either way. Unlike the Keion Brooks Jr. decision where it became apparent the Indiana native thrived under pressure and loved the spotlight, I don’t know if I can say the same for McDaniels. I keep going back to my conversation with him at the Jordan Brand Classic, where he said, “There’s nothing like playing at home.”
While I’m not certain where McDaniels is going, I do know that he is now in the process of coming up with a final destination. As we’ve seen throughout his entire recruitment, it could go back and forth over the course of the next few hours, let alone days, and neither Kentucky nor Washington would shock me at this point.
I’ll stick with the Cats based on just how much pro-UK smoke there was over the last several days, but it’s nothing more than a gut feeling.
Above all else, I’ll be happy when this recruitment is finally over.
Jaden McDaniels Last time I did my insider notes, it was a two-parter with closing out the class of 2019 on May 1, and looking ahead to 2020 on May 2. In both of those posts, I added brief tidbits on 2019 five-star forward Jaden McDaniels and the latest on his recruitment (If you want to go back and catch up on both, I linked each post above).
To give you a quick SparkNotes, though, I essentially said that McDaniels was finally ready to get into the nitty-gritty of his recruitment and we should expect to see some movement in the coming days/weeks. In terms of a decision, while no one is certain of a final date set, what we do know (and did know even back then) is that it will come in the form of a post on either Twitter or Instagram and nothing more. And when that time comes, the general thought was that the hometown Washington Huskies would win out in the end based entirely on his quiet demeanor and tendency to shy away from the spotlight. He has always loved Kentucky, even called them his dream school at one point, but after talking with him at several different events, I just never got the vibe from him that he’d ever leave the comfort of his own home.
Just a day later, though, word leaked out that Kentucky was picking up momentum and may actually end up being the choice. In fact, I had heard at the time that the UK coaching staff not only felt confident in their position, but genuinely felt they had done enough in this recruitment to come out on top.
From there, the momentum has been all Kentucky, with nearly all major recruiting analyst (Evan Daniels, Jerry Meyer, Andrew Slater, etc.) picking the Cats to be the final choice. Daniels went as far as to say that he would be “shocked” if McDaniels ended up anywhere but Lexington this weekend. After talking to some people on both sides of the equation, while I’m not sure if there was ever an actual commitment from McDaniels behind the scenes as rumored, the UK coaching staff felt late last week that they were the pick. Whether that is why the recruiting experts flocked to make UK predictions, I’m not certain, but what I am very confident about is that the Kentucky buzz was legitimate.
Moving on to the next aspect of those rumors circling around social media that McDaniels had submitted his National Letter of Intent to Kentucky, I was told from the jump that while the smoke surrounding UK’s status was real, the signing talks were bogus. Daniels then confirmed that with the five-star prospect himself late last night.
Those in his inner circle, namely Cartiea French-Toney, his trainer, have actually pushed recently for McDaniels to not sign a LOI and only sign financial aid paperwork. As a side note, with the deadline being tomorrow to submit a letter of intent, this means that he could ultimately opt to wait a bit longer before making his announcement.
Around the same time of Daniels’ aforementioned tweet, he also made headlines by changing his Crystal Ball pick from Kentucky to “undecided,” which usually isn’t a good sign when it comes from arguably the best source of recruiting news (93.51% all-time prediction success rate) in the game. To put the cherry on top, 247 Sports’ Josh Gershon, another plus-90% predictor, also changed his pick to “undecided.”
So where did this change of heart come from?
“New information would probably be the best way to put it,” he told Matt Jones on KSR this morning.
After trying to work the phones today, I genuinely think this is nothing more than a high school kid being torn between staying home and being the hometown hero or making the first legitimate leap of faith in his basketball career. It’s down to Washington and Kentucky, without question. Those close to him want him to stay home one more year before heading to the NBA, though I’ve also been told that his parents have opened up to the idea of him landing in Lexington. As for McDaniels himself, I genuinely believe he knows Kentucky is the best move for his future, but doesn’t know if he’s ready for the spotlight that comes with being a UK basketball player. The former part of the argument is why the Cats gained so much steam recently, and I think the latter is why it has since cooled off.
I’ve also heard a theory that this could be McDaniels and his camp telling recruiting folks to back off their UK predictions to add intrigue to the decision, but I seriously don’t think that carries much weight, if any at all. This is a group of people that try to stay as tight-lipped and low-key as possible, so I just don’t see a benefit in that method of thinking at all. Maybe they simply just want to let McDaniels have his moment? While that may true, I don’t see a correlation there.
At the same time, we’ve also seen situations like Julius Randle, the Harrison Twins, and Trey Lyles in the past, where Kentucky was seen as the consensus favorite, we saw some last-minute rumors and momentum shifts, only to find out it was UK all along. That could come into play here, as well.
At this point, while I do not believe he will sign a letter of intent and will only sign financial aid paperwork, I still anticipate a decision this week, with Wednesday still being a legitimate option. His high school coach, who says he talked to McDaniels last night, also feels an announcement could come tomorrow.
Before yesterday, I planned on writing an incredibly optimistic post about how I would be surprised if it’s anything but Kentucky and it was time to pencil McDaniels in as a future Wildcat. Now, I’m genuinely conflicted and feel it could go either way. Unlike the Keion Brooks Jr. decision where it became apparent the Indiana native thrived under pressure and loved the spotlight, I don’t know if I can say the same for McDaniels. I keep going back to my conversation with him at the Jordan Brand Classic, where he said, “There’s nothing like playing at home.”
While I’m not certain where McDaniels is going, I do know that he is now in the process of coming up with a final destination. As we’ve seen throughout his entire recruitment, it could go back and forth over the course of the next few hours, let alone days, and neither Kentucky nor Washington would shock me at this point.
I’ll stick with the Cats based on just how much pro-UK smoke there was over the last several days, but it’s nothing more than a gut feeling.
Above all else, I’ll be happy when this recruitment is finally over.
Glad I haven't paid attention to this kid's recruitment at all. Won't care if he goes to Kentucky. Hop isn't building a one and done type of program. We want a Junior and Senior laden starting lineup. Those are the teams that are winning the national championship while Kentucky has struggled to have the same success with one and dones that they did a few years ago. McDaniels would make a difference next season but would be gone the next so it's not a big deal to miss out on a one year rental.
Jaden McDaniels Last time I did my insider notes, it was a two-parter with closing out the class of 2019 on May 1, and looking ahead to 2020 on May 2. In both of those posts, I added brief tidbits on 2019 five-star forward Jaden McDaniels and the latest on his recruitment (If you want to go back and catch up on both, I linked each post above).
To give you a quick SparkNotes, though, I essentially said that McDaniels was finally ready to get into the nitty-gritty of his recruitment and we should expect to see some movement in the coming days/weeks. In terms of a decision, while no one is certain of a final date set, what we do know (and did know even back then) is that it will come in the form of a post on either Twitter or Instagram and nothing more. And when that time comes, the general thought was that the hometown Washington Huskies would win out in the end based entirely on his quiet demeanor and tendency to shy away from the spotlight. He has always loved Kentucky, even called them his dream school at one point, but after talking with him at several different events, I just never got the vibe from him that he’d ever leave the comfort of his own home.
Just a day later, though, word leaked out that Kentucky was picking up momentum and may actually end up being the choice. In fact, I had heard at the time that the UK coaching staff not only felt confident in their position, but genuinely felt they had done enough in this recruitment to come out on top.
From there, the momentum has been all Kentucky, with nearly all major recruiting analyst (Evan Daniels, Jerry Meyer, Andrew Slater, etc.) picking the Cats to be the final choice. Daniels went as far as to say that he would be “shocked” if McDaniels ended up anywhere but Lexington this weekend. After talking to some people on both sides of the equation, while I’m not sure if there was ever an actual commitment from McDaniels behind the scenes as rumored, the UK coaching staff felt late last week that they were the pick. Whether that is why the recruiting experts flocked to make UK predictions, I’m not certain, but what I am very confident about is that the Kentucky buzz was legitimate.
Moving on to the next aspect of those rumors circling around social media that McDaniels had submitted his National Letter of Intent to Kentucky, I was told from the jump that while the smoke surrounding UK’s status was real, the signing talks were bogus. Daniels then confirmed that with the five-star prospect himself late last night.
