Three way match between UK, UofL, and IU shaping up for Marquis Teague

Do you remember those Triple Threat matches they used to have in the WWF when you used to watch it back in middle school (or last week)? It seemed like every one of those matches would end with one guy screwing another one and allowing the third guy to win, which would inevitably lead to a heel turn.

With the way things have come together in the recruitment of top 2011 point guard Marquis Teague, it looks like we may just have a little Triple Threat match brewing between John Calipari of UK, Rick Pitino of UofL, and Tom Crean of IU. The question becomes, when does Crean break out the proverbial steel chair and crack supposed friend John Calipari over the head?

Teague is ranked in the top 10 of any ranking of the 2011 that matters and is believed by man to be the top point guard prospect in the class. You likely know his brother, Jeff, who was recently picked in the first round of the NBA Draft after a short career at Wake Forest. Jeff flew a little under the radar coming out of college, Marquis, on the other hand, is not. He plays an exceptionally smart game and runs the point to near perfection.

You may be wondering why Teague is such a hot topic since he is only a junior, but Teague seems to be wanting to commit sooner rather than later. Many believed he would have made a commitment by this time. It’s lucky, though, for Calipari and UK that he didn’t, because they have shown interest but had not yet offered. UK now has offered, and soon after, Teague scheduled a visit this past weekend at UK, which went well according to all accounts.

UofL is all in with Teague. Pitino and company thought they may have a commitment by now, but they still see him as a cornerstone of their 2011 class. Needless to say, UofL fans cannot be excited that it has dragged on this long, and they have to be even less excited about UK’s involvement.

IU is another school that will receive strong consideration, especially given that he’s from Indianapolis, but that picture of a three way battle I painted is not entirely accurate. Wake Forest, Ohio State, and Purdue are also in the mix. Teague is looking to make a decision before his junior year gets underway, so we could know something by November. Teague has also coyly said he has a leader, but that his father does not yet want him to reveal it.

Here are some other pieces of UK related news/rumors floating around:

-The football news today that caught everyone’s attention was Rich Brooks revelation that “it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility that both (freshman quarterbacks Morgan Newton and Ryan Mossakowski) could redshirt” due to Will Fidler’s strong play and the difficult adjustment period of both Newton and Mossakowski.

HT to John Clay for the YouTube

I had pretty much expected that Mossakowski would redshirt this season, but in the back of my mind I always believed Newton would take the backup job and even see the field in a change of pace capacity. We’ll see how this pans out in the coming weeks. Brooks doesn’t need to make a decision soon, so it could stretch out for a while.

-Top 2010 target Brandon Knight will not be at UK’s Big Blue Madness this year, which comes as a disappointment. Even more disappointing is that he will instead visit Kansas for Late Night in the Phog. I still feel good about UK’s chances here, but Bill Self is good at what he does.

-One top 2010 recruit that has escaped mention here on the Pinkie is Enes Kanter. Kanter is a 6-10 Turkish forward who last week decided to forgo the opportunity to earn millions playing in Europe right now to attend DeAndre Liggins former school, Findlay Prep, and eventually play college ball here in the States.

Kanter is widely regarded as one of the top European prospects around and instantly becomes a top 20 (and likely even higher) talent in this year’s class. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, is all over him, and he will have quite a task in even beginning to trim a list of schools that includes every major program.  He will play one year of high school before moving on to college, and could make a decision as early as this fall.

It’s really a complete guessing game at this point as to which schools he will consider, but when he does move forward, things are going to happen quickly. Keep an eye out for news soon.

Here’s a video of Kanter that I found of his performance in the FIBA Europe U-18 Tournament. He won MVP honors with double-double performance after double-double performance.

-Finally, I bring to you a fun link to blog post by Jeff Goodman. Goodman interviewed DeMarcus Cousins’ high school coach, Otis Hughley, and discussed UK freshman point guard Eric Bledsoe at length. Hughley (who may have fallen into the trap of exagerration a bit) said Bledsoe “may be better” than John Wall.

We all know Bledsoe is awesome and has been consistently impressive all summer, perhaps giving John Wall more competition in pickup games than he’ll see in almost any game this season. However, John Wall is John Wall, and it’s hard to imagine him being upstaged by anyone. Even so, both may be point guards, but everyone expects the two to play and play well together:

Bledsoe, an Alabama native, single-handedly knocked off LeFlore in the state semifinals.

“He beat us by himself,” Hughley said. “John (Wall) couldn’t have done what that boy did.”

“He killed us,” Cousins added. “Destroyed us. He was a one-man show.”

Trust me, it’s not that Hughley isn’t a Wall fan. In fact, Hughley feels as though Wall and Bledsoe could quickly become the top backcourt in America.

As if we needed another reason to get excited about basketball season.

“That’s what they’re going to do,” Hughley said. “They’re going to play together.”