Rick Pitino In Hot Pursuit For A Point Guard

Just a few months ago, the point guard position at the University of Louisville seemed to be set. Senior Peyton Siva would enter his final season while freshman Terry Rozier would serve as the back-up. The coaching staff didn’t appear to have pressure to add another point guard in the 2013 class, with 2014 5-star Quentin Snider already committed. Things have certainly changed.

It may be too soon to call it a desperation move, but it certainly appears that the staff is now in hot pursuit of a point guard in the 2013 class. Rick Pitino spoke with WDRB’s Eric Crawford recently and stated that 2012 signee Terry Rozier has a “50-50” shot at qualifying. Just a couple of months ago Pitino didn’t appear to be concerned what-so-ever. With all of the scholarships that have been offered to point guards in recent weeks, I’d say Pitino and staff are not very confident in Rozier making it to campus in the fall. We won’t know for sure until August, but it certainly doesn’t look good at this point.

I would assume that if Rozier doesn’t qualify, he will likely go to prep school and join Louisville’s 2013 class. However, that’s not something you can be sure of, which has coach Pitino leaving his options open.

Three of the top ten point guards in the 2013 class now have scholarship offers from Louisville.

Tyler Ennis, a 5-star prospect from Canada has been on Louisville’s radar for quite some time. He’s listed Louisville for well over a year now, but he never appeared to be the highest priority for the coaching staff.

Anthony “Cat” Barber, a 5-star prospect from Hampton, VA., is the highest rated point guard on Louisville’s radar at this point. He currently has Louisville in his top three, along with Kansas and Alabama.

Demetrius Jackson is the newest point guard to receive an offer from Rick Pitino. Jackson, a 4-star prospect from Mishawaka, IN., reportedly picked up an offer on Monday evening. He put on a very impressive performance over the weekend at the Adidas Invitational in Indianapolis, which led to the Louisville offer. Jackson also has offers from Kansas, Memphis, Illinois, Florida State, Michigan State, Butler, and Notre Dame.

Louisville will be fine at the point guard position in 2012-13, with Peyton Siva likely being one of the top floor generals in the country. However, if Rozier fails to qualify and the Cards don’t land a point guard in the 2013 class, Louisville will be pretty thin in 2013-14. Russ Smith and Tim Henderson would be the only capable point guards on the roster. Russ can run the point, but I think we can all agree that he fits much better at the off-guard position.

It’s unlikely that any of the current Louisville targets make a decision before the end of the month, but this is certainly a crucial time for the coaching staff.