DeAndre Daniels Could Play At UK This Year

DeAndre Daniels Could Play at Kentucky This Year

by Chip Miller, Nation Of Blue

August 19th, 2010 07:33 PM

"Oh, yeah, he’s interested in them. Absolutely."

That was the statement made by DeAndre Daniels High School Coach, Derrick Taylor, when asked about Kentucky, which he visited last summer and really liked.

In unexpected news, five-star recruit DeAndre Daniels, "has in fact been cleared to play immediately in 2010", this according to his Head Coach Taylor at Taft High School.

DeAndre is a 6-8, 180lb Small Forward out of Taft High School in Woodland Hills, California. Rivals has him ranked as the 10th best overall player in the Class of 2011.

With his sudden emergence as a possible option for 2010, the College basketball world has been turned upside down and Kentucky wasted no time getting an offer to DeAndre.

Coach Orlando Antigua made the call and offered him a scholarship, after having reviewed his transcripts.

"They want him in now," Taylor said. "They’re very interested, and they’d like to have him this year."

Taylor said he thinks a decision will be made very quickly, like maybe even tonight, between Daniels and his dad if he wants to go to college right now, prep school or go another year at Taft in L.A.

Taylor is encouraging him to go on and go to college.

When asked what his favorite colleges were, Taylor said "They don’t really have any. They like all those schools, which is kind of cool. But they have to go quick. If they want to try to get in the 2010 class, I want him to pull the trigger really soon about which schools he’s interested in."

Taylor said he thinks a decision will be made very quickly, like maybe even tonight, between Daniels and his dad if he wants to go to college right now, prep school or go another year at Taft in L.A.

The current list of schools that have offered a scholarship for 2010 includes: Memphis, UTEP, St. John's, UCLA, UNLV and now Kentucky.

So how exactly did Daniels become eligible, just all of a sudden. Here's the story as reported by Steve Jones at the Cats Pause:

"Daniels is really a 2010 kid, but he missed a significant amount of school as a sophomore while he and his father cared for his sick grandfather. While Daniels' dad work, Daniels took care of his grandfather, who had cancer, so he missed like a semester of school and then didn't play basketball as a junior. That's the way I understand the situation went.

So because of that hardship, Daniels has been classified as a junior when really he is a senior in age. They were awaiting a waiver to grant an extra year of athletic eligibility, but while they've waited, Daniels has taken lots of summer and night classes, and has become eligible to be a part of the 2010 class. "

So there you have it, a wild story and a wild situation, but one that could make Kentucky that much stronger going into the 2010-11 season, if in fact Daniels is eligible to play immediately.

Coach Calipari had mentioned several times that he might add another player to the current roster. With no recent announcements, it appeared the Cats were going into the year with an 11 man squad. That could all change in a matter of hours, depending on Daniels decision to enter college, go to a prep school or stay in High School another year.

Could DeAndre Daniels have been the recruit Coach Calipari was talking about? I would think not...