by Alex Schwartz

After over a year of speculation, 6'2 class of 2011 point guard Marquis Teague of Pike (IN) ended his recruitment on Thursday. Considered by many to be the number two prospect in the junior class, Teague selected Kentucky over Louisville, with Cincinnati, Indiana, and Purdue as the other schools that was considered.

Teague's commitment to Big Blue means much more than just another great player going to the defending SEC champions. The number of back stories involved in this, specifically relating to a major rival, leads one to be reminded of Harrison Barnes picking North Carolina over Duke.

Teague, who some feel is actually better than Kentucky-bound 6'7 SF Michael Gilchrist of St. Patrick's (NJ), is a huge addition for John Calipari. With Gilchrist committing just eight days earlier, the Wildcats have landed the consensus top two players in the junior class in consecutive weeks, with one being a backcourt stud and the other a frontcourt player. If Coach Cal can land a post presence, UK would have a phenomenal trio at the guard, wing, and post.

In addition, UK is one of the primary leaders for 6'9 combo forward Quincy Miller of Quality Education Academy (NC), arguably the number three player in the class. If the Wildcats land Miller it would mean that the team would have lured the number 1, 2, and 3 players in the class of 2011 according to some rankings.

Getting Teague means that John Calipari will coach either the #1 or #2 ranked graduating point guard in the country for five consecutive, as Marquis will follow Derrick Rose in 07, Tyreke Evans in 08, John Wall in 09, and Brandon Knight this year, 2010. That is certainly an impressive accomplishment, and it shows just how intrigued elite guards are by the chance to play for Coach Cal.

As big of a pickup as Teague is for Kentucky, the fact that Louisville missed out on the backcourt dynamo is actually the bigger news. The Cardinals almost landed Marquis Teague last year, but he opted to postpone his announcement when Calipari was hired by Kentucky. In fact, Teague even admitted that he nearly popped to Louisville last year.

Not only did Louisville not get Teague, but Rick Pitino and Co. missed out on the star junior to its main rival, Kentucky. Add in the fact that Pitino and Calipari do not particularly like each other all that much, and it makes it even worse. Teague was the main target in UL's class, but the Cardinals will see him suit up for their arch rival and for a coach that their own head coach is not that fond of. That makes missing Teague even harder to deal with.

Similarly to the Barnes situation, the team that seemingly stole the prized recruit was near the top of the basketball world, while the one that missed out was fading. Granted, things turned out differently in that situation, as UNC came off winning the National Championship and ended up in the NIT, while Duke won the title. Thus, the swing and miss on Barnes hurts much less for Mike Krzyzewski and his staff, even though the stud from Ames (IA) will be just down the road. In this situation, UL was a one-seed in the 2009 NCAA Tournament and made the Elite Eight, while Kentucky was in the NIT. Then, this past year, everything changed. UK won the rivalry game, landed a one-seed in the NCAA Tournament, and made the Elite Eight, while UL was a nine-seed. In addition, Pitino has been involved in a major scandal, so the feeling around the Big East school is not nearly as positive as it is across the way at UK.

Why else does this hurt so much for Louisville? Rick Pitino coached Teague father at Boston University and also coached the star junior's uncle. One would have thought that the family connections combined with UL heavily recruiting Marquis early on would have been enough for the Cardinals to land the Hoosier State star, but it was not. John Calipari beat out major family ties to land the player that UL so coveted.

UL had a shot to land the best recruiting class in the country for the class of 2011, but now it looks like Kentucky will wind up with that title. While UL still has Ryan Taylor of Lawrence North (IN) and Wayne Blackshear of Morgan Park (IL), Michael Chandler of Lawrence North decommitted from the Cardinals right before Teague  selected UK. Chandler was arguably the best of that trio, but now is actually rumored to be possibly headed to Kentucky, which would make it hurt even more. If Chandler was still in the class and Teague was too, UL would have had a phenomenal four-man bunch right now. Instead it stands at just two players and Pitino will have his work cut out for him.  The Cardinals will now likely go for Jabarie Hinds '11 of Mt. Vernon(NY) at the point, and while he is a terrific player, he is no Marquis Teague.

This is also the second consecutive recruiting class where Louisville missed out on a player it was at one point considered the heavy leader for. It was a forgone conclusion that Fab Melo '10 of Sagemont School (FL) was going to select the Cardinals, but he pulled a shocker when he announced his intentions to attend Syracuse. The Cardinals have not been able to land a big man in the class to make up for missing out on Melo and Jeremy Tyler, who had been committed UL before deciding to play overseas. Add in the fact that Teague is the fourth elite proispect to select Kentucky in the past two weeks, following Bandon Knight, Michael Gilchrist, and Doron Lamb, and all these factors make this a major blow to Louisville.

Louisville will certainly be able to rebound from missing out on Marquis Teague, just as Duke did in the Harrison Barnes situation, but it will not be as easy. The Cardinals' current roster is not at the same level that Duke's was and UK will not struggle nearly as much next year as UNC did this year.

While Marquis Teague selecting Kentucky is obviously major news, it is his decision to spurn Louisville that many people are talking about, and rightfully so.

Note- photo on the left is from http://espn.go.com/; and photo on the right is from http://scouthoops.scout.com/