Julius Randle Cuts List to 6 Schools, Kentucky a Finalist

Through a tweet released by his high school, Plano (Tex.) Prestonwood Christian, Julius Randle released a list of six finalists. The schools are the Kentucky Wildcats, N.C. State Wolfpack, Florida Gators, Texas Longhorns, Kansas Jayhawks, and Oklahoma Sooners.

Julius Randle narrows to 6: Kentucky, NC State, Florida, Texas, Kansas, OU.

— PCAAthletics (@PCAAthletics) October 2, 2012

The most notable omissions are two blue blood schools, the Duke Blue Devils and North Carolina Tar Heels. Both Duke and UNC were considered favorites earlier in his recruitment. In an interesting turn of events, both schools are now out of the running. Duke, in particular, looked to be in a favorable position after landing a commitment from Randle's AAU teammate, Matt Jones from DeSoto (Tex.), last year. The Baylor Bears and Oklahoma St. Cowboys were the other two programs cut.

Randle has taken just one official visit to date, making the trip to Lexington for UK Alumni Weekend the weekend of September 14. Prior to trimming his list, Randle conducted in-home visits with the coaching staff from each of the ten schools.

He tentatively scheduled a visit to Florida this weekend, but that trip appears to have been delayed until basketball season. The Gators have come on strong since Randle spent the summer on the USA U-18 team, coached by Billy Donovan. Of the remaining schools, Texas has recruited Randle the longest.

It's likely that Randle will take his remaining official visits in-season before making a spring decision. The potential of taking unofficial visits to Texas or Oklahoma, both within driving distance, makes it possible that Randle will keep his list at six prior to releasing a decision.