–– 4 Louisville offers make it into group of Elite 24
The Under Armour Elite 24 is a celebration of streetball’s past, present and future. This event has existed for 6 years and has become one of the premiere events of the summer. The first four were at Rucker Park, and the last three at Venice Beach. This years event will be back in New York for the first time since 2009. The 8th annual game tonight will be played outside under the Brooklyn Bridge at the historic Tobacco Warehouse. It is in my opinion one of the coolest venues for a basketball game that I’ve ever seen.
Among the 24 high school prospects picked are Louisville offers Kelly Oubre, and Myles Turner in the 2014 class. Stephen Zimmerman, and Cheick Diallo in the class of 2015.
Upside was a word used all summer long to describe Oubre. He recently cut his list to UConn, Florida, Louisville, Kentucky, Kansas, Georgetown, Oregon and UNLV. Says he will trim it again by the start of his high school season. Louisville remains in the mix despite having commitments from two 2014 guards. Oubre told SNY that he would be a “a scorer, and vocal leader,” he said. “Shaqquan Aaron and JaQuan Lyle are both great players but I think we could all play in the same back-court.” Oubre is an extremely valuable and versatile performer who can do damage from the 4-spot when his team goes small.
Myles Turner announced a final eight of Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisville, Arizona, Ohio State, Oklahoma State and Texas. Says he plans to verbally commit to college in “January or February” and won’t sign until the late signing period. Basically, the buzz on him began in April and climaxed at the NBPA Top 100 Camp in June. In the span of months, he went from unranked to a top prospect in the 2014 class. He has mentioned to several sources that he will take all of his officials so we’ll see if he makes it to Louisville.
It’s early in the race for the signature of top 2015 center Stephen Zimmerman, but Louisville is firmly in the mix. He has continued to turn heads with a rare combination of size, skill and athletic ability. He is a true 7-footer with fluid athleticism and a soft touch facing the basket on offense. On defense he looks to block shots and rebound with competitiveness. Zimmerman’s combination of skill and size makes him a future pro prospect.
He caught the eye of the Louisville staff at the Nike EYBL event in Hampton, VA back in April and was offered a scholarship. We know Pitino’s success with African-born bigs and this guys has been described as further ahead of the curve than others that have come before him. He has been describes as a double-double machine and as a shark in the water on defense who is looking for his next meal. I think you will see the recruitment of this kid pick up next summer and think he will highly consider the Cards.
It is a slow sports weekend as we all prepare for the college football season to begin, and tonight will be a great chance to see some guys that could be wearing the Cardinal red in the future. It will also be the last major event for these underclassmen as the next time most of them will be on the court in competition will be for their high school teams. The game airs live on ESPNU at 7
p.m.