Interest Heating Up for Ryan Skovranko
by Garrett Tucker, Future150 (5:29 PM CT, Fri February 15, 2013)

Pittsburgh, PA (Future150) -- Lincoln Park (Penn.) wing Ryan Skovranko is a new name that has made a splash on the recruiting trail in the last week. When word surfaced Tuesday afternoon that Kentucky’s John Calipari was expected to watch him the following day, the national audience’s eyebrow was raised.

Due to the unfortunate injury to star Kentucky freshman Nerlens Noel, Calipari could not make it to see the 2014 shooter on Wednesday. However, expect Kentucky to see him in the future.

“My coach said he was going to speak with them about coming to one of my playoff games in the next few weeks,” Skovranko told Future150.com.

Skovranko, a 6-foot-8 forward, has offers from Virginia Tech, Temple, Duquesne, Elon, Kent State, Liberty, and Quinnipiac, and he is also drawing interest from West Virginia and DePaul.

Kentucky isn’t the only school to catch on to the junior’s sudden spark of interest. A couple of schools have dropped by to see him recently.

“Virginia Tech and Pittsburgh have come by in the past few weeks to see me. I don’t have any visits yet, but I definitely want to take a look at Virginia Tech, as well as West Virginia.”

The Pennsylvania native is being patient with the recruiting process to this point; before making his decision, he would like to take a couple of visits.

“I’d like to have my decision by the middle or end of AAU season. That’s the goal,” he explained.

Skovranko is rather new to the national spotlight, so he described his game:

“I play the 2 and I shoot the ball pretty well. Because of my size, defenders usually play off of me, so it gives me an advantage. But if they play too close, I can also take bigger defenders to the hoop. I also like to get my teammates involved. My strength is my jump shot.”

Behind Skovranko’s jump shot, his Lincoln Park High squad is poised to make another run for the Pennsylvania state championship, where they fell last season.

“The season has been going really well so far. We’re just trying to get back to the championship game like last year, except win it all this time.”