UK Basketball: Marcus Lee Commits to Cats; Will Julius Randle Be Next?

Marcus Lee announced that he is going to be playing hoops next year at the University of Kentucky.

He is John Calipari's fourth five-star commitment in two weeks, joining Aaron and Andrew Harrison and James Young.

Lee, a 6'9", 200 lbs PF, is rated as the No. 15 player in the 2013 Rivals 150 prospect ranking. As a junior, he averaged 13.9 points, 13.9 rebounds and a stupefying 9.1 blocks per game.

Following Lee's announcement, the next thought for the Big Blue Nation is: How does this impact Julius Randle and his recruitment by the Cats?

In Randle's most recent USA Today blog entry, he had this to say about his relationship with the Harrison twins and his possible decision to choose UK: 

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"Oh, the other thing I want to clear up is the crazy rumor about there being some sort of beef between Andrew and Aaron Harrison and me. That is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard, honestly. I’ve tried to ignore it but everyone is making it a big thing. I can tell you, 100 percent, that all three of us are cool. I’ve got the utmost respect for those guys and their games and we’re actually cool with each other. Every time I see them, we talk and hang out so I don’t know where that came from.

I love that they’re at Kentucky, too.

Potentially playing with two great guards would make it easier for me. I think that we would have a legit shot to win a national championship in our first year because I don’t see any guards in the country that would be better than them."

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Not sure that you can absolutely conclude anything from these comments.

But, when it comes down to it, Lee's commitment to head to Lexington will have little if any negative impact on Randle's ultimate decision about becoming a Wildcat.

If the No. 1 PF in the nation wants to play for Coach Cal, he will still choose Kentucky.  

And there's a good chance that he will be the next to announce that he wants to be a Cat.

Stay tuned!