According to Scout.com writer Evan Daniels, DeMarcus Cousins has committed to UK for next season.
Cousins is a 6-foot-9 forward from Mobile, Ala. He originally committed to Memphis, but when Calipari accepted the UK job, Cousins reopened his recruitment.
Cousins called Calipari on Tuesday and informed the newly hired coach of his decision.
“I just committed tonight,” Cousins told Scout.com. “I’m going to UK.”
Cousins is ranked as the No. 6 recruit of 2009 in Scout.com’s rankings. Rivals.com lists Cousins as the No. 2 player in the country. According to Rivals.com, Cousins has the ability to both “dominate the interior” and “operate on the perimeter.”
Cousins’ decision to play for UK came on the same night as Michael Porter’s decision to leave the team. The junior decided Tuesday to forgo his final season of eligibility to concentrate on his family life.
Porter and his wife, Bryana, are expecting their first child sometime this summer. Also, Porter is on schedule to graduate in May, and he hopes to attend graduate school at UK, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal.
Porter’s father, Gary, told the Courier-Journal that the decision was all Michael’s, and Calipari did not pressure him to vacate his scholarship.
Porter started all 36 of the Cats’ games in 2008-09 and averaged 4.1 points per game.
Stay tuned to kykernel.com for more recruiting news and roster updates as they become available.
Good for Michael Porter. It hasn’t always been easy for him here, but I wish him the best of luck. Congratulations on the baby as well.
I think this is only the beginning of UK re-establishing itself as a magnet for the nation’s top recruits. We’ve lost some of that in recent years, and it’s amazing how quickly Calipari has begun to turn that around for us. Would Cousins have chosen UK if Calipari weren’t here, after we didn’t even make it to this year’s NCAA tourney? No way…I think other top players in the country will come to understand that UK is on it’s way back to the top as well, and they’ll want to be a part of that.