Louisville commit Samardo Samuels will enter his final year of high school ranked as the second best player in the Class of 2008.
Recruiting service Scout.com released the latest installment of its Top 100 on Thursday, and bumped Samuels up from No. 6 to No. 2 based on the merits of his summer performance.
The number one player in the country remained U of L recruit and Helen Cox (LA) big man Greg Monroe, but Samuels can't be far behind. The two squared off last week at the inaugural Nike Global Challenge and Samuels finished the game 11-for-11 from the floor with 26 points and 12 rebounds, while Monroe had 12 points and seven boards.
Another highly-touted Cardinal recruit, Tyreke Evans, landed at number four in the rankings. I don't want to say that he's underrated at number four, but Tyreke Evans is underrated at number four. Whoops.
Among the other notable ranked players considering Louisville are Willie Warren at No. 24, Eloy Vargas at No. 30, Angel Garcia at No. 36, and Olek Czyz at No. 88.
Louisville's other commit in the Class of 2008, Melquan Bolding, fell out of the Top 100 and is listed as the 26th best small forward in the country. Bolding, a 6-3 guard out of Archbishop Stepinac (NY), was dropped in large part because of a summer where he struggled to find his jump shot. Like a plethora of New York guards before him, a spotty jump shot seems to be the only thing holding back a player like Bolding, who can defend and get to the rack at will.