Julius Randle cuts list down to six schools

It's cut day for Prestonwood senior Julius Randle, as the 6'9 240 combo forward, one of the top 5 players in the country, announced that he had narrowed his list of schools to six:

Tweet from PCA reveals Julius Randle down to UK, NC State, Florida, Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma.

— Dave Telep (@DaveTelep) October 2, 2012

Virtually every school in the country has been on Randle's heels, so it's a big victory for the Longhorns and Sooners to get this far. Baylor and Oklahoma State, both of whom have plucked McDonald's All-Americans out of the Metroplex in the last few years, were eliminated on Tuesday.

Nationally, neither Duke nor UNC could convince the Texas native to keep them under consideration, resulting in an interesting list of schools still in the hunt.

It's unsurprising that Kentucky and Kansas, two of the bluest of blue chip programs, are still alive, but few would have given NC State and Florida much of a chance a year ago.

However, as long as John Calipari is involved, he has to be considered the front-runner for any player seriously considering spending only one year in college.