Recruiting - Korvotney Barber

Well, here are some more clues about the Barber situation.

1. Rivals has said that Kentucky has been eliminated.
2. He did not attend Kentucky's midnight madness
3. Reports are that he wants to stay close to home, which means Auburn, UGA and GT are his final choices
4. Academics are still a question mark
5. He is AAU teammates with Lewis Clinch, who is in his ear.

The most likely scenario is that he ends up at Auburn, but don't count GT out.

Here are some stories:

RECRUITING - K.BARBER
Based on this story, Barber may NOT have 100% eliminated Kentucky quite yet, but hopes are dimming in Cat-nation. Of course this is a KY paper.

Korvotney Barber, UK's top recruiting target, did not attend Madness. The 6-foot-7 forward from Manchester, Ga., has not eliminated UK from consideration, said his father, John, but he's "taking a look at schools closer to home right now," including Georgia, Georgia Tech and Auburn. The elder Barber said his son isn't certain whether he'll reschedule his visit to UK.

MADNESS MULTIPLIED
Well, here's a story about Kentucky's midnight madness, which Barber did not attend. Quotes from Barber's high school coach make it a little more clear that while nothing is official, distance will probably kill Kentucky's chances:

UK's hopes of using Madness to find a replacement for senior Chuck Hayes in 2005-06 suffered a setback. Highly regarded prospect Korvotney Barber, rated at No. 22 nationally by the Prep Stars recruiting service, did not make a scheduled recruiting visit to UK this weekend.

Earlier in the day, Barber's coach at Manchester High confirmed that the player would not come to UK's Madness. "He just told me, 'Coach, I don't want to go up there ... ,' " Curtis Noble said. "He did say it was the distance."

Noble, an unabashed admirer of Kentucky basketball, reluctantly interpreted Barber's change of plans as a sign that Kentucky was no longer on the player's list of college choices.

"I would hope not," the Manchester coach said. "But not wanting to come up says a whole lot."

Noble considered three schools much closer to Manchester as the front runners: Georgia Tech, Auburn and Georgia.

RECRUIT CANCELS CAMPUS VISIT
Well, this story confirms things 100%. Kentucky seems to be OUT.

In a surprising turn of events, the staff won't get that chance with 6-7 Korvotney Barber.

After deciding that he wants to attend college closer to home, Barber has canceled his official visit to UK. The senior forward at Manchester (Ga.) High School was scheduled to arrive in Lexington today in time for tonight's edition of Midnight Madness in Memorial Coliseum.

"I know for a fact that I'm not going to go; there's no sense in me taking that trip if I'm not going to go," Barber said. "I don't want to lead them on, so that's why I don't want to go.

"I just want to play close to home really so my family can come see me play more often. I've been thinking about that a lot."

Barber, rated the 12th-best senior in the class of 2005 by hoopscooponline.com, 31st by insiderhoops.com and 34th by rivals.com, has already visited Georgia and Auburn, two schools within driving distance of his home.

TOP PROSPECT MIGHT SKIP TONIGHT'S MADNESS
An older article on the story.