Marquis Teague Decides: Top 2011 Recruit Picks Kentucky, Spurns Louisville

The rich just keep getting richer, at least on the college basketball scene. A week after landing Brandon Knight, the top-rated player in the 2010 class, John Calipari has reeled in one of the top prospects in the 2011 class, Marquis Teague, according to Scout.com (via John Clay of the Lexington Herald-Leader).

While it’s certainly no shock to see Calipari land a top player, the details of Teague’s recruitment make his verbal commitment today especially sweet for the Big Blue faithful (and, as a corollary, a stomach-punch for Louisville fans). Rick Pitino had been on a two-year quest to get Teague to commit to donning Louisville’s colors, and that, combined with the fact that Teague’s father had played for Pitino at Louisville, made the Cardinals the odds-on favorites to land the talented guard -- until that is, Calipari swooped in. Rumors circulated that Lebron James had even called Teague to pitch Kentucky (James’ marketing company recently signed former Wildcat John Wall, so the Global Icon appears to have a standing relationship with Calipari), as a sign of how acrimonious and heated his recruitment became among the in-state rivals. With Teague seeming like all but a sure thing to commit to Kentucky shortly before his official announcement, SB Nation’s Card Chronicle wondered what, if anything else, Pitino could have done: