Chane Behanan, the Kentucky native, picks Louisville

Louisville's big weekend is already paying off. This morning, Chane Behanan, who is rated 25th in our consensus rankings, pulled the trigger on the 'Ville.

"Louisville is where I will be going," Behanan said according to Jody Demling at the Louisville Courier-Journal. "I felt so comfortable with the players and the coaches and my family really liked the environment. It was the best place for me."

This is a big get for Rick Pitino. Behanan is the highest-rated Kentucky native in the class of 2011, and Behanan admitted that John Calipari was recruiting him pretty heavily this summer. He made an unofficial visit to the Kentucky campus a few weeks ago, and according to Behanan, Coach Cal offered him a scholarship.

Chane Behanan chose Louisville today at a press conference.
(photo credit: Louisville C-J)

Which means that Pitino, technically, beat Calipari out for a recruit. We can argue semantics -- Louisville may have been recruiting Behanan harder, Behanan may simply have grown up a Cardinals fan, etc. -- but the bottom line is that both Calipari and Pitino had given scholarship offers to Behanan, and he chose Pitino. As we are all well aware, that doesn't happen often these days for anyone, let alone Pitino, who already lost Marquis Teague to his in-state rival.

It may be even more significant when you consider that Behanan is a Kentucky native. Kentucky may be the home of Big Blue Nation, but politically, the Commonwealth is red. Red states aren't generally too supportive of abortion. Maybe I'm digging too deep here, but if an in-state recruit, and his family, is able to look past what was revealed during Karen Sypher's trial, shouldn't that lessen any concerns that the family of a Quincy Miller or a Deuce Bello or a Josiah Turner have?

Because those players may be more important.

That's not meant as a shot at Behanan, either. As a basketball player, Behanan will be a fine addition for Louisville. He's a big, strong forward (6'7", 230 lb) with deceptive quickness and leaping ability that has a pretty well-developed face-up game. He also plays the game hard, which is always a plus. He will, in all-likelihood, contribute significant minutes immediately.

But Behanan isn't a program changer. Miller, however, is, especially if he comes with Bello as a package deal, as many expect. And if Turner follows suit, joining Will Blackshear who is already committed, the Cardinals will have a recruiting class that is nearly as good as Kentucky's in 2011.

(Pause for a second right here. Let's pretend that Louisville does land all three of those recruits. Can you imagine the matchup between the Cats and the Cards in 2011? Four of the top ten, and nine of the top 50 recruits on one court. It would be like the McDonald's all-american game, except better because they will actually play.)

Now, that is a big 'if' (according to Adam Zagoria, Bello and Miller could very well end up visiting Baylor), specifically with Turner, but landing Behanan is a very nice step in the right direction.


Anyway, here is a video of an interview with Behanan after his press conference today (more here):




For those that like mixtapes, take a look at Behanan from the summer: