As reported by multiple sources, including A Sea of Blue's own FortyYearCatFan, former NC State point guard Ryan Harrow will be transferring to Kentucky. He will enroll in summer school classes starting in June and be eligible to play for the Wildcats in the 2012-13 season, with three seasons of eligibility remaining.
After declaring his intent to transfer from NC State following the hiring of new coach Mark Gottfried, Harrow went on a tour of four schools, starting with Kentucky and including Texas, Louisville and Georgia. A fifth school, St. John's, was also in the running, although Harrow was unable to make a visit prior to his decision.
With his commitment to Kentucky, Harrow gives the Wildcats their de facto point guard for the 2012 class, and it is now doubtful that Calipari will choose to pursue any other high school options at that position.
Harrow himself is a former 5* recruit, ranked 19th overall by Rivals in the class of 2010. His freshman numbers weren't spectacular, and he averaged 9.3 PPG and 3.3 APG on 39% shooting overall (and just 22% from 3). Despite the small stature and dismal freshman shooting percentages, Harrow came out of high school as an accomplished scorer. He's effective at getting into the lane, and does possess some credibility shooting from deep. Those are likely the two things Calipari will ask him to work on most during his redshirt year. Thankfully, he's also a deadly free throw shooter, hitting 87% from the charity stripe during his one year at NC State.
As a passer, he does have some court vision. Despite the limited aggregate totals (just 96 overall assists), Ken Pomeroy credits him with a solid 28.8% assist rate in his limited minutes. Harrow ended up drawing just 10 starts in a Wolfpack uniform, but was a big part of their rotation (23.0 MPG, 53.7% total minutes) and had high usage ratings (24.9% of possessions, 25.2% of total shots). What he'll need to do in his future minutes is cut down on the turnovers. During his NC State tenure, Harrow put up 1.8 TPG and had just a 1.88 AST:TO ratio.
Although he was highly rated coming out of high school, Harrow may differ from the Calipari's recent point guard recruits in that Harrow isn't your prototypical one-and-done, scorer-slash-facilitator type floor general. He simply doesn't possess the adequate size needed for the position in the NBA, and he's not a pure point guard that will wow you with his ball distribution. However, that shouldn't prevent him from being an effective college point guard during his tenure at Kentucky with a possible shot at getting drafted in the first round.
Certainly, John Calipari is expecting bigger and better scoring numbers than Harrow displayed at NC State. Moreover, Calipari will also be asking for a team leader and go-to clutch ball handler. Based on Harrow's high school resume, these are goals that shouldn't be out of reach. Combine Harrow's potential with the relative dearth of available point guards at the high school ranks for the class of 2012, and Harrow is a huge pickup for Cal and the Cats.
After the jump, a few YouTube videos of Harrow for your perusing pleasure. Welcome to Big Blue Nation, Ryan!