Duke target Acaden Lewis has cut his list to four and it’s Duke, UNC, Kentucky and UConn.
According to Paul Biancardi, when asked to describe the coaches of those four schools, he chose these words:
- Danny Hurley: “Passionate”
- Hubert Davis: “Family”
- Jon Scheyer: “Focused”
- Mark Pope: “Interesting”
There’s no indication yet about how he’s leaning but being in the Final Four is pretty good. Obviously the other three schools are going to be serious competition, although at this point it’s fair to say that UNC isn’t what it once was. In 1982, the Heels had James Worthy, Sam Perkins and Michael Jordan; in a couple of years, Dean Smith would bring in Brad Daugherty and Kenny Smith.
Former UNC players in the NBA right now are listed below:
- Cole Anthony
- Armando Bacot
- Harrison Barnes
- Cameron Johnson
- Walker Kessler
- Day’Ron Sharpe
- Coby White
- Harrison Ingram
UNC is still a dangerous program, but it’s a long way from the glory years.
We don’t know yet what Mark Pope’s program will be like, so at this point, if you commit to Kentucky, you commit on faith. Not that there’s anything wrong with that – it’s exactly what Jay Bilas, Johnny Dawkins and the class of 1986 did. But not everyone is willing to do that with a new coach.
To be clear, Pope had a bigger job at BYU than Mike Krzyzewski had at Army, so he had a better chance to make his name. Kentucky is a very different situation obviously, as we saw during his press conference, which saw Wildcat fans fill up Rupp Arena. There’s good and bad in that, but Pope knows the realities at Kentucky as well as anyone.
And of course Danny Hurley has done a remarkable job at UConn, so he’s a formidable competitor.
