Garrett Tucker:
Future150 Southeast Analyst. Covering high school basketball across the Southeast.
Dallas, TX (Future150) -- On Tuesday, 2013 Prestonwood Christian (Tex.) power forward Julius Randle cut his list down to six schools: Kentucky, NC State, Florida, Kansas, Texas, and Oklahoma.
The biggest news isn't necessarily the schools remaining on his list, but the schools Randle cut.
Duke, North Carolina, Baylor, and Oklahoma State were removed from Randle's original list of ten schools.
From a glance, it is easy to say that Kentucky is now undoubtedly the team to beat for his services. From the sounds of things close to the situation, Calipari and crew blew the in-home visit out of the water, and Randle's visit to Lexington was the cherry on top.
However, this could also begin a domino effect for the other schools involved, primarily Duke and North Carolina. Both schools have had positive vibes in the past.
With Randle cutting them, it looks like Duke will officially turn its full attention to its No. 1 big man target in Austin Nichols.
Nichols, ranked No. 14 in the 2013 Future150 rankings, will take his official visit to Durham this weekend. He also is considering Virginia, Memphis, and Tennessee.
Right down Tobacco Road, North Carolina will also turn its head to another big man.
Expect Roy Williams and his staff to make newly re-classified combo forward Noah Vonleh their primary target. Vonleh also lists Indiana, UConn, UCLA, and Ohio State, among others.
It is also worth noting the advances of NC State on the recruiting trail. Mark Gottfried has beat out some of the top schools in the country for several recruits in the past few years, including Rodney Purvis, T.J. Warren, and Anthony Barber.
Expect Randle's cut to affect a lot of other players and programs. We could be approaching a very entertaining month of recruiting in October.
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