Daniels to UConn, Roster Movement in Louisville & Lots of Recruiting News

The long winding road that was DeAndre Daniels’ recruiting process appears to over.  Broken by Evan Daniels of Scout.com, the Class of 2011 wing from IMG Academy verballed to Connecticut yesterday.

DeAndre Daniels will likely be a Husky. Nothing has been certain throughout his recruiting process.

Daniels, the best player left in the Class of 2011 by a wide margin was originally committed to Texas from July of 2009 to August of 2010. He was also formerly a member of the Class of 2010 before reclassifying to 2011. After his decommitment from the Longhorns, Daniels’ recruitment was all over the place. Texas, Kansas and Duke all traded places as the “favorite” in his recruitment. Just over a week ago, Daniels said he backed away from Duke and was considering Oregon, San Diego State and Kansas - UConn was nowhere in sight.

Chalk up the commitment as a steal for Jim Calhoun and his staff. Daniels will fill the 10th and final scholarship available to the Huskies (three have been docked due to NCAA violations).

Daniels expects to sign a financial aid agreement with Connecticut in the coming days.

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In an extremely interesting move, Louisville head coach Rick Pitino has decided to dock a  combined 22.6PPG, including his top remaining scorer, Kyle Kuric, to walk-on status.

Along with Kuric, Pitino announced at a press conference yesterday morning that Chris Smith and Elisha Justice would also be relegated from the list of scholarship players.

This move seems pretty harsh for Kuric and Smith, who were major contributors for Louisville last season. The argument to defend Pitino’s moving of Smith off of a scholarship is that he was recruited as a walk-on, fair enough. In Justice’s case, he hasn’t exactly earned a scholarship, touche. But I’m just not seeing it for Kuric – not one bit.

From what I’ve gathered, Kuric was not exactly recruited to Louisville as a walk-on, despite what the linked story above claims. Yesterday, Kuric was asked about giving up his scholarship and didn’t seem too angry. I’ll be angry for him.

Kuric was the Cardinals’ second leading scorer last season – how doesn’t that deserve a scholarship? Instead of giving Kuric a well deserved scholarship, Pitino signed 2011 SG Kevin Ware last month.

Kuric averaged 10.8PPG as a Cardinal last season.

While that same blurb from the Courier-Journal says that there was a mutual agreement that Kuric’s scholarship was not permanent, I highly doubt that Pitino really “needed the scholarship”. Please.  Kevin Ware is a very good player, but hes not a McDonalds All-American.

You’re that heartless Pitino? You couldn’t pass on a late addition to your recruiting class for a member of your Louisville family who has played his heart out for you?

Shame on you.

As Omar Little from The Wire would say, “Its all in the game.”

For a ton of recruiting updates, commitments and coaching moves, follow the jump.

Commitments:

• 2011 forward Seth Gearhart committed to Rice today.
• 2011 forward Marcus Hopper committed to Siena today while on a visit.
• 2011 SG Isaiah McCray, a former Colgate commit, is headed to IPFW.

Transfer Wire:

• UConn transfer Jamal Coombs-McDaniel is visiting Hofstra this weekend.
• Purdue forward Patrick Bade is transferring to… the football team. He averaged 6.8MPG last season as a sophomore.

Coaching Carousel:

• Arkansas assistant Tom Ostrom is joining the Dayton staff.
• UCLA’s hiring of Atlantic Celtics coach Korey McCray is official.

Recruiting Updates:

2012 wing Winston Shepard is considering Oklahoma State, UNLV , New Mexico, Kansas, Kentucky, Texas, Memphis, UCLA and San Diego State … 2012 forward Amile Jefferson picked up an offer from NC State …  2013 guard Tyler Roberson has heard from Virginia Tech and Florida recently … 2012 forward Mitch McGary visited Maryland yesterday … 2014 guard Jared Terrell spoke with Virginia Tech and Florida on Monday … 2012 guard Gabe York’s top ten:  Marquette, Notre Dame, Kansas, UNLV, Washington, Memphis, Arizona, Louisville, UCONN and Oklahoma … 2012 wing Alex Poythress was offered  by Louisville and West Virginia last night … 2012 Daren Montgomery plans on visiting Louisville sometime this month … 2012 center Ramon Johnson is now hearing from Ohio … 2013 forward Steven Haney visited Detroit yesterday and was offered. He is visiting Michigan tomorrow … 2013 PG Derrick Walton visited Michigan State yesterday … 2012 forward Terry Brutus took another unofficial visit to Iona yesterday … 2014 guard Tadric Jackson has offers from Georgia, Georgia Tech and Florida … Miami (FL) is the first school to offer 2014 Joel Berry … 2012 guard Michael Ramey picked up offers from Tulane and James Madison in the last week … 2012 SG Shawn Lester was offered by Charlotte on Monday … 2012 forward Dejan Kravic is officially visiting Rice today … 2012 PG Ray Lee has a Top 7 of Xavier, Georgia, Tennessee, UCF, Texas, Iowa State and Clemson … 2012 guard Martavious Newby plans on visiting Florida soon … 2012 forward Stephon Mosley is now receiving interest from Tulane … 2012 Jodan Price picked up an offer from St. Joseph’s … 2012 guard Michael Avery has spoken with Quinnipiac, Brown. St. Mary’s and Penn recently … 2014 wing Shaun Thompson has received interest from Wake Forest, East Carolina and Clemson …  Cleveland State recently offered 2012 Barnett Harris … 2012 PG Montay Brandon spoke with staff from Nebraska, Miami (FL) and Florida State on Monday … 2013 PG Khalil Dukes spoke with staff from St. Joseph’s and Penn yesterday … Providence received visits from Zach Auguste (2012), Noah Vonleh (2013) and Wayne Selden (2014) yesterday … 2012 center Marshall Guilmette was offered by Richmond at their elite camp … 2013 forward Javion Oguynemi spoke with Virginia Tech last night … Rhode Island decommit Dominique Bull (2012, guard) is being recruited hard by BYU, Hofstra, VCU and Miami (FL) … 2012 guard Katin Reinhardt, a USC decommit, has offers from Arizona and Arizona State … 2012 guard Eric Fanning has heard from Penn, George Mason, Quinnipiac, Boston, Vermont and Rice within the past two days …