2007 Aldrich talks about visit; names leader

Cole Aldrich, a 6-foot-10, 235-pound power forward from Bloomington Jefferson High School in Bloomington, Minn., is one of the truly elite players from the class of 2007. While Aldrich will not be making any decisions about his future for several years, the No. 6 ranked player in the class has already seen one school emerge as the leader for his services.

“My visit to Kansas over the weekend was just awesome,” Aldrich said. “I went with my dad and one of my old coaches. My coach has a sister that lives in Lawrence, so we stayed with her during the weekend. I just cannot explain how awesome the visit really was.”

Aldrich is receiving interest from Arizona, Duke, Kentucky, Marquette, Minnesota, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Michigan State and a host of other high major programs. Because he is just a sophomore in high school, it does not appear that Aldrich will make any definite decisions about his future any time soon.

However, Aldrich made it perfectly clear that one program in particular has emerged as the early team to beat in his recruitment.

“Kansas is right at the top of my list,” Aldrich said. “I know that I have a lot of time left before I need to make any decisions about my future, but Kansas is definitely my leader. I really enjoyed having dinner with the players and coaches’ on Friday evening. The atmosphere was great and everybody treated me great.

“Another thing I really enjoyed was Late Night. The fans were awesome and some of the skits were pretty cool. It was just a wonderful experience and something I will never forget.”

Cole's father was just as impressed with what he saw over the weekend.

“The fans at Kansas are just unbelievable,” Mr. Aldrich said. “I can tell that they are very passionate about their basketball program, players and coaches. I had never seen anything like that before, so I was a wonderful experience.”

Aldrich is scheduled to be on the Wisconsin campus during the weekend of Nov. 5 for an unofficial visit.