Lacey, Uchebo choose, Daniels still undecided

Wednesday marked the end of the late signing period for the Class of 2011. The overwhelming majority of the blue-chip recruits in the class had made their decision on where to attend school well before the deadline, but there were three names that struck up quite a bit of interest: Trevor Lacey, DeAndre Daniels, and Joseph Uchebo.

Two of them made their decisions.

Trevor Lacey stays home: The Alabama native drew quite a bit of attention on Wednesday, as his decision came down to Kentucky, Kansas, and Alabama. In the end, it was Anthony Grant that won out.

"Alabama just felt like home to me," Lacey said at his press conference. "I made my decision about three days ago. I was just more comfortable with Coach Grant and his staff and am excited about the things they are doing in Tuscaloosa."


There are two ways to look at this, and both of them are very good signs for the Crimson Tide.

For starters, Lacey was a highly sought after recruit. He's ranked 39th in our consensus recruiting rankings and was pursued by the likes of Kansas, Kentucky, and UConn. The fact that Grant was able to beat them out, even if it was for a kid from Alabama, is a statement. The other sign is that Grant now has quite the talented back court. Trever Releford was promising in the minutes he got as a freshman point guard last season, and with Levi Randolph, who sits at 29th in our consensus rankings, coming in as well, the Crimson Tide appear to be set on their perimeter for the future.

Throw in Tony Mitchell and JaMychal Green along the front line, and Alabama will make quite a bit of noise in the SEC next season.


Joseph Uchebo goes JuCo: Uchebo, who ranks 80th in our consensus recruiting rankings, is a 6'10" Nigerian native with a ton of upside. He originally committed to NC State back in November of 2009, but due to concerns that he won't be able to qualify academically, Uchebo will be heading to Chipola JC next season in Florida. Uchebo re-opened his recruitment back in April of this year.


DeAndre Daniels, who knows: Daniels has had one of the more confusing recruitments that I can recall. Texas, Duke, Kansas, and Kentucky all, at one point or another, thought that they were going to be getting Daniels' services.

And after four high school years and one season at IMG Academy, Daniels was still unable to make a choice on where to play his college basketball by the May 18th deadline to sign. It appears as if he will be waiting until Thursday morning to announce. According to Adam Zagoria, its down to just Texas and Kansas, although Evan Daniels tweeted on Wednesday afternoon that he may be leaning towards the Longhorns.