Those in his inner circle, namely Cartiea French-Toney, his trainer, have actually pushed recently for McDaniels to not sign a LOI and only sign financial aid paperwork. As a side note, with the deadline being tomorrow to submit a letter of intent, this means that he could ultimately opt to wait a bit longer before making his announcement.
Around the same time of Daniels’ aforementioned tweet, he also made headlines by changing his Crystal Ball pick from Kentucky to “undecided,” which usually isn’t a good sign when it comes from arguably the best source of recruiting news (93.51% all-time prediction success rate) in the game. To put the cherry on top, 247 Sports’ Josh Gershon, another plus-90% predictor, also changed his pick to “undecided.”
So where did this change of heart come from?
“New information would probably be the best way to put it,” he told Matt Jones on KSR this morning.
After trying to work the phones today, I genuinely think this is nothing more than a high school kid being torn between staying home and being the hometown hero or making the first legitimate leap of faith in his basketball career. It’s down to Washington and Kentucky, without question. Those close to him want him to stay home one more year before heading to the NBA, though I’ve also been told that his parents have opened up to the idea of him landing in Lexington. As for McDaniels himself, I genuinely believe he knows Kentucky is the best move for his future, but doesn’t know if he’s ready for the spotlight that comes with being a UK basketball player. The former part of the argument is why the Cats gained so much steam recently, and I think the latter is why it has since cooled off.
I’ve also heard a theory that this could be McDaniels and his camp telling recruiting folks to back off their UK predictions to add intrigue to the decision, but I seriously don’t think that carries much weight, if any at all. This is a group of people that try to stay as tight-lipped and low-key as possible, so I just don’t see a benefit in that method of thinking at all. Maybe they simply just want to let McDaniels have his moment? While that may true, I don’t see a correlation there.
At the same time, we’ve also seen situations like Julius Randle, the Harrison Twins, and Trey Lyles in the past, where Kentucky was seen as the consensus favorite, we saw some last-minute rumors and momentum shifts, only to find out it was UK all along. That could come into play here, as well.
At this point, while I do not believe he will sign a letter of intent and will only sign financial aid paperwork, I still anticipate a decision this week, with Wednesday still being a legitimate option. His high school coach, who says he talked to McDaniels last night, also feels an announcement could come tomorrow.
Before yesterday, I planned on writing an incredibly optimistic post about how I would be surprised if it’s anything but Kentucky and it was time to pencil McDaniels in as a future Wildcat. Now, I’m genuinely conflicted and feel it could go either way. Unlike the Keion Brooks Jr. decision where it became apparent the Indiana native thrived under pressure and loved the spotlight, I don’t know if I can say the same for McDaniels. I keep going back to my conversation with him at the Jordan Brand Classic, where he said, “There’s nothing like playing at home.”
While I’m not certain where McDaniels is going, I do know that he is now in the process of coming up with a final destination. As we’ve seen throughout his entire recruitment, it could go back and forth over the course of the next few hours, let alone days, and neither Kentucky nor Washington would shock me at this point.
I’ll stick with the Cats based on just how much pro-UK smoke there was over the last several days, but it’s nothing more than a gut feeling.
Above all else, I’ll be happy when this recruitment is finally over.
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Let’s dive right in.
Jaden McDaniels
Last time I did my insider notes, it was a two-parter with closing out the class of 2019 on May 1, and looking ahead to 2020 on May 2. In both of those posts, I added brief tidbits on 2019 five-star forward Jaden McDaniels and the latest on his recruitment (If you want to go back and catch up on both, I linked each post above).
To give you a quick SparkNotes, though, I essentially said that McDaniels was finally ready to get into the nitty-gritty of his recruitment and we should expect to see some movement in the coming days/weeks. In terms of a decision, while no one is certain of a final date set, what we do know (and did know even back then) is that it will come in the form of a post on either Twitter or Instagram and nothing more. And when that time comes, the general thought was that the hometown Washington Huskies would win out in the end based entirely on his quiet demeanor and tendency to shy away from the spotlight. He has always loved Kentucky, even called them his dream school at one point, but after talking with him at several different events, I just never got the vibe from him that he’d ever leave the comfort of his own home.
Just a day later, though, word leaked out that Kentucky was picking up momentum and may actually end up being the choice. In fact, I had heard at the time that the UK coaching staff not only felt confident in their position, but genuinely felt they had done enough in this recruitment to come out on top.
From there, the momentum has been all Kentucky, with nearly all major recruiting analyst (Evan Daniels, Jerry Meyer, Andrew Slater, etc.) picking the Cats to be the final choice. Daniels went as far as to say that he would be “shocked” if McDaniels ended up anywhere but Lexington this weekend. After talking to some people on both sides of the equation, while I’m not sure if there was ever an actual commitment from McDaniels behind the scenes as rumored, the UK coaching staff felt late last week that they were the pick. Whether that is why the recruiting experts flocked to make UK predictions, I’m not certain, but what I am very confident about is that the Kentucky buzz was legitimate.
Moving on to the next aspect of those rumors circling around social media that McDaniels had submitted his National Letter of Intent to Kentucky, I was told from the jump that while the smoke surrounding UK’s status was real, the signing talks were bogus. Daniels then confirmed that with the five-star prospect himself late last night.
Those in his inner circle, namely Cartiea French-Toney, his trainer, have actually pushed recently for McDaniels to not sign a LOI and only sign financial aid paperwork. As a side note, with the deadline being tomorrow to submit a letter of intent, this means that he could ultimately opt to wait a bit longer before making his announcement.
Around the same time of Daniels’ aforementioned tweet, he also made headlines by changing his Crystal Ball pick from Kentucky to “undecided,” which usually isn’t a good sign when it comes from arguably the best source of recruiting news (93.51% all-time prediction success rate) in the game. To put the cherry on top, 247 Sports’ Josh Gershon, another plus-90% predictor, also changed his pick to “undecided.”
So where did this change of heart come from?
“New information would probably be the best way to put it,” he told Matt Jones on KSR this morning.
After trying to work the phones today, I genuinely think this is nothing more than a high school kid being torn between staying home and being the hometown hero or making the first legitimate leap of faith in his basketball career. It’s down to Washington and Kentucky, without question. Those close to him want him to stay home one more year before heading to the NBA, though I’ve also been told that his parents have opened up to the idea of him landing in Lexington. As for McDaniels himself, I genuinely believe he knows Kentucky is the best move for his future, but doesn’t know if he’s ready for the spotlight that comes with being a UK basketball player. The former part of the argument is why the Cats gained so much steam recently, and I think the latter is why it has since cooled off.
I’ve also heard a theory that this could be McDaniels and his camp telling recruiting folks to back off their UK predictions to add intrigue to the decision, but I seriously don’t think that carries much weight, if any at all. This is a group of people that try to stay as tight-lipped and low-key as possible, so I just don’t see a benefit in that method of thinking at all. Maybe they simply just want to let McDaniels have his moment? While that may true, I don’t see a correlation there.
At the same time, we’ve also seen situations like Julius Randle, the Harrison Twins, and Trey Lyles in the past, where Kentucky was seen as the consensus favorite, we saw some last-minute rumors and momentum shifts, only to find out it was UK all along. That could come into play here, as well.
At this point, while I do not believe he will sign a letter of intent and will only sign financial aid paperwork, I still anticipate a decision this week, with Wednesday still being a legitimate option. His high school coach, who says he talked to McDaniels last night, also feels an announcement could come tomorrow.
Before yesterday, I planned on writing an incredibly optimistic post about how I would be surprised if it’s anything but Kentucky and it was time to pencil McDaniels in as a future Wildcat. Now, I’m genuinely conflicted and feel it could go either way. Unlike the Keion Brooks Jr. decision where it became apparent the Indiana native thrived under pressure and loved the spotlight, I don’t know if I can say the same for McDaniels. I keep going back to my conversation with him at the Jordan Brand Classic, where he said, “There’s nothing like playing at home.”
While I’m not certain where McDaniels is going, I do know that he is now in the process of coming up with a final destination. As we’ve seen throughout his entire recruitment, it could go back and forth over the course of the next few hours, let alone days, and neither Kentucky nor Washington would shock me at this point.
I’ll stick with the Cats based on just how much pro-UK smoke there was over the last several days, but it’s nothing more than a gut feeling.
Above all else, I’ll be happy when this recruitment is finally over.
Let's overanalyze