Harrison Barnes, the No. 2 player in the Rivals150, has cut his list to six schools.
His list now looks like this: 
North Carolina, Kansas, Duke, Oklahoma, UCLA and Iowa State.
The news was first reported by Eric Bossi via Twitter and confirmed by Barnes and his coach at Ames (Iowa) High, Vance Downs, by text.
Barnes plans to visit North Carolina over Labor Day weekend and Duke in “early fall,” Downs said.
“That’s it so far,” Barnes said regarding visits.
“His potential is “limitless,” Downs said. “He’s as good as they come. First of all, he’s a wing player. He’s all of 6-foot-7 with the wing span of a 7-footer. He’s explosive. He’s got an inside game, an intermediate game and a perimeter game.”
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JessieWildcat / August 24, 2009
AZ,
What should happen to Cali if the AD-Johnson is FIRED by Memphis?
Almost two months ago, USC trojan discussed the release of Johnson.
And know Geoff Cali-kins is finally coming to his senses.
Took YOU long enough.
Come on folks. This AD lied to Josh.
Johnson DID not tell Josh about the NCAA investigation during the hiring process. Seems LIKE a BIG THING to forget to DISCUSS.
From GCalkins…
Geoff Calkins (Contact), Memphis Commercial Appeal
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Think University of Memphis president Shirley Raines has a list of five names in her pocket?
R.C. Johnson said he always did.
A list of basketball and football coaches, just in case he needed to find a quick replacement.
Maybe Raines has a similar list, just in case she needs a new athletic director.
This would be the time to pull it out. This would be the time to start making phone calls.
The new person doesn’t have to be on board tomorrow or anything. But it’s time, isn’t it? No matter what happens with the Memphis appeal of NCAA sanctions?
Let Johnson pick a day in the next few months to announce his hard-earned retirement. Give him a lifetime pass to Graceland for all the good work he’s done.
Then hire someone who can inject direction, energy and credibility into the Memphis athletic department.
Johnson can’t do it any longer. Not after the NCAA stripped away the signature accomplishment of his tenure at Memphis.
No, he hasn’t been able to get Memphis into a BCS conference.
No, he hasn’t been able to elevate the football program.
No, he hasn’t been able to get Memphis into an on-campus football stadium or even revitalize the Liberty Bowl.
But he hired John Calipari! He presided over a glorious run to the Final Four!
Until Thursday, that is. When it became clear he presided over a cesspool.
Then, in response, Johnson had the temerity to say, “I’m not sure we’ve actually taken a hit nationally.”
If there was ever a moment that established just how out of touch Johnson has become, that might have been it.
Not taken a hit?
Time to check your list, Shirley.
And not just because Johnson couldn’t handle Calipari. Not many athletics directors could do that, honestly.
Calipari is a force of nature. If you stand in his way, he’ll crush you. If you stand in his way when he’s winning at the rate he did his last few years in Memphis, his supporters will applaud as he crushes you.
Johnson decided to go along for the ride. He wouldn’t object to anything. Not the return of Jeremy Hunt from permanent dismissal. Not the influx of kids with questionable test scores or transcripts.
Georgia wouldn’t take Robert Dozier; Florida wouldn’t take Doneal Mack; Washington wouldn’t take Roburt Sallie.
Memphis took all three of them.
This is how it was during the Calipari era. The mysterious William “Worldwide Wes” Wesley sat right behind the bench. Relatives of key recruits flew on the team plane and got jobs on staff.
When ESPN interviewed Johnson about package deals, he looked right into the camera and said he didn’t see anything wrong with them.
If Calipari wanted it, Johnson defended it. Then he asked the season-ticket holders and boosters to hand over more money.
Calipari would take care of everything else. Johnson would take care of the cash register.
It all might have worked out beautifully if Derrick Rose had taken his own SAT and Calipari had remained at Memphis.
Alas, someone else took Rose’s SAT and Calipari bolted for Kentucky. So there was Johnson on Thursday, looking on as Raines gave him the dreaded vote of confidence.
“He’s done a good job,” she said, which isn’t all wrong, actually.
Johnson has done a good job raising funds. He’s done a good job recruiting ambassadors.
He’s done a good job turning Calipari’s energy and victories into season tickets.
What he hasn’t done such a good job at is — how to say this? — managing the athletic department.
His right-hand man — Kevin Grothe — stole money from the university. He botched the first effort to get into a BCS conference. He refused to take a stand on the on-campus stadium issue, allowing it to become both a distraction and an embarrassment.
Johnson is many good things — amiable, optimistic and principled, being three of them — but he’s not what anyone would call a strong leader. Even his friends understand this. At Johnson’s roast, held not long after Calipari’s departure, one of the roasters congratulated him on getting his old job back.
Hahaha. It was hilarious at the time. But how hilarious is it now that Memphis is on probation for three years because of major rules violations? How hilarious is it now that the NCAA has found Johnson’s athletic department guilty of a lack of oversight?
The basketball team cheated. The women’s golf team was a total mess.
Johnson’s instinctive response to the NCAA allegations was — ready? — to keep it from the public.
After the Hunt debacle, Memphis paid $25,000 to a public relations firm to learn to communicate more effectively during a crisis. Faced with a fresh crisis, Johnson responded with the same old silence.
“It’s a private inquiry,” said Johnson, even though it wasn’t.
So, no, Johnson is not the one to lead the athletic department into the future. It might be hard to write this if it weren’t so obvious.
You can’t keep the athletic director after a debacle like this. You might not be able to keep the president.
If Raines isn’t better at leading the rest of the university than she is at leading the athletic department, someone should be checking their short list of presidents.
But today’s topic is Johnson. The athletic director with the cardboard Elvis in his office.
He’s a good man who has worked hard for the university. He should be allowed to pick his departure date.
But after 13 years and another searing scandal, it’s time that he left the building.
JOHNSON HAS LEFT THE BUILDING!
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Outsider / August 24, 2009
Really,
Yes RC Johson is at the center of this debacle but please get over it. I’m assuming you are an Arizona fan by your comment and you guys are as delusional as Kentucky fans. First, if AZ wanted Pastner bad enough, why didn’t they come after him sooner. Second, as an AD, if you knew that the worst that would happen would be actions taken against past appearances, why would you tell an incoming coach? It’s called business. Pastner has repeatedly said that he is looking forward to the future. Yes, Pastner is an up and coming star, but no one at a major program outside of Memphis would have offered him a job at this point in his career. Long and short, stop complaining JessieWildcat. Read the Commercial Appeal more often and you would see that Geoff C. has never been a fan of RC Johnson to begin with and it didn’t start with these allegations by the NCAA. Do some research before you make a comment.
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JackaLope / August 25, 2009
Dont worry about anything he posts. He has been kicked off this site before. He didnt even write most of the above post. You can tell because Jesse writes in broken spanglish. You know Mexican ebonics. He tries though. Just whenever you see someone start out the post like he is talking to his homeboys: AZ AZ AZ AZ Az AZ, just ignore the entire post.
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