College Basketball Recruiting: Jabari Parker Still Likes Stanford

• 9 months ago
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Marcus Lee's Top 3: Kentucky, Louisville, Cal

The California Golden Bears basketball team has landed two big California recruits for the 2013 recruiting class. They landed elite forward Jabari Bird and shooting guard Jordan Matthews to give the Bears two big talents to nail down the foundation of a top-25 recruiting class. Now they need to find some big men to pair up with these talents.

The big target other than Aaron Gordon has to be Marcus Lee from Deer Valley High in Antioch, Calif. Lee is an elite power forward who holds offers from Duke, Indiana, Kansas, and UCLA, but he has a top three that includes California, Kentucky and Louisville. The big issue with Lee might be whether Kentucky extends an offer as they are the only one of the three schools that has yet to give the big man a look. However, Lee must really like what he sees from Kentucky (a national championship might help) if he's willing to keep them that high up on his personal ranking. He will be meeting the Wildcats soon enough on an in-home visit as well as an official visit.

Talk about Cal basketball recruiting by heading on over to the California Golden Blogs, Kentucky basketball recruiting by checking out A Sea of Blue, and Louisville basketball recruiting at Card Chronicle.

• 9 months ago
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Aaron Gordon Top 5: Arizona, Kansas, Kentucky, Oregon, Washington

Aaron Gordon is probably the most spectacular player on the West Coast for the 2013 recruiting class and appears to be an instant game-changer for any college basketball program. Where will the Archbishop Mitty star from San Jose end up playing in college?

According to a report from Steve Jones of the Louisville Courier-Journal, Gordon has set up his official visits to his top five schools. You'd have to think these are the favorites in winning his recruitment. The Arizona Wildcats, Kansas Jayhawks, Kentucky Wildcats, Oregon Ducks, and Washington Huskies are those listed in contention. Gordon had in-home visits with Arizona and Kentucky this week, will have more in-home visits with Washington and Kansas later on, and will start taking his official campus visits in late September and early October.

Gordon also recently took an unofficial visit to Cal. The Bears are probably an underdog in his recruitment, although Gordon is good friends with recent Cal commitment Jabari Bird. Stanford was also considered one of Gordon's early favorites and he's also taken an unofficial visit to Palo Alto.

Talk about Gordon's recruitment with with Cal fans at California Golden Blogs and with Stanford fans at Rule of Tree.

• 10 months ago
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Jabari Bird Recruiting: Salesian Forward Commits To Cal

Jabari Bird has made the decision everyone expected him to make and committed to Cal. The Salesian small forward announced his decision at his high school earlier today. Bird picked Cal over Pac-12 schools like Arizona, Colorado, Oregon and Washington, cancelling his visits to those other schools after a trip to Berkeley this past weekend as he made his official to Cal. That trip was enough to convince him he wanted to be a Bear.

"It was just hanging out with the team," Bird said. "It was getting to know them a little bit better. I got to be on campus a lot more. I just knew that Cal was the place for me to be."

Bird is considered to be one of the top basketball recruits in the Bay Area along with Aaron Gordon, and is a consensus top-20 national recruit. Bird competed in the Elite 24 a few weeks ago in Long Beach, and is likely to be in the running for McDonald's All-American Honors. Bird will be Mike Montgomery's first five-star recruit at Cal. He is Cal's first five-star recruit since Leon Powe picked the Bears under a decade ago.

Talk about Bird and Cal basketball recruiting over at the California Golden Blogs, and Pac-12 basketball recruiting at Pacific Takes.

• 10 months ago
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Jabari Bird Recruiting: Bay Area Star Prospect Cancels Visits, Will Decide Wednesday

Jabari Bird seems to know where he wants to go to school for the next four years. He's all set to make his college decision on Wednesday at Salesian High school in Richmond.

Jabari Bird has cancelled his remaining official visits and will commit on Wednesday at school.

— Dave Telep (@DaveTelep) September 5, 2012

Bird has five schools on his shortlist: Arizona, California, Colorado, Oregon and Washington. He was scheduled to go to four of those schools this month. However, Bird has changed his plans. After making his official visit to Cal this past weekend, he has canceled his visits to Colorado, Oregon and Washington which were coming up later in the month. It's looking like Cal would be the presumed favorite if a decision ended up being made tomorrow.

Bird is considered one of the top-20 recruits in the country and is one of the best small forwards available in the 2013 recruiting class. Bird recently participated in the Elite 24 and acquitted himself well, and he figures to be an impact recruit with whichever Pac-12 school he picks.

