Julius Randle Looking to Visit Kentucky, Ohio State

Julius Randle, the No. 1 power forward in the Class of 2013, says he wants to visit Kentucky and Ohio State “real soon” in order to get a better feel for the schools, he told Jody Demling of the Louisville Courier-Journal.

“I want to narrow it down soon and I haven’t been to Kentucky since I was a freshman and I haven’t been to Ohio State at all,” Randle told Demling during the LeBron James Skills Academy.

The 6-foot-9 Randle lists Kentucky, Ohio State, Duke, Kansas, North Carolina State, North Carolina, Baylor and Texas among his suitors.

“Coach (John) Cal(ipari) is a players coach,” Randle said. “He raises the level of play of his players and gets them to the next level.”

North Carolina coach Roy Williams has made Randle his No.1 priority in 2013, and Randle previously told SNY.tv he “could really see myself fitting there.”

Duke recently landed Mississippi State transfer Rodney Hood who becomes eligible in 2013 and pairing either Randle or Jabari Parker with him would make a ferocious one-two punch.

Kansas has long been involved with Randle, who has visited there several times.

And N.C. State is now using incoming guard Rodney Purvis to recruit Randle, who averaged 14.2 points and 6.6 rebounds to help led the U.S. U18 team to a gold medal at the recent FIBA Americas Championship in Brazil.

“I really don’t have any type of list right now,” Randle told SNY.tv recently. “At the end of the summer I’ll probably sit down and see what colleges I’m really interested in and see where I want to take officials and go from there.”

Photo: USA Basketball