D’Angelo Russell enjoyed his visit to Cincinnati last week and heads to Kentucky for another visit Monday, SNY.tv has learned.
“Just to get a call from Coach Cal, it really meant a lot,” Antonio Russell, D’Angelo’s father, told SNY.tv, adding that Monday’s visit will likely only last “a couple hours.”
Kentucky coach John Calipari was in San Juan, P.R. Sunday night coaching the Dominican Republic to an 80-72 victory over Puerto Rico in the Centrobasket championship gold medal game. Calipari and the DR will now try to qualify for the London Olympics beginning July 2. But Angelo said it was his understanding that Calipari would be back in Lexington on Monday.
D’Angelo Russell, a 6-foot-4, 2014 combo guard from Louisville, did not start last year at Central High School, but his father said his son’s talent and work ethic eventually caught Calipari’s attention.
“Last year he didn’t get a lot of playing time but by him working hard in practice and working hard over the summer he’s kind of seeing it pay off a little bit,” Antonio said.
“And then a year from then [last season] he [Calipari] is calling. It’s pushing him to work harder.”
Kentucky has yet to offer a scholarship, but Angelo said Cincinnati, Louisville, Ohio State and Missouri all have.
“Everybody has offered a scholarship except for Kentucky and Purdue has shown interest,” Antonio said.
As for the Cincinnati visit, the family loved it.
“It was a wonderful visit,” Antonio said. “It kind of shocked me. I didn’t know that Cincinnati’s campus was that nice. I didn’t really know the college was that nice so it was a shocking experience. It was more than what we expected.”
Next year, Russell transfers to Montverde (Fla.) Academy where he will play under coach Kevin Boyle and alongside Florida-bound 2013 guard Kasey Hill, 2013 6-8 forward Devin Williams of Cincinnati (interest from Xavier, UCLA and West Virginia) and 6-10 Dakari Johnson, currently playing with the U.S. U17 team.
“It’s a college prep school so with him transferring there I know he will get a lot more than what he got from a school in Louisville,” Antonio said. “It’s a college preparatory school so when he’s ready to go to college he’ll already be a step ahead. Education-wise it’s so advanced, I just fell in love with it.”
