Back in March, Tony Barbee left UTEP to take the head coaching position as Auburn, and while Auburn is an SEC school, its not one that is really known for being a powerhouse factor in basketball.
Barbee has a long road ahead him. Auburn won just 15 games last season and hasn't been to the NCAA Tournament since 2003.
But Barbee seems to be well on his way towards being able to sell Auburn as an up and coming program, especially in the state of Alabama. Late last week, he landed his second recruit out of Huntsville, AL. The first, Josh Langford, was a three star recruit that was pursued by a couple of other high majors in the south. But the real coup came when Luke Cothron, a consensus top 50 recruit that had received a lot of interest from UConn, Tennessee, and even Kentucky, signed with the Tigers.
Luke Cothron signed with Auburn.(photo credit MUScoop)
When you are trying to build a program to relevance, one of the keys is to keep the talent in your backyard local. Auburn isn't a school with the national recognition of a Kentucky or a UConn -- they aren't going to be landing many top 50 players from New York City or California -- which is why being able to land a kid like Cothron is so important.
The more interesting part is that Cothron is now the third elite power forward that Calipari has missed on in this class. First, it was CJ Leslie's decision to play at NC State. Next came Terrence Jones, who committed to Washington earlier this month.
And while its debatable how much interest Kentucky actually had in Cothron -- if you believe the rumors, Calipari is still recruiting Jones -- what isn't debatable is the gap that the Wildcats have at the power forward spot. How many people thought that Coach Cal was going to miss not only on Leslie and Jones, but that Cothron would opt to go to Auburn over Kentucky?
It seems that Kentucky has now set their sites on 6'9" Rice forward Kadeem Jack.
Late last week, Jack announced that he would not be committing to a college, instead opting to go the prep school route. Its not a terrible decision; Jack was drawing interest from schools like Arizona, Miami, and Arkansas, but he could really use a year to mature both his game -- he's quite athletic and long, but very raw offensively -- and his body -- at 6'9", he is checking in at just 210 lb.
Having said that, Jack may want to rethink his decision to attend prep school.
With Kentucky's hole at the four, and with the Wear twins deciding to transfer out of the UNC program and leave the Heels with just two post players, both blue bloods have scheduled visits with Jack.
Jack isn't talented enough right now to be the answer; there's a reason that Leslie and Jones with top 15 recruits Jack isn't on many, if any, top 100 lists. But he is 6'9", and he is a high major player, which means that he should be talented enough to plug the hole both programs have up front.
Don't be surprised if Jack jumps at one of these opportunities.
How often do you get a chance to play for one of the most storied college basketball programs?
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