Talk about Cal basketball recruiting at the California Golden Blogs, and general Pac-12 basketball recruiting at Pacific Takes.

• 10 months ago
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Aaron Gordon & Jabari Bird To Visit Colorado Together

Two of the nation's best recruits for the 2013 class, Aaron Gordon and Jabari Bird, are considering going to the same college as they take their game to the next level. With just months left before they announce their school of their choosing, the two will take a couple of visits together to check out facilities and campuses all across the west coast.

Gordon, a five-star forward out of Archbishop Mitty HS in San Jose, and Bird, a five-star guard from Salesian HS in Richmond, CA, will visit the University of Colorado next month, according to a report.

Here is the latest from 24/7 Sports:

"I have Cal and Washington as my top two you could say and then there is Colorado and Oregon," Bird said. "Those are my final four schools I will be looking at."

Bird will visit Cal first on September 1st on an official visit before hitting up Colorado on the 8th, Oregon on the 22nd, and finishing his visits at Washington on the 29th of September.

During the Colorado and Washington visits Bird will travel with AAU teammate and friend Aaron Gordon.

"Right now those two visits we will take together," says Bird. "I don't know how to put it, but we aren't a package deal but we are. Don't be shocked to see us both play at the same college. It isn't a required thing but we like all the same schools."

In addition to Bird naming his top schools, Gordon has also announced Arizona and Washington lead in his recruitment. It comes as a bit of a surprise that Colorado will receive a visit from the two highly regarded prospects, although head coach Tad Boyle has been on quite a roll lately with the recruiting trail.

Look for both players to make a decision in the spring as signing day nears.

For more on recruits throughout the Bay Area, check out SB Nation Bay Area's StoryStream for updates.

• 10 months ago
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Kentucky Basketball Recruiting: Marcus Lee Sets In-Home And Official Visit With Wildcats

The Kentucky Wildcats have dominated the recruiting circuit in recent years, pulling in top class after top class. One of the west coast's best prospects, Marcus Lee, has reportedly set up in-home visits with Kentucky, as well as the school they defeated to win the 2012 National Championship, the Kansas Jayhawks.

Here is the latest on Lee and when he and his family will host the coaching staffs from UK and KU.

4-star Calif. PF/C Marcus Lee with has in-home visits scheduled with Kentucky on 9/16 and Kansas 10/6, his brother said. More TBD.

— Steve Jones (@SteveJones_CJ) August 20, 2012

Lee, a 6'9 power forward out of Deer Valley HS in Antioch, California, has offers from just about every relevant program in the country. He is ranked by Rivals as the 33rd best prospect in the class of 2013, good for a four-star ranking from the recruiting site.

In addition to Kentucky and Kansas, Lee has received serious interest from Arizona, California, Duke, Indiana and Louisville, amongst others.

For more on recruits in the Bay Area, stick with this StoryStream. For more on the Wildcats, check out A Sea of Blue.

• 10 months ago
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Jabari Bird, Aaron Gordon, Marcus Lee Visiting Cal September 1st

The California Golden Bears are getting hot on the recruiting trail for the biggest prospects on the West Coast. At least in regards with basketball targets, Cal will be attracting some high quality talent to their school. Some of their big visits could be coming early.

The weekend of September 1st is all lined up for Cal to host the three best prospects in the Bay Area.

• There's athletic wing Jabari Bird from Salesian, a non-stop scorer who's really tough to handle one-on-one. Bird has long considered Cal one of his favorites along with Washington.
• You have elite forward Aaron Gordon from Archbishop Mitty, who might be the most explosive big man on the West Coast. Gordon hasn't mentioned Cal much (if he's interested in any Bay Area school, it's probably Stanford), but he is pals with Bird. However, Gordon's favorite is probably Washington, which could give the Huskies a huge ace in the hole.
• Then there's Marcus Lee from Deer Valley, who has suddenly begun to blow up nationally. Cal was one of the first schools to offer Lee, but the athletic big is receiving interest from big players like Kentucky, Duke, Indiana and Kansas. Lee's commitment this fall would be a huge boon to Cal recruiting.

A commitment from any of these three on this visit would be a huge boon for Cal basketball's lackluster recruiting record.

Talk about Bird, Gordon and Lee with Cal basketball fans by heading on over to the California Golden Blogs. Check out the SB Nation college basketball hub for more comprehensive coverage of NCAA hoops.