re: LSU will sign Malik Newman (Book it)

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3. Malik Newman is the wild card in the Class of 2015: The 6-3 combo guard scores 18-20 points when he gets out of bed in the morning and his commitment will no doubt shift the landscape of college basketball in one way or another heading into next season. Sources have told CBSSports.com that the three schools most likely to wind up with Newman are Kentucky, Mississippi State and LSU, but the Tigers right now are a distant third due to a surplus of pieces on the perimeter. That means that barring something unlikely, Newman appears to either be headed to Lexington or Starkville. It also means he will potentially play for one of two coaches who faced each other in the 2008 Final Four --- John Calipari and Ben Howland --- when each was at Memphis and UCLA respectively. If Newman picks the Wildcats, the reasons are obvious. Lexington has again become college basketball's version of Camelot under Calipari and the pairing of Newman alongside Tyler Ulis and incoming freshman Isaiah Briscoe would instantly give Kentucky one of college basketball's most devastating perimeters. Calipari has publicly said that he still needs to add two to three quality players this spring and the addition of Newman would certainly put some serious air in the Wildcats' tires heading into next season. One thing to keep in mind though: Newman has also told confidants that he aspires to have the ball in his hands next season as much as possible and he would have to sacrifice that just like other great players have in the past if he chooses to go to Kentucky. If he opts to go to Mississippi State, he would own Starkville and give the Bulldogs a palpable buzz in Howland's first season as a head coach in the SEC. It's going to be real interesting to see how all of this evolves over the next few weeks.

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