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Kentucky Recruit DeMarcus Cousins

Demarcus Cousins when discussions arise regarding the 2009 Kentucky Wildcats Men’s basketball recruiting class. There’s plenty of material on point guard prospect John Wall, but the remaining recruiting class articles I see discuss Coach John Calipari’s team as a whole without getting into much depth on each player other than what their Rivals, ESPN, or Scout.com rank is for each player. So, after writing a bit about Darnell Dodson yesterday, this article is an attempt to fill you in a bit on star post player, DeMarcus Cousins that we’ll see playing for the Wildcats in the 2009-10 season.

2009 Kentucky Basketball Recruiting – DeMarcus Cousins’s Background

DeMarcus Cousins is ranked as high as the number 2 overall player in the 2009 NCAA recruiting classes. His trail to Kentucky was a bit more complex than home-grown, Jon Hood’s. Coursins originally committed to UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) verbally because he was close with their head coach, Mike Davis and it meant he could stay home and play college basketball. Demarcus Cousins kept this commitment for a good part of the year, but when he asked UAB to formally agree to let him out of his commitment if Mike Davis left the head coaching position, the University declined, so he re-opened his recruitment in the fall of 2008. He then committed to Memphis after visiting campus. Then, of course we all know that Coach Calipari left Memphis for Kentucky, and Cousin’s took advantage of the clause in his LOI with Memphis to follow Cal north to Lexington.

2009 Kentucky Basketball Recruiting – Demarcus Cousin’s Skill-Set

Demarcus Cousin’s is 6’9”260lbs. He is a beast of a player who is going to be scary playing alongside Patrick Patterson and Daniel Orton. He’s already assessed as a solid passer and is adept in the low and high post and can dominate a game when he is focused. Since no player is perfect except for MJ right? The only knock you really read about regarding Demarcus Cousins is that his focus can sometimes waiver during a game if not playing a strong opponent. Is this going to matter when he’s playing good competition at the NCAA level? Who’s to say. With Kentucky’s front court depth and leadership of Patrick Patterson though, its unlikely we’ll see many visible issues of this that aren’t immediately handled by Patterson or the coaching staff. It is going to be fun to see Patterson-Cousins-Orton next season though!

View the Demarcus Cousins Fan Site

Refs:

http://www.binarybasketball.com/2009/03/the-demarcus-cousins-recruiting-saga/, http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/recruiting/basketball/mens/news/story?id=4051615, http://www.zagsblog.com/2009/05/22/calipari-lands-top-ranked-class/, http://insider.espn.go.com/ncb/recruiting/tracker/player?page=onthetrail&recruitId=43924&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fncb%2frecruiting%2ftracker%2fplayer%3fpage%3donthetrail%26recruitId%3d43924#, http://www.demarcuscousins.org/,

Josh Pastner, Memphis Coach

Well, it hasn’t even been a week since I wrote Is Josh Pastner a Better Recruiter than Coacl Cal, when Coach Pastner turns around and signs Will and Antonio Barton, two star guards in the 2010 recruiting class. Will is ranked as the number 7 overall rated player in his high school class. Coach Pastner was able to sign the Barton brothers in direct competition with Coach John Calipari and the Kentucky Wildcats. The Memphis, Commercial Appeal reported that the brothers signed with Memphis after the recent SAT issues of NBA guard Derek Rose came to light with Coach Cal appearing to be complicated in the matter. Will Barton is expected to compete for a starting spot with Memphis immediately in the 2010-100 season and his brother will likely be a role player for his first year or so on the team.

2010 Memphis Tiger Basketball Recruiting Class
#1 – 2010 Memphis Tiger Basketball Recruit – SG – Will Barton
Ht: 6′6″
Wt: 170lbs
Rank: 7
Will Barton is a dominating guard who has game changing impact in multiple facets of a basketball game. He’s not afraid of contact in the pain and is able to finish strong at thte rim. He has great size for a guard at 6′6″ and is able to score from all over the court. Will brings a good outside shot as well and is considered an excellent defender as well. Considered to be very coachable, Barton is one of the top-rated prospects in the 2010 class and could very well end up as the number 1 overall 2010 prospect.

#2 – 2010 Memphis Tiger Basketball Recruit – PG – Antonio Barton
Ht: 6′2″
Wt:170lbs
Rank: 3 Star
Antonio is a bit shorter than his brother but still brings good size at 6′2″ tall. He’s a great combination guard prospect who is playing the point on his AAU and school teams. Able to beat his opponents on the dribble and create shots for teammates and himself. Antonio brings decent ball handling and a good basketball IQ to the mix as well. Antonio is not as strong of a defender as is brother, however, and that is the area of his game that requires the most improvement.

View the True Blue Tiger video interviewof the Barton Brothers here.