Oriakhi Meets With 3 Coaches

Last week, Kentucky head coach John Calipari reportedly met with Alex Oriakhi, the former Huskies forward who was released from his scholarship last month. And according to Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog.com, Oriakhi has also had face-to-face meetings at his home with Xavier coach Chris Mack and Missouri coach Frank Haith. CBSSports.com's Jeff Goodman tweeted that Oriakhi would visit Missouri the weekend of April 13, and Kentucky and Xavier the following weekends.

A source told the Hartford Courant's Dom Amore last week that Oriakhi was looking for a program that could offer him 30 minutes of playing time a game. Zagoria: "Kentucky, Xavier and Missouri are offering major playing time next season, Oriakhi told SNY.tv, and he is also considering North Carolina and Duke."

More from Zagoria:

As for the visit with Calipari, Oriakhi said: “It went real well. Coach Calipari, he broke it down for me. He told me he wasn’t going to promise me anything, which I like. He’s not going to promise me anything.

“He would like for me to come in and lead right away and I definitely feel he was honest. He did present Kentucky very well. He talked about how the basketball players have a high GPA so he values education with his players. I think it really went well. … He just told me he has two players returning,” Oriakhi said of Calipari. “He has nobody.”

Oriakhi on Xavier: “They are not a big-time school but basically they just do as much as those big-time schools,” he said. “He basically gave me the depth chart and said, ‘We don’t just want you, we need you.’ They don’t really have any post players. They definitely need me. That’s a plus.”

Oriakhi on Missouri and coach Haith: “He’s a down to earth guy. He said the same thing that Xavier said. They don’t just want me, they need me. They have one of the best playmakers in college basketball [in Phil Pressey]. We have played with each other since the 8th grade.”

Oriakhi added that he hopes to also visit North Carolina and Duke and previous reports that the Blue Devils were off his short list are untrue.

So when will he make a decision? “I really don’t have a timetable, Oriakhi said. "It’s not something Im going to rush, either. Probably by the end of the month.”

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