Arkansas guard not coming to USF

Arkansas freshman guard Nate Rakestraw, who is transferring after one season with the Razorbacks, will not be transferring to USF, his mother Jan said Friday.

Rakestraw, a 6-foot-4 guard who played in 11 games but did not score this past season, signed with USF coach Stan Heath when he was at Arkansas, making the Bulls a potential destination for him. His mother said Nate had spoken with Heath this week but was told the Bulls didn't have any available scholarships for a transfer guard.

Official campus visits will resume next weekend, as nearly all coaches are at the Final Four in San Antonio for the next few days. The spring signing period, which starts April 16, is now less than two weeks away ...

Comments

[AGW]

Well I guess that means that we need Simmons even more now that are options are limited. We also need to get some size in for OFFICIAL visits. We will know how serious these players are very shortly if they decide to come to Tampa. Hopefully, some players will decide to transfer or get out of their LOI's with all the coaching movement. Then maybe USF can benefit. Go Bulls!

[AGW]

We need SIZE, SIZE and more SIZE. So anybody aver 6-10 with decent size and cordination, look at USF. You will play ASAP because we have no one else available. We are in the Big East big fellas. And a good coach to boot. Sutton, Goins, Akol, Ben-Eze, Faber, Patillo, etc. come check us out down in Tampa. At least here you will play, early and often, unlike at UCONN, Kentucky, Indiana, Minnesota (whose signed 3 bigs already), and Pittsburg.

[The Champ]

AGW it is like I told you a couple of days ago that Rakestraw would be a day late and a dollar short when it comes to USF at this stage.If Rakestraw who I do like btw, had gotten out of his LOI last year when Heath became the HC at USF he would be on scholarship here and a contributor.

AGW you said yourself that Heath is going hard after '09 prospect Kenny Boyton so if they want any chance at all with him they cannot have another '09 guard on the roster despite Boyton being wayy better then Rakestraw, the numbers would hurt usf with any '09 guard they have been recruiting for the last few months.

USF needs a shooter for the '08-'09 season and last I check Simmons is still in play.There will be other names pop up should we loose Simmons that fit what USF needs to finish off the backcourt before next season.

It isn't looking good for Sutton since his favorite school(UK) offered him a scholarship.Look for him to commit around April 19th at the Derby Classic.Darius Miller and DeAndre Liggins will be his teammates that weekend and both are UK signees.

At last word Krys Faber may be visiting USF next weekend and if that happens things make turnout good there.

[AGW]

Champ, as I said before now that Rakestarw is out, Simmons is a go for us. If not, like you said other guards will come available as we go along. I also hope you are right about Faber coming to USF next weekend. That would be great. He is exactly what we need here. Get those two and another big and we will be just fine come 08'-09'. If fact if we get Simmons, Faber and one of the previously discussed bigs or even a big like Steven Toyloy, James Tyler, Marcus Goode, Travis George or Jamie Vanderbeken mix we will be better than last year, even without Gransberry.

[Dave W]

Eh, I didn't want him. We need immediate help for next season. What would be the point of adding a guy to sit out a year? Especially a guy who would never be a stud in the Big East? I think that Stan can dig up a guy like Rakestraw in next year's class pretty easily.

Faber seems like the answer to the C question. Mercer, Jones, et al will produce plenty of offense. Faber clearly has the ability to clean up their misses and be a force in the middle on defense. If he can shoot from 12 feet and get the outlet pass down quickly, he could be perfect for Stan.

[reality]

i cant believe how little some of you value KG..........0-18 is a distinct possibility at this point.........

[reality]

at this point. UT, Saint Leo and Florida Southern have better frontcourts than usf......

[mike]

lol reality, you truly are an idiot

[Tad]

Yahoo sports has a link to a Rivals story on the football team. Nothing new, though, but a decent write up.

[Herman Momart]

I don't know why you would call a reality an idiot. I don't see one thing he wrote that is wrong.

Loss of KG is going to destroy our middle.

With 0 big men 0-18 wont be a possibility it will be a reality.

And those schools along with some high schools DO have a better front court than us right now.

We need some good news on the recruiting tip or its going to be another loooooong season.

[mike]

if you think ut, saint leo and florida southern have better frontcourts than usf, pee wee herman you're just as big of an idiot as reality

[Herman Momart]

Pee Wee Herman...thats a good one, you must be a comedian.

Mike can you name our frontcourt right now? We dont even have one. Chin, Ayaba (sp?) and Espinosa.....I would say UT, St. Leo and Florida SOuthern cant be much worse than that, those guys belong on those teams. I think every NYC large high school program has a better frontcourt than that. We know Heath is still going to land a recruit or 2 to fill those needs but right now Reality is 100% right.

Lets see if you can backup your idiotic comments by proving we have a good frontcourt right now.

[reality]

All of the frontcourt players at this point are talk. And as days go by, you see that Heath has very little in the way of help coming. Champ, who has to be relted to Heath is talking about a 2 guard being a key recruit.....that scares me. A key recruit would be one who is 6 ft 8 and can rebound and play defense.

Unless you have Foye, Ray, Lowery and Nardi, you are not going to win with 4 guards. And those teams had quality big guys, which USF doesnt have ONE!

[Ari Hinkelberger]

This mike guy likes to call people an idiot.

I bet he didn't make it to one game all year.

Ari - a seson ticket holder.

[The Champ]

If any of you think or believe that not signing a shooter is important then you don't know basketball.I don't care if USF had Samardo Samuels coming in without a shooter the team will find it hard to score in the halfcourt facing all kinds of zone defenses.We just had Gransberry didn't we and still struggled to score in the halfcourt at times even while Jones was sensational.If USF had any good outside shooting last year they would have easily made the Big East Tourney and played in the NIT at the very least.

All USF needs is a shooter and two Bigs that can defend and rebound, pass, catch and finish.They don't need to be able to do anything else but that.Now Faber would be perfect for for what USF needs.Get him and Simmons plus any other Big and this would be a very good kickoff class for Heath.

[AGW]

I agree Champ. Right on with that comment. If we get a shooter and 2 more bigs that can do those things, we will be alright in 09'.

[Bill]

I've done some research on Jeremie Simmons and everyone seems to think he is going to commit to Butler this coming weekend. I don't understand how Butler leads because I can't find any info on them being the leader for him

[reality]

Yes, that is the point, we had KG, who was a 20 and 10 guy, and we still were horrible. you lose that guy, and so far have replaced him with nothing.....and you expect better than 0-18..........Champ, tell your dad to get some players in here with size....

[The Champ]

Heath has a son that is about 12 years old, LOL, you mean that a kid knows more about basketball then a grown man.

Myself and AWG have clearly stated what needs to happen with recruiting.RODFL at you not able to follow the way usf is trying to recruit.

[reality]

And you expect me to believe you are not 12 when you write some code like RODFL.....

I will give credit to your schooling though, because your sentence structure is pretty good for a 12 year old, especially in this day and age when writing has been destroyed by texting and instant messaging.

[The Champ]

Since you obviously have nothing to itelligent add to this "BASKETBALL COLUMN" why don't you go find some other board and topic to post on.

[Ari Hinkelberger]

inteligent.. itelligent....itellagent

same thing

[reality]

I am waiting, when are we getting announcements in regards to verbal commitments. Teague is not going to dominate down low, hate to break it to you. It is nice to get a kid from South Jersey, but he will not be enough. Everyone else Greg has mentioned is leaning somewhere else. Next year looks awfully bleak, and all you can do is call me unintelligent, or at least try to.

[G.A.]

Not everyone is leaning somewhere else. Teeng Akol has USF as his No. 1. Others have USF in the mix and no clear-cut leader. Lots still in play in the next week or two ...

[mike]

reality is unintelligent

[AGW]

GA,
Do you know if Akol is going to come to USF for an official visit? I know he was here for the ND game for an unofficial, but it would be nice to get him to come in with Faber and Ben-Eze. Having them come in together and share the experience and be able to envision themselves playing together would really help with their recruitment I believe. Hopefully, CSH can make that happen next weekend. Any possibility? Have you heard any news about any new or exisitng potential recruits? Thanks.

[The Champ]

I await word to because things should really start to shakeup once the championship game is over and the late signing period is almost upon us.

Don't discount the coaching moment that is about to start happening having an effect on our recruiting one way or the other.Hopfully it helps us get a player that was looking at a certain school but the coach that was recruiting him is fired or leaves for another job.

It also can hurt because a high profile coach that takes another job will need players to fill out his roster at his new home.

[The Champ]

Might have to revisit this topic G.A. as Rakestraw to USF could still be a possibility if certain things don't go USF's way with Simmons.

Just saying don't close the book just yet.

[reality]

Mr. Simmons, your new starting 2 guard for Butler.

[Nailz]

Wrong, Reality. More like Simmons 6th man or potential starter for the Ohio St. Buckeyes. Cant find the article now but on one of the Michigan sites it said that OSU was hot and heavy after him. When they come calling everybody ducks and covers. Few beat Thad Matta in recruiting.

[The Champ]

Nailz nailed it.The Ohio State University has serious interest in Simmons and trust me usf rather deal with any school in the Big East for recruits instead of Ohio State.As Nailz said few and I mean few beat Thad Matta in recruiting.He may not be a great floor coach but he is one of the best when it comes to recruiting.