Knights land elite prospect Ware

If you thought Donnie Jones and friends were done making noise just because it's basketball's offseason, well, think again.

Apparently, a pretty brief stint in the national rankings and some shout outs in the national media wasn't the end. Not even after an eight game midseason slide sucked most of the wind out of a prolific start to last season.

Nope, they're still making noise.

Enter recruiting season.

After visiting campus this past weekend for the UCF Spring Football Game and hanging out with players including Tristan Spurlock and newly-signed Michael Chandler, four-star shooting guard Kevin Ware chose the Knights, even after Louisville coach Rick Pitino made an in-home visit right after Ware returned from Orlando.

Yes, Donnie Jones and UCF went head to head with Rick Pitino and the Louisville Cardinals for a recruit and won.

Ware tweeted on his Twitter account Tuesday in response to some disappointed followers from Louisville that "Donny [sic] reminded me of Coach Pearl that's what got me.. cards got a great school just felt that connection with donny man."

Recruiting has never been better at UCF, across the board for all sports, and Jones is not taking that fact for granted.

"That's what we've been selling, that it's not where we're at but where we can get to," said Jones when asked recently about selling the UCF "brand" to recruits. "What we do have [right now], is you walk on campus and you see commitment. We've got great leadership in [Athletic Director] Keith Tribble and [University President] Dr. Hitt."

Jones went on to say that recruits are starting to see "that you can come to UCF and be ranked and play against national teams and have a chance to compete."

If they couldn't see it before all they need now is a web browser.

Log on to ESPN.com and check the current rankings of basketball recruiting classes. There's the usual assortment of powerhouses at the top, the Kentuckys, Ohio States, and Georgetowns. And then, at No. 16 for the Class of 2011, thanks to the signings of two four-star prospects for the first time in the program's history, is Orlando's very own UCF Knights.

Not to be foolish enough to imply that recruiting rankings mean much as compared to what actually happens on the court, but the fact that the Knights have out-recruited NCAA Tournament teams and national powerhouses isn't something to be overlooked.

Ware is being added to a class consisting of fellow four-star prospect Chandler (C), and three-star prospects Rod Days (SF), Wayne Martin (PF), and Kasey Wilson (PF). Ware is the shortest at 6 foot 4 inches. Chandler is a towering 6 foot 10 inches. They're all athletic. They're the long, lean, quick kind of players that will fit perfectly into the run-and-gun style of play Jones is looking to implement over time at UCF.

"We're bringing in some young guys here, we're going to have a relatively new team with six to seven new guys added to the team, it's going to be new," said Jones recently of the heavy additions to the roster this offseason, including the incoming freshmen and transfers now eligible from last season. "We're going to have to be doing a lot of teaching, but they do fit how we want to play."

Excitement aside, reality is we're a ways away from seeing how this comes together in the fall and years away from knowing the true value of this recruiting class.

What's encouraging, though, is there has never been more of a reason to stay tuned.

Notes

— Ware told the Orlando Sentinel that he plans to be enrolled in the second summer session, but that he may even try to get to Orlando earlier.

— Having the No. 16 recruiting class, the Knights are not only ranked highest in the state, they are also ranked highest in Conference USA.